National Parks in Midwest

Gateway Arch National Park is 0.14 square miles of westward expansion history beneath a 630-foot steel monument with three million visitors.

The Ohio & Erie Canal towpath runs 20 miles along the Cuyahoga River, past 65-foot Brandywine Falls and glacial rock ledges.

Lake Michigan's wind built these dunes into the park system's highest plant biodiversity—over 1,100 species on 15 miles of Indiana shore.

A 65-million-year vertical slice through time where fossil beds document ancient rhinos weathering into lunar-white spires.

Roosevelt's badlands preserve eroded buttes, wild bison, and the solitude that turned a politician into America's conservation president.

One of the world's longest caves sits beneath mixed-grass prairie where bison and elk roam. Most visitors spend an hour underground.

Four interconnected lakes form a water maze where boats replace roads through 340 square miles of boreal wilderness and scattered islands.

Remote Lake Superior island where wolves, moose, and backpackers share 165 miles of trail. No roads, no cell service—just forest camps.

States in This Region