The Best State Park in Each State 

As many things that seem to divide us, can we all agree that we live in a beautiful country?

A wonderfully compiled list of amazing state parks! A few I would add for consideration: For Indiana, Turkey Run State Park. For Nevada, Valley of Fire State Park. For Ohio, Hocking Hills State Park. For Illinois, Starved Rock State Park, and for Pennsylvania, Ohiopyle State Park. These parks may have a more crowds, but they are all spectacular. I've found the secret to avoiding crowds is to go during the week if possible, and getting there as early as possible.

As an Upstate NY resident, I would like to give an honorable mention to Letchworth State Park. Might be the most "western US scenery" type of place in the east

Some channels are gems, yours is a gem mine. As us city people are realizing how disconnected we are from the natural beauty of our country, you give us better advice/tools than most and it’s really invaluable. My nuclear family has kids which are grown and adults that aren’t retired yet but taking more time off… and when you helped me plan our southern road trip not only did you help provide awesome family memories for us but you also helped my parents respect the southern part of our country, which before they held very strong contempt for. Thank you

Learned a new term from this video: Karst topography - (def:) A landscape that is characterized by numerous caves, sinkholes, fissures, and underground streams. Karst topography usually forms in regions of plentiful rainfall where bedrock consists of carbonate-rich rock, such as limestone, gypsum, or dolomite, that is easily dissolved.

Great video! While the Oregon Coast is beautiful, I personally would have chosen Silver Falls State Park as my top choice, just because of how unique it is. Being able to hike behind multiple gigantic, beautiful waterfalls in just a couple hours is truly an unmatched experience.

I think Devil’s Lake is Wisconsin’s best. Super pretty, great (dangerous) hiking, great climbing, and very fun to swim. It’s super pretty in fall and winter too.

You should check out Elephant Rocks State Park in Missouri. I’m from vermont and went in the fall. I’ve never seen such beautiful foliage in my entire life as I did there. It’s not just the foliage though, it is just so beautiful regardless.

As an IL resident near Chicago…I’d like to highlight Starved Rock State Park. The SP has at least a dozen canyons and waterfalls in the spring along with a massive sandstone bluffs overlooking the Illinois River! It’s the state most popular state park for a reason, and it’s only about 1.5 hours from most of Chicagoland!

Loved the mentions of the driftless region of the Midwest! Would be cool to see a whole video dedicated to the amazing geography of the area.

I think most Ohioans would give the nod to Hocking Hills State Park. The Hocking River cut a canyon through this mass of sandstone hard enough to stop the Laurentide Ice Sheet in its tracks and did so in a very artistic manner and at a very human scale, running through dense pre-Ice Age climax forest. The park consists of several separate areas, each noted for its natural beauty and easy hiking; the most spectacular of the attractions is even accessible. There's many other State parks, forests and recreation areas in the region and a well-developed owner-operator vacation recreation industry. And you can't find a place to stay that doesn't have a hot tub.

This may be an unpopular request, but I think it'd be cool to watch a video on the old tornado alley part of the country in eastern Colorado, western Nebraska, western Kansas, the panhandle of Oklahoma, north Texas, and even parts of eastern New Mexico and Wyoming. I've driven through all those areas in each of those states and they're just such desolate, quiet, unpopulated, and wide open plains that I feel have such a bleak future and are very forgotten about. Really mesmerizing to drive through though.

9:20 I live in new York, and I would have gone with Niagara falls state park, which is near where I live, just bc it's one of the seven wonders of the world. Or Letchworth state park, which has the biggest waterfall in NY after Niagara falls, and was voted the best state park in the US. Where I grew up, Watkins Glen state park, has a ton of waterfalls too and is similar to Letchworth state park

For my favorite state park in New York, I would've gone with Letchworth State Park aka the "Grand Canyon of the East." The massive gorge located there along the Genesee River is amazing plus you get to see multiple massive falls.

Part of the reason for Arizona's lack of state parks is because many of its most prominent geographic features are either NPS or National Forest units; I completely agree with Tonto Natural Bridge! It's small even by AZ State Park standards, but it's an awesome place. For Illinois and Wisconsin I personally would've gone with Matthiessen and Devil's Lake respectively, but those are probably too obvious!

For Utah I was totally expecting to see Snow Canyon or Goblin Valley but was pleasantly surprised to see Kodachrome. It's a very nice lesser-known choice which tells me you know your way around Utah. Thank you for the great video and great list.

