If you are looking for the opposite of a car camper, look at Ryan and Rebecca Means. Using mapping software, the couple is seeking to find the farthest spot from roads in each of the 50 states and then trying to camp is as many of those spots as possible. They call their adventure “Project Remote.”
For many states, including Tennessee, it’s surprisingly hard to get away from civilization and the Means have been surprised by the numbers they’ve found.
“Truly wild country is something that’s going away,” Ryan says.
The farthest campers can get from a road anywhere in Tennessee is 4.2 miles, at a spot about 25 feet off the Appalachian Trail. In North Carolina the spot is in the Smokies, 5.5 miles from a road. For Alabama, it’s a barrier island 8 miles away.
“There’s something magical that happens to humans when we get away from our cell phones and the sound of cars,” Rebecca says.