Summer is the perfect time

to explore some crazy places you’ve never been to. And what’s better than going out into the wilderness and spending some quality time with Mother Nature? If you’re feeling adventurous, here are some places you might want to take a trip to this fall.

Alaska

Alaska just might be the top wilderness destination in the USA. It offers camping for every sort of explorer, whether you prefer to be in a camper or cabin or out in a tent in the middle of nowhere. Alaska also has some of the best hunting and fishing you’ll find anywhere, as well as avid boating and ATV industries.

If you want something pretty unique to Alaska, sign up to get the dog sledding experience. You can be pulled through the forest yourself, talk to Iditarod racers and hear all about what they went through and see how the dogs are trained. Plus, there’s basically a guarantee that you’ll get to pet some adorable puppies. Who’d want to miss out on that?

Montana

Montana is a great place to really explore what the Wild West of the US has to offer. Bozeman and the surrounding area is a go-to spot for rock climbing. It’s also a popular hunting and camping destination and it offers some seriously awesome whitewater rafting. A Google search of Montana whitewater rafting turns up multiple rafting companies with 5-star ratings.

If you really want to experience the Wild West, consider taking a working-ranch vacation. It’s a step up from the usual dude ranch vacation, giving you a truly personalized experience as the only guests on the ranch. You help with the work of ranch life and in return have local guides for excursions to explore the true western wilderness.

Costa Rica

There’s an entire planned trip for Costa Rica called the Costa Rica Wilderness Explorer. And it actually highlights some of the best parts about this place. Stay right in the middle of the rainforest and go to some of the more remote places in the country for a truly wild experience away from the crowds.

Hiking is one of the best ways to see Costa Rica. You can get more up close and personal with nature and see things that you definitely can’t see while driving. The best way to explore this country is to be in the middle of the rainforest, in a truly unique climate seeing animals and sights you can’t get anywhere else.

Connecticut

While it may not be the first place you think of when you hear wilderness, the Connecticut state park system is pretty amazing. You can stay in one of their rustic log cabins. While they have sturdy shelter, they don’t have kitchens or bathrooms, so you can rough it without having to sleep in a tent. Try staying at Lake Waramaug State Park or Hammonasset Beach State Park. Both of these have rustic cabin living and ample trees and wildlife, but they also have water to explore. The Lake is a picturesque spot for kayaking and the beach at Hammonasset lets you enjoy Long Island Sound.

Northern California

California may be famous for Hollywood, but its northern parts are more famous for something else—giant redwood trees. The Redwood National and state parks are some of the most popular, offering four developed campgrounds for you to stay in, or backcountry places you can hike to if you want a more remote location.

There are multiple other parks to explore these gorgeous forests, too. Though it’s thankfully no longer allowed, it used to be popular to cut a hole in these trees so cars could drive through, and some still survive. There’s also a petrified redwood forest at the north end of Napa Valley, so you can experience a different kind of forest.

Chile

Chile is almost entirely covered by mountains, making it the perfect place for an adventure. It’s home to famous Patagonia, home of one of the world’s few temperate rainforests. Yendegaia National Park is a 95,000-acre former cattle ranch that became a national park a few years ago. It’s another area that shouldn’t be missed.

Chile is another popular spot for whitewater rafting and kayaking, as well as hiking. It’s also popular for mountain biking, horse trekking, and fly-fishing, too. One of the most interesting things to do in Chile is climbing. With so many mountains, there are endless possibilities. Not feeling mountains? You can try climbing a volcano instead. That’s something for your bucket list.

The world is a wonderful place and it’s time to start discovering what it has to offer! Head into the wilderness this summer and explore!

Kacey Bradley is a lifestyle blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us and a frequent contributor to followsummer.  You can follow Kacey on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.