We know what you’re thinking. You hear the phrase “state park” and you automatically picture concrete tent sites and .7-mile “nature” trails. You think of RVers that keep their generators running all night. You think of cake-walk trails over sawdust and fishing in 30-acre lakes while redneck kids do cannonballs off the dock with their t-shirts on. We’re well aware of the state park stereotypes. Overcrowded, “dumbed down” recreation, over developed amenities. Sadly, those stereotypes hold true in certain cases because unfortunately, this is what John F. Roadtrip wants and expects. A picnic area, some bathrooms, and a paved road leading to a pretty overlook: the perfect pit stop on the way to grandma’s house.

But mixed in with these “bathroom break” state parks are some choice forests that put wilderness integrity above visitor centers and vending machines. Trail systems above picnic pavilions. The overall backcountry experience above accommodating the half-hour family trip pit-stop. There are state parks in the Southeast that can put you deeper in the woods than a Jon Krakauer book. State parks with singletrack that rivals Pisgah, with bouldering that outshines Boone, with lonely scenic vistas that compete with Shenandoah National Park. These state parks do not fit neatly inside the stereotypes. These are choice pieces of forest preserved for multi-purpose recreation.

BRO dug deep and found the state parks with outdoor adventures so outstanding, they deserve to be destinations on their own. Whether you’re a rock climber, backpacker, or mountain biker, these parks deserve to be on your adventure travel “to do” list. And what better time to make a visit than peak fall foliage season. The air is crisp, the trails are less crowded, and the leaves are in full bloom. Grandma’s house will have to wait. You’re hitting the best damn state parks in the Southeast.

TENNESSEE: Pickett State Park

Look at a map of Tennessee and there’s a good chance you’ll miss Pickett State Park altogether. Most people head straight for the large patches of green in the far eastern corners of the Volunteer State-the area that represents the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest. This is where Tennessee’s signature adventures primarily reside and that’s where most road trips are planned. But look a little to the left and squint, and you’ll see Pickett State Park, carved out of a corner of the Big South Fork National Recreation Area. Pickett occupies a seldom-traveled chunk of the Cumberland Plateau and offers more than 17,000 acres of prime backpacking through a thick forest littered with unique rock formations. The park has an unfair share of natural bridges, caves, and waterfalls, and contains 58 miles of trails that explore every nook and cranny. The southern terminus of the Sheltowee Trace Trail begins in Pickett, extending 269 miles from the park into the Daniel Boone National Forest of Kentucky. The John Muir Trail also starts within the state park, making Pickett the ultimate trailhead for long distance hikers.

Day Trip: Hike Hidden Passage Trail. This 10-mile loop is named for a claustrophobia-inducing sandstone tunnel carved through a massive rock bluff. The trail will get you deep into the park and offers extensive backpacking options. Hike the loop on its own and you’ll get a geographical highlights tour of the area without having to pitch a tent. Within a mile, you’ll pass the impressive Crystal Falls, an arch, and a rock house overhang. If that’s not enough, there’s a short spur trail that leads to Double Falls, the tallest in the park.

Overnighter: Take your pick of underrated long distance trails. Hike the first ten miles of the Sheltowee within the park and if you like it, keep going into Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest. The trail is level, scenic, and there are plenty of campsites along Rock Creek. Hike eight miles past the Kentucky state line and you’ll end up at Mark Branch Falls, an impressive 80 footer. Or you could hook up with the John Muir Trail at the state border and head back into Pickett along Thompson Creek for a loop hike. Your backpacking options in Pickett are endless. Get a map and start walking.

Best Foliage View: Thompson Overlook. You go to Pickett for its unique rock formations, but if you absolutely have to get that wide-angle foliage picture, hike the Hidden Passage Trail for this panoramic shot along the cliff line above Thompson Creek. Also, check out the Natural Bridge, a huge natural arch over manmade Pickett Lake.

Logistics: Pickett was cut out of the Big South Fork, so don’t expect any “gateway” towns with an abundance of HoJo’s and Burger Kings. Backcountry campsites are spread throughout Pickett’s 58 miles of trails, and there are 40 first come first serve campground sites as well. For a real treat, check out one of Pickett’s five stone chalets. Contact: 931-879-5821. http://state.tn.us/environment/parks/Pickett/

Side Trip: For a bit of hippie history, head to Rugby, Tenn., south of Pickett on highway 52. Rugby was a British colony founded by an author and social reformer who planned the community as a utopian society. The town was founded on the principles of cooperative agriculture and an absence of the rigid class distinctions that were rampant in England. Rugby thrived in the early 1880’s and was dubbed “New Jerusalem,” but a series of mishaps led to the town’s downfall later in that same decade. Today, you can experience Historic Rugby, a living history community dedicated to preserving Rugby’s utopian past.