Growing up my family never really took vacations, but instead went tent camping at state parks around the midwest, mainly Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and a little bit of Michigan. Some of the best trips I've taken and still love to go back to them in the spring and fall

Here in WA, I might have chosen Deception Pass. There's a bridge towering over a narrow ocean inlet with great views, as well as beaches fronting on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which connects Puget Sound to the Pacific, so it can have some very strong winds.

This is a fantastic idea for your channel. It is hard to do cross-country road trips for many, but a few hours of driving to see stunning scenery within one's own state, or a nearby state, is doable for most. I've been in NC almost half my life but never been to Gorges, but I'll make a point of going there now.

Lime kiln is a very underrated park in CA, I stumbled across it by accident, literally pulling off highway 1 on my motorcycle to stretch my leg and beat a leg cramp. I feel spoiled in CA with all of our great parks. Emerald Bay at Tahoe used to be one of my favorites as a kid with how breathtaking the views were and hiking down to a secluded part of the lake but now it’s very overcrowded and I haven’t been in years.

Kodachrome's nice, but Snow Canyon SP in St. George, UT will always have a special place in my heart. I went to Snow Canyon High School at the mouth of the canyon the first year after it was built in 1994. We did a lot of rock climbing and screwing around when we were supposed to be in class.

I'm going to school for Natural Resource Management and there's actually a reason many state parks have scenery just as beautiful as national parks and are located right next to them. As an example when they established Grand Canyon National Park a big concern was that loggers and land owners would butt up against the borders of the canyon and ruin the environment and scenery for everyone. The federal and state policy makers came up with a pretty clever workaround; the surrounding land was designated variously as state parks, national forests, and state forests. These don't have the same strict preservation requirements as national parks, but they could appease industry (you can harvest timber in state/national forests but with strict regulation) as well as preserving the surrounding land. This pattern emerges around many national parks!

as a Canadian, the choice of state and national parks in Utah is mind-boggling. Arkansas is underrated. Washington has huge variety. and Tennessee is beautiful border to border. most stunning lake in north America has to be crater lake.

For Minnesota I would have gone with Tettegouche or Crosby Manitou down near Silver Bay as they have more of the Lake Superior shoreline and more trails than Grand Portage, but still have the waterfalls and lake views, plus Tettegouche has Palisade Head which is a unique part of geology in the area. For Michigan, I would play the popular card and choose the Porcupine Mountains, as it's one of the best mountain/wilderness parks between the Rockies and the Appalachians. It's busy, but only really at the popular overlooks and the vast amount of trails allow you to get a lot of alone time. Plus it's home to one of the largest remaining Old Growth Hemlock forests. In Wisconsin, I know it's really busy, but Devils Lake has the surprise factor, and I think I would choose that over anything else in the state (though Copper Falls is also really cool) I think you got ND, SD, OK, NE, KS, and NM all right based on my experiences.

I really appreciate this. This will give me some good ideas for spots to visit whenever I go on my next road trip.

Hey Kyle: Thanks for the update! We have been to every National Park in the lower 48. We have plans to go back to Alaska and Hawaii to get some additional National Parks. Until then, we will be traveling around TN and adjoining states visiting state parks. Thanks and go VOLs!

Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas is very surprising it completely surrounded by boring flat land. Once you get there a beautiful canyon pops up out of nowhere.

Huge fan! I watch a lot of your videos at home and my wife tolerates the nerdiness to a point… but- she said this is the video that finally won her over as a fan!! Thanks for the great content

I recently discovered your channel as I'm resting up, super sick with a nasty virus, and am so impressed by the amount of time and effort you surely must put into your videos! As a fellow nerd, I appreciate so much about them! Keep up the great work!! I'm going to go back to enjoying more of your videos now. 😁

