Missouri outdoors

Echo Bluff State Park offers a setting of cliffs and clear waters on the former Camp Zoe property, with family-friendly accommodations and outdoor recreation.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Swimming
• ·Fishing

Felix Vallé House State Historic Site preserves an 1818 American-Federal style house in Ste. Genevieve furnished in the style of the 1830s.

• Historic Site

Finger Lakes State Park is one of two ATV parks in the state system, built in a former coal mining area with trails, a motocross track, and a mountain bike trail.

• Camping
• ·Swimming
• ·Fishing
• ·Paddling

First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site in St. Charles preserves the first seat of state government, with interpretive programs on early 1800s life.

• Historic Site
• ·Picnicking
• ·Biking
• ·Hiking

Gen. John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site preserves the Laclede house where the general grew up and the school where he once taught.

• Historic Site
• ·Picnicking

Gov. Daniel Dunklin's Grave State Historic Site sits on a bluff above the Mississippi River at Herculaneum, marking the grave of Missouri's fifth governor.

• Historic Site

Graham Cave State Park spans 386 acres around a cave occupied 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, with interpretive exhibits and access to the Loutre River.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Boating
• ·Fishing

Grand Gulf State Park, called the Little Grand Canyon, presents the most spectacular collapsed cave system in the Ozarks, with a natural bridge and overlook trails.

• Hiking
• ·Picnicking

Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site preserves the small frame house where the only U.S. president born in Missouri was born.

• Historic Site

Harry S Truman State Park sits on a peninsula on Truman Lake with a marina, swimming areas, hiking trails, and campsites among open oak woodlands.

• Fishing
• ·Boating
• ·Camping
• ·Hiking

Hawn State Park covers 4,956 acres of pine and oak hills, sandy-bottom streams, and sandstone canyons, with a backpacking trail considered one of the best in the state.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Picnicking
• ·Wildlife Viewing

Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site preserves a stately Bootheel mansion furnished in 1860s to 1880s style with most of its original furnishings.

• Historic Site

Iliniwek Village State Historic Site preserves the only Illinois Indian village site found in Missouri, occupied from about 1640 through the late 1670s.

• Historic Site
• ·Picnicking
• ·Hiking

Jewell Cemetery State Historic Site in Columbia contains the grave of Missouri's 22nd governor, Charles Hardin, along with members of the Jewell family.

• Historic Site
• ·Picnicking

Katy Trail State Park is the longest developed rail-trail in the country, running 240 miles between Clinton and Machens with 26 trailheads along the Missouri River.

• Biking
• ·Hiking
• ·Horseback Riding
• ·Wildlife Viewing

Knob Noster State Park is an open oak woodland with prairie patches along Clearfork Creek, featuring trails for mountain bikers, hikers, and horseback riders.

• Camping
• ·Paddling
• ·Biking
• ·Hiking

Lake of the Ozarks State Park borders one of Missouri's largest lakes with two swimming beaches, boat ramps, trails, and a range of overnight accommodations.

• Swimming
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating
• ·Camping

Lake Wappapello State Park offers a modern campground, cabins, and miles of trails for hikers, backpackers, and horseback riders with easy access to the lake.

• Fishing
• ·Boating
• ·Swimming
• ·Camping

Lewis and Clark State Park borders an oxbow lake noted in William Clark's 1804 journal, with broad open spaces and abundant bird life including herons, eagles, and swans.

• Camping
• ·Picnicking
• ·Wildlife Viewing
• ·Hiking

Locust Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site preserves an 1868 white pine bridge built with the Howe-truss system, the longest of Missouri's four remaining covered bridges.

• Historic Site
• ·Picnicking

Long Branch State Park provides three boat ramps on Long Branch Lake plus a swimming beach, marina store, and trails through prairie and savanna remnants.

• Fishing
• ·Boating
• ·Swimming
• ·Camping

Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site preserves the two-room cabin where Samuel Clemens was born, along with first editions and furnishings from his Connecticut home.