GEORGIA: Providence Canyon State Park

Plenty of canyons in this neck of the woods have been dubbed “the Grand Canyon of the East” but few actually look like the greatest hole in America. Most Southeastern canyons are green with occasional rock outcroppings. The walls of Providence Canyon in southern Georgia, however, are red, purple, pink, and stone white, much like the walls of that famous ditch out West. Providence Canyon State Park is comprised of a series of 16 smallish chasms formed by poor farming practices in the 1800s. What’s left is the sort of ecosystem you’d expect to see in Arizona or Nevada, but not in the Southeast. It’s as if someone sculpted a miniature replica of the Grand Canyon and placed it two hours south of Atlanta. You can even see nocturnal armadillos scurrying about on the sandy canyon floors.

Hardwoods are scattered in and around the canyon, their changing colors creating a kaleidoscope effect against the multicolored canyon walls. But the real foliage treats in Providence Canyon are the fall wildflowers. The park boasts 150 varieties of wild flowers, including the world’s largest population of the plum leaf azalea.

Day trip: Hike the Rim Trail, a three-mile loop around and throughout the canyons. The Rim Trail offers the best overlooks of the canyons while taking hikers deep inside the largest of the gullies. After the hike, mosey over to Florence Marina State Park and if it’s hot enough (and it will be-this is south Georgia, after all) take a dip in the 45,000-acre Lake Walter F. George.

Overnighter: There are only ten miles of listed trails within this 1,100-acre state park, but each of the canyons has a hike-able dry creek bed curving through its belly. Get a backcountry permit and camp among the changing hardwoods just north of the canyon rims (there’s no camping inside the gullies) and you can spend your days exploring the various fingers of the separate canyons. It’s almost impossible to get lost within the canyon system because all of the chasms are dead ends, and there’s no better way to get up close and personal with the blooming fall wildflowers. The Backcountry Trail itself is a seven-mile trek that explores the woods surrounding the canyons.

Best Foliage View: From the bottom of the canyon looking up. There are plenty of overlooks with impressive views along the Rim Trail, but you can’t appreciate the totality of the canyon colors unless you’re deep within their walls

Logistics: Providence Canyon State Park lies two hours southwest of Atlanta near the Alabama border. Nearby Columbus, Ga. has everything you’ll need in the way of amenities. Six backcountry campsites are scattered throughout the woods north of the canyons. Backcountry permits are required. Nearby Francis Marina State Park has car camping facilities. Contact: 229-838-6202, www.gastateparks.org/info/providence

Plan Ahead: Geology Day: Oct. 21. Take a hike into the canyons with a professor of geology and learn the ins and outs of the canyon’s geological history. Fall Wildflower Day: Oct. 7: Same deal, only with wildflowers. Big leaf magnolia, the passion flower, trumpet creeper vine, you name it, Providence Canyon has it.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Caesars Head State Park and Jones Gap State Park

There’s a reason why deserting Confederate soldiers chose to hide out beneath the massive boulder now known as Hospital Rock. It was in the middle of freaking nowhere. More than 100 years later and the house-sized boulder is still in the middle of nowhere. To be more precise, it’s in the middle of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, a 10,000-acre tract of rugged land in upstate South Carolina that also houses two of South Carolina’s most remote state parks: Caesar’s Head and Jones Gap. The 3,000-acre Jones Gap State Park sits at the lower elevation valley end of the wilderness area and Caesar’s Head occupies the mountains, some 1,500 feet higher. Between the two parks lies 52 miles of rugged backpacking trails, the perfect playground for those that like to leave the comfort of state park-dom behind and get into the wild. South Carolina’s tallest mountain resides within the Mountain Bridge Wilderness, as does the state’s tallest waterfall. Still, don’t expect heavy crowds. The Wilderness is so remote and the terrain is so unforgiving, that the traffic from your usual state park drive-bys is blissfully thin.