I really appreciate the fun and informative content. I definitely added a few of these to my to do list. I have lived in Minnesota for most of my life and wanted to add my 2 cents. I have actually visited all 70+ Minnesota state parks at least once and many of them several times. I would have to say that Grand Portage probably would not be in my top half. The park itself is tiny and offers few amenities. In the area there are about 10 state parks, the Boundary Waters canoe area, Superior National Forest, and Grand Portage National Monument. Grand Portage mostly exists for the falls which are on the US, Canada border (so another nearby park says they have the tallest falls "in" Minnesota and that is technically true). Most of Minnesota's best parks are on what we call the North Shore, basically the area from Duluth to Grand Portage along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Grand Portage State Park is more of a 1 hour stop than a true state park. Even though no one asked, here are what I think Minnesota's state parks are. All of these are far larger with far more amenities. About half of the parks I list are on the North Shore of Lake Superior, which is probably fair and consistent with what most locals would think. I probably have a bit of an anti Twin Cities bias here as many of those parks are similar to these and of high quality, just much busier. 12) Judge Magney - Cool half disappearing waterfall on North Shore 11) Jay Cooke - Close to the North Shore, Dramatic Scenery on St. Louis River flowing into Duluth. 10) Great River Bluffs - Hidden Gem spectacular bluffs overlooking the Mississippi in the Driftless Area 9) Blue Mounds - Only real destination park in SW Minnesota 8) Scenic - North country inland lakes with a cool trail on an isthmus between them. 7) St. Croix - Huge Park along a National Scenic River 6) Glendalough - Series of lakes great for fishing & canoeing 5) George Crosby Manitou - Only North Shore wilderness park 4) Gooseberry - series of waterfalls along lake superior. 3) Whitewater - streams & bluffs in SE Minnesota. 2) Itasca - Headwaters of Mississippi and feels more like a National Park 1) Tettegouche - Spectacular lake shore, and inland mountains and as a bonus - I think the weirdest would be Soudan Underground Mine. I live in Rochester and if you are ever in the area, you are entitled to a beverage on me...

Oregon Coast is definitely the most beautiful coast line in the lower 48, in my opinion. I'm really fortunate to live on the Southern Oregon coast, so scenic drives are a part of my daily life. One thing that is also super cool, is how much public land Oregon has in general. That would be a cool subject to explore in one of your videos. A list of states with the most public lands to enjoy. Keep it up! Love your channel!

Oh my god a video I never thought I'd find. I've been to every state park in Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota, and am planning to do a state every year, (Wisconsin next summer) so this will be fun to watch. I will edit as I go. When I did Iowa, Maquoketa Caves ranked 13th of 54 parks, which was pretty good. It was arguably Iowa's most unique state park, so if you were going for uniqueness, you win. The only other one that might come close is Cedar Rock, but it's for a different reason other than natural features. My favorite park is Waubonsie in the Loess Hills. Grand Portage is a good pick. I had it 8th out of 66 parks. All of the north shore parks are incredible, with all 8 of them ranking in the top 12. The other 4 that made the top 12 were either in the driftless area, (Whitewater, Beaver Creek Valley, Frontenac), as well as Jay Cooke State Park south of Duluth. As far as uniqueness, I might've opted for more on the western side of the state with Glacial Lakes or Blue Mounds, but I can see why the waterfall would go towards uniqueness for Grand Portage. Tettegouche was my favorite park in Minnesota. Custer is unmatched. There are only 12 state parks in South Dakota and it is my favorite by a long shot. Bear Butte is second, and it rounds out the west side of the state for state parks. Sica Hollow and Palisades are my two favorites on the east side of the state. Edit: adding Wisconsin. I never went to the state forests, so I'm not sure where I would rank this one, but my favorite parks in Wisconsin were very well dispersed throughout the state. Devils Lake (South Central) Wyalusing (Southwest) Rib Mountain (North Central) Big Bay (Apostle Islands) Harrington Beach (Southeast) and Rock Island (Door County)

As an Alaskan, you made a great choice with Chugach for having never been here. My personal favorite is Kachemak Bay State Park just because of the unbelievable variation in scenery throughout the year. It's got a temperate rainforest as well as glaciers. But Chugach is incredible as well. Nice video!

As a Texan, I 100% agree with your pick of Big Bend Ranch State Park. I have been there twice, and plan to go back many more. If you like seclusion, unique scenery and hiking trails, and really dark skies, this is the place for you. Great choice Kyle!

Custer is amazing! Hoping to go back there one day!

This has quickly turned into one of my favorite RU-vid channels. Thanks for your passion Kyle!

Thanks for your opinions as always Kyle. Love your passion for displaying our country.

Love this. It's really interesting to learn about some of the lesser known pockets of wilderness in these states especially when they don't conform to the stereotypes of that state's overall geography.

This isn't a popular State Park, but Stone Mountain State Park in NORTH CAROLINA, is just a Beautiful Park. I went in January and it was Great!

I really appreciate how you made this video! You kept each park description to a few sentences, but still have a good number of representative pictures, so the video feels like a good overview!

I absolutely love the West coast parks. They don't compare anywhere else. I'm from Washington so I've been to a few of these. One of them that I absolutely love is Cape Disappointment state park.

As a Kentuckian… Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge State Resort Park is where it is at. Rock climbing, class 5 rapids, rock arches, history, nada tunnel, etc.

One of my favorite videos of yours to date. I love the outdoors and have visited a bunch of national parks and very few state parks so it was cool to learn all about them. Keep up the great work.