• Historic Site
• ·Fishing

Mark Twain State Park in the Salt River Hills gives visitors access to Mark Twain Lake, with bluffs, hardwood forests, boat ramps, and more than six miles of trails.

• Fishing
• ·Boating
• ·Camping
• ·Swimming

Mastodon State Historic Site contains the Kimmswick Bone Bed, where scientists found the first solid evidence of humans coexisting with the American mastodon.

• Historic Site
• ·Hiking
• ·Picnicking
• ·Playground

Meramec State Park follows the Meramec River past majestic bluffs and a dramatic cave entrance, with more than 13 miles of trails and tours of Fisher Cave.

• Hiking
• ·Swimming
• ·Fishing
• ·Paddling

Missouri Mines State Historic Site interprets lead mining history in the Old Lead Belt through a museum housed in the former St. Joe Lead Co. powerhouse.

• Historic Site

Montauk State Park sits at the headwaters of the Current River, where springs supply over 40 million gallons of trout water daily, with an 1896 gristmill and trails.

• Fishing
• ·Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Picnicking

Morris State Park preserves Crowley's Ridge, a geologic oddity rising 200 feet above the Mississippi River flood plain, with a 2.25-mile loop trail and rare plant species.

• Hiking
• ·Wildlife Viewing

Nathan and Olive Boone Homestead State Historic Site preserves the 1830s home of Daniel Boone's youngest son and the cemeteries associated with it.

• Hiking
• ·Picnicking
• ·Historic Site

Onondaga Cave State Park protects a National Natural Landmark cave with stalagmites, stalactites and flowstones, plus access to the Meramec River.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating

Osage Village State Historic Site preserves a hilltop where a village once housed 2,000 to 3,000 people in about 200 lodges between 1700 and 1775.

• Hiking
• ·Historic Site

Pershing State Park preserves a slice of pre-settlement landscape with a boardwalk trail through wet prairie, oxbow sloughs and bottomland forest.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating

With locations on both sides of Pomme de Terre Lake, the park offers a marina, boat ramps, swimming beaches, trails and lodging.

• Camping
• ·Cabins
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing

Prairie State Park preserves much of Missouri's remaining tallgrass prairie, with panoramic vistas, wildflowers and a resident bison herd.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Picnicking
• ·Wildlife Viewing

Set in a deep, rugged Ozark valley, Roaring River State Park is one of three Missouri parks stocked with rainbow trout.

• Camping
• ·Cabins
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing

Bordered by the Meramec River and Calvey Creek, Robertsville State Park offers fishing, boating, scenic bluffs and a quiet campground.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating

Just minutes from Columbia, Rock Bridge Memorial State Park offers popular hiking and biking trails plus the Devil's Icebox cave system.

• Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Picnicking
• ·Playground

Rock Island Trail State Park is a rail-to-trail corridor with 47.5 developed miles for bicyclists, hikers and equestrians across west-central Missouri.

• Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Horseback Riding

Route 66 State Park interprets the historic Mother Road through a visitor center in a 1935 roadhouse, with trails and abundant birdlife near St. Louis.

• Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Horseback Riding
• ·Picnicking

Set in the ancient St. Francois Mountains along the St. Francis River and Big Creek, Sam A. Baker State Park offers wooded trails and water recreation.

• Camping
• ·Cabins
• ·Hiking
• ·Backpacking

Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site preserves a Howe-truss covered bridge built in 1872, one of four remaining in Missouri.

• Picnicking
• ·Swimming
• ·Historic Site

This historic site preserves an Arrow Rock cemetery established in 1856 for enslaved people and used by Black Americans into the 21st century.

• Historic Site

Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site holds the graves of Dr. John Sappington and two Missouri governors, Marmaduke and Jackson.