Day trip: Hike the Raven Cliff Falls Trail. At 400 impressive feet, Raven Cliff is one of the tallest waterfalls east of the Mississippi and it’s only a 2.2-mile hike to the first overlook, which will give you a shot of the falls framed by the reds, yellows, and oranges of the surrounding hardwoods. Double your miles and you’ll find yourself on a suspension bridge above the falls that offers a true bird’s eye view of the same foliage-meets-gushing water scene. Or check out the Hospital Rock Trail. Follow the route of confederate soldiers for 4.4 miles of massive rock outcroppings and brutal climbing. The trail starts in Jones Gap State Park and is most often treated as an out and back with a shuttle.

Overnighter: Backpack Pinnacle Pass. At 10 miles, Pinnacle Pass is the longest single trail in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, traveling from Jones Gap to Caesars Head. The route is tough, but it has one of the best views in the East from atop Little Pinnacle Mountain, which overlooks the valley 2,000 feet below. You can hike it as an out and back with a shuttle by starting at Jones Gap and using Natureland Trust Trail to take you by Raven Cliffs Falls, or you can treat it as a big loop by using Connector #20 to get you to Rim of the Gap which will take you back to Jones Gap. Or for an easier backpacking experience, try camping along Jones Gap Trail. It’s a rugged but short out and back or loop configuration and most of the campsites are situated along the Middle Saluda River with fire rings and flat tent pads. Reserve your campsite before hand.

Best Foliage View: The best view in all of South Carolina used to sit atop Sassafras Mountain (the highest in South Carolina) where an old fire tower allowed you to view four states at once. Sadly, the tower is gone and the mountain now only offers partial views. So Caesar’s Head Overlook is your best be today. Caesar’s Head is a highpoint in the wilderness area, so you’re overlooking undulating forests of oak and hickory in full bloom.

Logistics: The two state parks occupy some of the most remote forests of South Carolina, so don’t expect a Waffle House at the park entrance. Plan ahead. More than 25 backcountry campsites can be found throughout the Mountain Bridge Wilderness, but you have to make reservations before you set up your tent. Contact: 864-836-6115. www.southcarolinaparks.com.

NORTH CAROLINA: Gorges State Park

Gorges, the newest park in North Carolina, is almost like the anti-state park. There’s no huge visitor’s center, no big lodge, no swimming pool...there isn’t even car camping. If you want to spend the night inside Gorges, you’ve got to hike in a couple of miles. Granted, all of the traditional state park amenities are on the horizon, but right now, you can check out Gorges in its primal state: just trails meandering through the forest. The 7,000-plus-acre park has 24 miles of trails and is renowned for its waterfalls, both inside the park and just across park boundaries in the Nantahala and Sumter National Forests. Currently, there are more gushing creeks and rivers in the park than trails, so don’t expect Gorges’ jewels to be laid out for you on a silver platter. You may have to do some exploring to find that scenic overlook or perfect campsite, but then, that’s half the fun of checking out a state park before the gated overlooks and paved nature trails are established.

Day Trip: There’s a serious lack of interconnecting trails in Gorges, but you'll still find plenty to explore. Connect Bearwallow Valley Trail with Bearwallow Falls Trail for a moderate three-mile hike that ends at an overlook of the impressive Bearwallow Falls, a long, steep water slide along Bearwallow Creek.

Overnighter: Camping in Gorges is limited at the moment. You can hike two miles in to the primitive Ray Fisher Place Campground, or you can head to the southern boundary of the park and do some true backcountry camping along the Foothills Trail. For this option, hike the five-mile Canebrake Trail to its junction with the Foothills Trail next to the Toxaway River. Choose a campsite along the river or hike a little further along the Foothills Trail and get a campsite near the banks of Lake Jocassee. From there, take your time exploring the Foothills Trail in either direction as it meanders along man-made Lake Jocassee. There’s a particularly impressive six-mile section of the trail between the Toxaway River and Laurel Fork Falls in South Carolina that closely follows the shoreline with plenty of side trails leading to the lake. Skinny dipping anyone?

Best Foliage View: The footbridge over the Toxaway River. There’s a great pedestrian bridge that overlooks the river as it enters Lake Jocassee. Hardwoods in fall bloom, gushing river, pristine lake: does it get any better than that?

Logistics: Gorges State Park sits along the North Carolina/South Carolina border in western North Carolina. The towns of Brevard and Saphire are close by and offer everything in the way of creature comforts. Reserve all campsites ahead of time and take a recent map with you whenever exploring the park-some “closed” trails lead to nowhere. Contact: 828-966-9099. http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/gorg/home.html.