- FS 724 on the north side has a couple of campsites, though you are not too far from Hwy 82, so there may be noise.
- Payne Lake campground is quite quiet and has a developed tent area as well as primitive camping on the other side of the lake. There is a spillway with day use area as well and you can walk up to the fire lookout tower (Payne Lookout), if you wanna hike a little.
- Although FS 743 does go through some areas there were recently cleared, there is a nice creek near the north end to ford. It's pretty shallow as long as you hug the downstream side. You might find a place to camp along this road. You could also take 743B as there is a large turnaround at the end that would make a decent camp spot. I really doubt anyone would bother you down there.
- My favorite road in TNF OD is FS 742. I recommend that you take FS 743 (previous bullet) south and then turn right onto FS 742 to go back north (or enter from the south and turn left onto 742). There are a couple of really decent rutted hills going north on 742. I did this in a 4Runner TRD OR stock. Nothing real challenging, but probably my favorite road in this entire district - and most fun. You may get some pinstripping, though vegetation might be mostly dead by that time of year. I seem to recall a campsite somewhere near the north end of FS 742, but don't recall exactly.
- To go into the southeastern portion, I recommend taking the road over Harrisburg Bridge (east from Hwy 5 just north of Harrisburg) . You can turn and drive back under the bridge and stop by the river for a break.
- Then travel south to the Cahaba Lookout.
- FS 404C just south of Cahaba Lookout is pretty and more offroadish.
- In the far eastern section is Perry Mountain Lookout. This lookout has some neat bumps you have to climb to reach it, just off FS 426. There was an area near here that was cleared lately, perhaps providing places to camp. You might just have visitors here, even in the middle of the night, though (on weekends). I think this is a pretty popular place for kids to hang out. Still, there are several hunting camps in this area for camping (Maddox to the north, which I know is nice and level), (Mudcut to the south), and (Chestnut HIll to the southwest).
- Although I don't recall exactly, I do think the roads get a little rougher down in the Little Pryor region, towards the very southeast corner - whatever road that is that goes south of LIttle Pryor campground (either 411 or 415). I only say that because all of my recorded tracks in that area appear to be stubs. That implies the road was too rough to pass or too muddy. Maybe you can see if that road ever connects to 282 going into Stonewall, as I never made it that far.
- Just outside TNF on the south side is Paul M Grist State Park. It's a quiet and small park, but probably worth visiting.
If you have time to order a map or can stop at the ranger station in Brent, I recommend getting a NFS map. It has all the campgrounds and lookouts mark, plus the road numbers. I use Gaia and that to navigate and it's a breeze.
I hope some of this is useful.