• Historic Site

Scott Joplin House State Historic Site preserves the St. Louis flat where the ragtime composer rented a room in 1902, with museum exhibits on his life.

• Historic Site

St. Francois State Park offers forested ridges and cool hollows, with three hiking trails through the Coonville Creek Wild Area and Big River access.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Horseback Riding
• ·Fishing

St. Joe State Park is one of two off-road vehicle parks in the state system, with extensive trails, four lakes and two swimming beaches.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Horseback Riding

Near Branson, Table Rock State Park serves as an outdoor recreation base camp with marina rentals, hiking and biking trails and lakeside campsites.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Fishing

Taum Sauk Mountain State Park includes the highest point in Missouri, with wooded glades, Ozark Trail access and a basic campground.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Backpacking
• ·Picnicking

This Kansas City site preserves the home and studio of painter Thomas Hart Benton, including his carriage-house studio left as it was at his 1975 death.

• Historic Site

Centered on Forest Lake, Thousand Hills State Park offers fishing, swimming, boating, trails and petroglyphs left by inhabitants over 1,500 years ago.

• Camping
• ·Cabins
• ·Hiking
• ·Biking

Towosahgy State Historic Site preserves a former fortified Mississippian village and ceremonial center occupied between A.D. 1000 and 1400, with visible mounds.

• Historic Site

Trail of Tears State Park marks where nine Cherokee detachments crossed the Mississippi River during the forced 1838 to 1839 relocation, with a visitor center.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Horseback Riding
• ·Fishing

Union Covered Bridge State Historic Site preserves an 1871 bridge, the only one of Missouri's four remaining covered bridges built with a Burr-arch truss.

• Historic Site

Wakonda State Park's six clear lakes attract migratory waterfowl and offer fishing, boating and a swimming beach near La Grange.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating

Less than an hour from Kansas City, Wallace State Park offers a 6-acre lake, four scenic trails, shaded picnic sites and a family campground.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating

Washington State Park features petroglyphs, rugged Ozark overlooks and CCC stonework, with Big River access for swimming and fishing.

• Camping
• ·Cabins
• ·Hiking
• ·Backpacking

Watkins Mill State Park surrounds a 100-acre lake with a paved bicycle path, fishing, camping and abundant deer and wild turkeys near Kansas City.

• Camping
• ·Biking
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing

Near Kansas City, Weston Bend State Park offers secluded picnic sites, a campground and sweeping Missouri River views from trails and a scenic overlook.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Picnicking

Van Meter State Park features remnants of a Missouria Indian village at the Great Bend of the Missouri River, with hiking trails, an 18-acre fishing lake, and a cultural center.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing
• ·Boating

Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site preserves Fort Davidson and the battlefield of an 1864 Civil War battle, with a visitor center, museum, and hiking trail.

• Historic Site
• ·Picnicking
• ·Hiking
• ·Playground

Clark's Hill/Norton State Historic Site preserves a hill the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped beneath in 1804, with a trail past American Indian mounds to an overlook.

• Hiking
• ·Historic Site

Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park near St. Louis features Civilian Conservation Corps architecture along with hiking, bicycling, and equestrian trails.

• Camping
• ·Hiking
• ·Biking
• ·Horseback Riding

Confluence Point State Park sits where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers merge, with wetlands in the Mississippi Flyway that attract waterfowl, bald eagles, and raptors.

• Fishing
• ·Hiking
• ·Wildlife Viewing

Missouri State Museum and Jefferson Landing State Historic Site house exhibits on the state's natural and cultural history at the Capitol and a historic river commerce district.

• Historic Site

Stockton State Park sits on Stockton Lake, drawing visitors for sailing, water skiing, swimming, fishing and boating with a steady southwest breeze.

• Camping
• ·Cabins
• ·Hiking
• ·Fishing

Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site preserves an 1870s estate whose three-story woolen mill is the only U.S. 19th century textile mill with original machinery intact.

• Historic Site