Great list. For some states it is impossible to have a wrong choice. My personal favorites for the states I've explored the most: Washington - Palouse Falls. Gorgeous waterfall in the eastern portion of the state. Utah - Goblin Valley State Park. Chock full of crazy rock formations that do look like red goblins. Arizona - Tonto Bridge is indeed the most stunning. My go-to, however, is Catalina State Park, mostly because it's 20 minutes from my house and is a serene, beautiful desert setting with lots of trails, beautiful mountain views and all sorts of desert life. Oregon - you nailed it with the whole freaking coast.

Appreciate your work and research Kyle. Keep up the great work. -Trevor from Houston.

As a South Carolina native, I would have picked Table Rock or Caesar's Head as my favorite state park since I love the mountains and the Blue Ridge escarpment area. Pretty cool to hike up to the top of a mountain and see mostly flat landscape lay before you for miles. I could literally almost see my house from some of those mountains lol. To be fair you did already pick a lot of state parks in the Appalachians so I understand why the swampy midlands region would be more interesting in this context.

Wonderful video! I’ve always loved state parks of the various states I’ve lived in. You have found many gems!

This is my favorite RU-vid Channel! Kyle, you consistently provide insight into American geography that lines up with what I value. Here it is America's lesser known scenic wonders (compared to NPs). Thanks again.

3:13 for the 4th grade field trip in we got to see Tallahassee and some museums and eventually got to go through this same cave. It was definitely something to remember and glad I got to check it out.

Aww man the whole the coast for Oregon

Great job, as usual! I enjoy your work, great knowledge and a very skilled presenter.

Great video, I love your videos Geography King! Always looking forward to them. Thank you,

Really well done! Thank you for the helpful insights! Cheers and love from Atlanta.

Enjoyed the list of state parks. Thank you.

Thanks for the great video Kyle! This is exactly the type of stuff I look for when I travel. Have to check out the awesome outdoor spaces other states have to offer.

Great list. Thanks for sharing.

An incredible wealth of knowledge and a generous spirit to match! Thank you for sharing.

I love Beavertail in Rhode Island. Very few tourists (they all go to newport) so you really get to enjoy the ocean without a huge crowd!

Turkey Run State Park in Indiana is my personal fave... you can hike on ladders down to the gorge and I find it much more fun to explore! You can also float the creek on tubes for a water adventure.

Just discovered Buck’s Pocket last month when we rerouted to the campground to avoid hurricane Ian’s outer bands. What a blast we had hiking in the dry creek bed and viewing the stars from the overlook without any light pollution. The campground is FABULOUS, with long concrete pads and full hookups adjacent to hiking. Will be returning!

Wow, you're a fellow Sturgill fan as well! This channel just keeps getting better and better.

Great video, would love to see a pt 2 of other great state parks

On a road trip right now and referring to this list a lot, one of my favorite video on this channel.

I’ve been planing a year long 48 state road trip and this is the perfect video. Thank you ‼️

Lifelong Kansan here. My favorite state park is Lake Scott State Park in Western Kansas along the Scott/Logan county lines. Much more unique topography than anything in Eastern or Central Kansas. Hidden gem with unique history.

So glad you mentioned the Adirondacks! Just an fyi, they are not part of the Appalachians. The dacks are much older.

Got some new spots added to my bucket list. Thanks!

Nevada - you nailed it, Kyle. Cathedral Gorge State Park is a must-see park. I loved it. Squeezing in some of the narrow slots was a highlight of my Nevada/Utah hiking trip.

Thanks for posting this, I can't wait to go see a few of these. We are lucky to to have so many diverse natural features in our country.

This was very helpful. Now I have some new ideas where to go when visiting a new state. Thanks 🙂

Good video! You obviously prefer the same areas I do. Quite snd remote. I enjoy your channel.

Great video. Fabulous list.

Hocking hills is amazing

Nice choice for Illinois. Mississippi Palisades also features rock climbing. However I might have picked the twin parks of Starved Rock and Mathiessen State Parks. Very unique for flatland Illinois.

I love this vid! For Texas, I personally would’ve gone with Palo Duro Canyon, definetly just as good as the Grand Canyon, it not even better!

Once again, fantastic video! I really like the way you put your content together. I would like to recommend you check out the Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Texas panhandle. It is an amazing place to visit and the second largest canyon in the United States. I’d love to see a video with your opinions on Palo Duro Canyon.

