• Great Basin National Park, Nev.: Getting to Great Basin isn't easy because it really is in the middle of nowhere. But if you're traveling from Zion National Park to Yosemite or Yellowstone, it's worth the slight detour. You can go underground via Lehman Caves, view 5,000-year-old Bristlecone pine trees, backpack along more than 60 miles of trails or try your luck with some of the park's brook, brown, rainbow and even cutthroat trout.

Located 286 miles north of Las Vegas and 234 miles west of Salt Lake City, Great Basin National Park understandably isn't overrun with visitors any month of the year. That's part of the beauty of this park that's draped around the rocky shoulders of 13,063-foot Wheeler Peak, Nevada's second-highest mountain. Set in the heart of the Great Basin, the mountain and its park are an anomaly in this desert landscape.

Climb onto Wheeler's flanks and you'll find shimmering alpine lakes cupped by rocky cirques and dense forests of aspen and conifers. Descend into Lehman Caves during ranger-led tours and you'll be surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites, flowstones and ''popcorn'' that decorate the walls and passages. Most unusual are the caves' ''shield formations.'' These are geologic formations that consist of two oval or round parallel plates separated by a thin crack. There are more than 300 shield formations within the caves.

Pitch your tent in one of the park's four developed campgrounds or head five miles east to Baker, Nev., (www.greatbasinpark.com), the closest town and best bet for a motel room.

• Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah: Also off the beaten path, set four miles north of Utah 95 between Blanding and Hanksville in southern Utah, this monument is worth the extra effort.

Utah 95 is known as the ''Trail of the Ancients'' due to the widespread presence of Anasazi, or Ancestral Puebloans, who lived here on the Colorado Plateau from roughly A.D. 500 to 1300. Natural Bridges, created to protect three stone bridges formed by rushing waters, also counts roughly 500 archaeological sites within its borders. Throughout the surrounding two-million-plus acres of public lands, much of which are either administered by the U.S. Forest Service or U.S. Bureau of Land Management, are literally thousands of other ruins and artifacts.

Natural Bridges' heavily treed, 13-site campground lies on a small rise near the middle of the monument. Wrapping it are two deep sandstone canyons that flood waters sculpted over the ages. In doing so, they created three of the world's largest natural bridges -- 268-foot-wide Sipapu, 180-foot-wide Owachomo and 204-foot-wide Kachina. The overhanging cliffs also house the Horsecollar Ruins, the remains of dwellings abandoned roughly 700 years ago.

Drive the nine-mile loop road that provides access to overlooks of all three bridges and the ruins or, if you have the time, hike the 8.6-mile-long loop trail that leads down into the canyons and past all three bridges and the ruins to allow up-close inspection of these sites.

If camping's not for you, Blanding has motels are about 35 miles east on Utah 95.

• Cape Lookout National Seashore, N.C.: Clam bakes and wild horses both are part of a summer retreat to this stretch of North Carolina's famed Outer Banks. True, you can head to the more famous Cape Hatteras National Seashore just to the north of this seashore. But Cape Lookout is decidedly more laid back and definitely less crowded during the summer. Oh, it gets crowded on the traditional holiday weekends, but plan a mid-week visit and you'll be surprised by the amount of solitude you can find.

From Harkers Island, the seashore's gateway, you can paddle yourself or take a ferry (www.nps.gov/calo/planyourvisit/ferry.htm) to South Core, North Core and Shackleford Banks islands. This stretch of barrier islands is gaining fame with sea kayakers for its pristine, wild nature. Combined, the islands offer 112 miles of ocean-front camping.

While most folks camp within a mile of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse on South Core Island, trek a little further and you'll find peace and quiet. Once you've pitched your tent, you can search for seashells and sand dollars, surf fish, swim or flesh out your birding list by looking for some of the terns and herons that hang out here.

Head to nine-mile-long Shackleford Island and you'll share the beaches with a herd of more than 100 wild horses that descended from Spanish equines brought to the ''New World'' 400 years ago.

While Blackbeard the pirate made historic Beaufort (www.historicbeaufort.com) his home in the early 1700s, today you'll find the charming coastal town that lies just across from Harkers Island full of elegant B and Bs and restaurants with fresh seafood on the menus.

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