State Parks
With over 6,000 state parks spread across the country, there is an incredible amount of ground to cover. Each one has its own personality, its own landscapes, and its own reasons to visit. Some draw crowds from all over, while others feel like places only the locals know about. No matter the size or the setting, they all have something worth seeing.
I have made it a goal to visit as many as I can and document them along the way. This page is where I collect all of those visits, from quick afternoon stops to full weekend camping trips. Below you will find every state park I have visited so far, with more being added as I go.
Visited State Parks
Tucked into the rolling hills of southwest Iowa, Blackburn State Park is one of the newest and most personal green spaces in the state. Born from a family’s love of the land and established in 2019, this quiet corner of the Loess Hills offers sweeping views, peaceful trails, and a story worth knowing. A small park with a big story, Blackburn is well worth the detour into the Loess Hills.
Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum sits in Blanding, built beside an Ancestral Puebloan village lived in from about AD 825 to 1125. The museum holds the largest collection of Ancestral Puebloan pottery in the Four Corners region, and the village out back has a kiva you can enter by ladder. Here is what to know before you go, plus a look back at a 2006 visit.
West-central Missouri does not get a lot of fanfare, but Knob Noster State Park is a good reason to change that. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and shaped by nearly a century of careful land restoration, this 3,934-acre oak woodland retreat offers seven trails, two fishing lakes, and some of the best camping in the state. The name alone is worth the curiosity. The experience is worth the drive.
A 320-acre desert park at the foot of the Superstition Mountains, named after the most famous lost gold mine in the West. It is the best base camp around for hiking into the Superstitions, scrambling up to the Flatiron, or just camping under a sky full of stars. Here is what to know.
Just an hour north of Kansas City, Weston Bend State Park rises above the Missouri River on a stretch of loess bluffs that Lewis and Clark passed in 1804. With over 10 miles of trails, a scenic river overlook, and a history tied to the tobacco industry that once defined this corner of Missouri, it is a park with more depth than its size suggests. A great day trip, and an even better reason to spend a night.