Explore The Midwest's Most Underrated National Parks On This Scenic, Thrilling Road Trip

When you picture national parks in the U.S., the Midwest isn't necessarily the first place that comes to mind. On the map of America's 63 national parks, you'll see a heavier concentration of them in California and the lower Mountain States. In the Midwest, the parks are more spread out, but not across every state. This makes it more of an epic journey, lengthwise, when you set out to see as many of them as you can on a road trip.

Going by the Census Bureau's regional divisions, five of the 12 Midwest states have no national parks. This includes Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Of the remaining seven states, all but one is limited to a single park. South Dakota is the outlier; it has two parks. One of them is Badlands, an underrated national park that offers stunning sunrise views. It's a fantastic place to start driving (first, through the park) after you wake up bright and early to take in the majestic view from the Big Badlands Overlook.

To hit up all eight Midwest national parks, you would need to drive over 2,600 miles. With this itinerary, you'll see half of them while reducing that distance by about two-thirds. You'll also pass through Rapid City, Bismarck, and Fargo as you tour the Dakotas, Minnesota, and their lesser-visited parks, including Wind Cave, Theodore Roosevelt, and Voyageurs. If a 928-mile drive across two time zones sounds doable, then buckle up for an amazing Midwest national park adventure.

To "cheat" and add another park to your trip, you could visit America's safest national park — Gateway Arch in St. Louis — before flying to Rapid City and renting a car. Even if you just head straight for Rapid City, you'll still have quick access to South Dakota's two parks. They're each about an hour's drive from the city.

You can see some of the most spectacular vistas in Badlands National Park by cruising the 39-mile Loop Road and stopping off at several scenic overlooks. The sweeping Big Badlands Overlook — where the park's ancient rock formations come alive with red layers at sunset — is right past the Northeast Entrance Station, off I-90. From there, you can circle around to other picturesque overlooks like Yellow Mounds and Pinnacles before backtracking to Rapid City.

One of the most popular local attractions in Rapid City also happens to be drive-through: It's the wildlife park, Bear Country U.S.A. The city doubles as a convenient base for visiting Mount Rushmore, just a 30-minute drive away. Over in Wind Cave National Park, ranger-led tours (tentatively scheduled to resume in November 2024 after the elevators are replaced) are the only way to see inside the cave. The Natural Entrance tour shows off the cave's honeycomb-like boxwork, threaded with calcite. The summer Wild Cave tour — not for the claustrophobic — will put you on your hands and knees with a helmet lamp, where you'll squeeze through spaces as low as 10 inches.

It was President Theodore Roosevelt who established Wind Cave as a national park back in 1903 before the National Park Service even existed. Roosevelt is one of the four presidential faces depicted on Mount Rushmore, and as if that weren't enough, he has his own national park named after him. Crossing into North Dakota, you'll reach Theodore Roosevelt National Park when you hit I-94. In the park, you can survey more beautiful badlands from places like the Painted Canyon Overlook. On the 14-mile North Unit Scenic Drive, you might spot wildlife like bison, bighorn sheep, and prairie dogs.

Down the interstate, in Bismarck, you can take a guided or self-guided tour of the North Dakota State Capitol, an Art Deco tower with a 360-degree observation deck. The capitol grounds hold the Guinness World Record for "most people making snow angels simultaneously." For tonal whiplash, head to the Fargo-Moorhead Visitor Center off Exit 348, where you can see the body-eating woodchipper from "Fargo," the Oscar-winning film that made "Minnesota nice" forever quotable. The Fargo Theatre (which does show movies under its old vaudeville marquee) is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Once you've exhausted the possibilities of dry land, Voyageurs National Park awaits. Who needs camping when you've got Rainy Lake Houseboats you can rent? Watch another gorgeous sunset here, and enjoy stargazing over the water at night. Though it's one of the least-visited, this national park is the perfect destination for water adventures.