I (as well as most people) have heard about Yellowstone, Yosemite, and other big name parks. What I would like is some suggestions on lesser known state & national parks. I'm looking for great scenery, wildlife, camping, fishing places. Any place in the United States is fine, but midwestern and southern state suggestions would be great.

Thanks,
Julie

White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire

Not that I'm biased or anything...

Great scenery, camping, swimming holes, hiking

We've been to several in Indiana over the past three years because we like to stay at the lodges - actually just got back from one today. My favorite is Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, Indiana - it has waterfalls and interesting trails. The lodge with the most to do is Potowatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana. And, of course, folks come from miles around to see the dunes in my area - Warren Dunes in Sawyer, Michigan is the nicest park to see them from, and it has a great beach and a claypit!

Michelle

I'm sure if you are going to Maine you've got Arcadia National Park on your list, but if you are going to be really south, The Everglades is like no other place in America, but not in the heat of summer! :)

Barbara

The biggest park in the 48 states is Adirondack Park in New York, which is bigger than Yellowstone. It's a much different sort of park than Yellowstone, as it has towns inside the park, but the wildlife and scenery are excellent. According to Wikipedia:

[Adirondack] Park covers some 6.1 million acres (24,700 kmē), a land area about the size of Vermont, or of the Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined.

A couple other state parks that made an impression are Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee and Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. If you watched the movie Galaxy Quest, you saw some scenes shot in Goblin Valley State Park, which is definitely an other-worldly location.

Central Park in New York City is a wonder, but it's a city park and not a state park. Every time I go there, I discover something new.

I haven't been to all the big national parks but the one that caught me by surprise was Channel Islands National Park, off the California coast. (There is regular boat service from Oxnard, CA, and possibly elsewhere.) You can only visit Anacapa Island and it was lovely the day I was there.

--Bob