As for Illinois, I agree that the driftless region is a gem. But check out the many state parks in southern Illinois. The Shawnee National Forest is essentially an extension of the Ozarks. The landscape and culture is what you would expect in Appalachia and not the midwest.

Yay Sinks Canyon!! It’s name comes from how the Popo Agie (pronounced popozhuh) river gets swallowed up by a cave and then gurgles up out of the ground about half a mile down river. It’s very much worth a visit, and as a Fremont County native, I approve

Great video and great list. I would have chose Rifle Falls State Park for Colorado, and think you absolutely nailed Chadron in Nebraska.

I’ve come back to this video quite a few times as I plan my travels. Even though I might suggest a different park in a particular state it’s nevertheless a wonderful list of great parks worth visiting. Thanks!

Another great video Kyle! THANKS! 🤓👍👍 (Two Thumbs Up!)

I live in Maryland and I would recommend seeing Swallow Falls (I think pictured in the video) during the winter. Last winter it was completely frozen with some really cool patterns in it. And yeah I would also recommend beartown for WV, really cool boulders and stuff

excellent list. thank you!

You are spot on-most National Forests, State Parks are just as scenic as the National Parks with out the crowds. If you like the National Parks, look at the lands that are contiguous. You will be delighted.

For NY, I was hoping you were gonna showcase Watkins Glen state park, it’s fascinating. Regardless,another great video Kyle. Beginning to end,always entertaining.

Thanks for posting this Video Geography King! I studied Geography in college, it’s a fascinating subject. Tennessee has won numerous awards for its state park system. Picket is an International Dark Park. Rocky Fork is applying to be a dark park too. Rocky Fork is the Highest State Park in Tennessee , its highest point is 4,310 feet. Thanks for posting all your content, keep up the good work!

A really good list! If you ever make a list of notable local parks, the Garden of the Gods - operated by the city of Colorado Springs - should definitely be included!

No lie, the Oregon coast is absolutely spectacular. An incredible drive - pack a good lunch and when it's time to eat, just stop into a random park and enjoy the beauty. A few years back, I went to Jedidiah State Park in Northern California, along the Pacific Coast, and right across the boarder with Oregon. Endor Forest scenes from Return of the Jedi were filmed there, and the park was serene and beautiful and green. The most incredible thing are the redwoods, a giant, echo-filled forest. Joggers would go by, it was wonderfully cool and breezy, with fern-filled trails all about. California is truly a beautiful state.

Yooooo, NW Georgia is awesome. I'm living in FL and went with my wife on a roadtrip to a couple of the mountain towns there, (Helen, Hiawasee, Spartanburg, etc.) and it was a wonderful trip. Very scenic!

Another one of your great videos

Good list, although for Ohio I would go with Hocking Hills SP for the unique scenery and landscape.

OMG what a great video - thank you so much!!!

Thanks for another great video, Kyle! I've added a number of must-sees to my road trip list. 3:49 I can vouch for Waimea Canyon, Kaua'i, HI, being astounding and otherworldly in its natural beauty. Tropical canyons are pretty rare and interesting features no matter what but this place is special. I remember hiking down 1,000 steps, up 1,000 steps, and ending up on an outcropping. There was no one around and I could hear a goat bleating. I saw a spider the size of my hand that had made a web 6 feet across. I've been around the world and never seen anything resembling this place. I also met a local who said he enjoyed hunting tourists. I think he was joking...?

Great video! Thanks Kyle.

I'm from Oregon so I totally get the appeal of the coast, but I do have to say there are some gems in Central Oregon! Smith Rock, Cove Palisades, Tumalo Falls 😊

Awesome video! I definitely wanna check out some of these! Some of the state parks I really enjoy are Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Missouri, Watkins Glen State Park in New York, Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas, Lost Dutchman State Park in Arizona and Mammoth Spring State Park in Arkansas.

It’s so weird to see someone from outside of Indiana or Kentucky to mention O’Bannon since mostly only locals know about it. I used to go to O’Bannon all the time. On hot summer days I used to go to the waterpark up on the hill to cool down. Beyond the summer, fall is really nice and I highly recommend going at that time if you want to do some picturesque nature hikes there. All the trails there are pretty good so it doesn’t matter much which one you take.

What a great list, I can not wait to visit some of these places!

Love the channel. I do have a small criticism of your choice for the best state park in Illinois. Matthiessen state park, which is very close to starved rock state park, has cliffs, waterfalls, the vermillion river on the west side , and terrain you won’t anywhere else in Illinois.

This is great information. You did a fantastic job compiling this information. I'm from Florida and I agree Florida Caverns is a beautiful state park.