By state

National parks in Missouri

Every national park and public-land unit in Missouri, scored and ranked by our Experience Score.

Missouri's National Park Service sites offer a diverse experience. The Ozark National Scenic Riverways, in the southeast, provides float and camp wilderness. Historic trails like the Lewis and Clark, Oregon, and California National Historic Trails cross the state. They mark westward migrations. Missouri served as America's launching pad for these journeys. Between these larger attractions are several smaller, less crowded sites. Wilson's Creek National Battlefield tells a Civil War story. George Washington Carver National Monument offers a biographical portrait. Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site is located in suburban St. Louis. Gateway Arch attracts many visitors. Overall, Missouri appeals to travelers seeking depth, whether by canoe or on a city riverfront.

Reviewed by Irene A. Taranina, founding editor/Checked against official public data/Published July 2025/Updated August 2026/Independent, no sponsored rankings

parkverdict is an independent digital publication. Not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Sunset picture with high vantage point overlooking river with fall colors and sun setting in distanc

100DOES IT ALL Brock Davis

National Scenic Riverways · MO

Ozark National Scenic Riverways

Ozark National Scenic Riverways earns a perfect experience score.

Men in reproduction uniforms talk around a campfire

88DOES IT ALL Charles Dischinger

National Battlefield · MO

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield commemorates a pivotal early Civil War engagement, the August 10, 1861 battle that claimed the war's first Union general and solidified Missouri's role as a key theater of conflict.

View of house with fence. Autumn colored leaves on trees

78WIDE RANGE NPS Photo

National Historic Site · MO

Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site

Ulysses S.

Small waterfall with brown rocks and green moss

74WIDE RANGE NPS Photo / Alex Wiles

National Historic Trail · IA

Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail

The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail presents a formidable undertaking.

Bronze status of young George Washington Carver atop a large boulder, on the Carver trail.

71WIDE RANGE NPS Photo

National Monument · MO

George Washington Carver National Monument

George Washington Carver National Monument offers a focused, substantive experience.

The Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse with a row of pink blooming cherry trees in front

66GOOD RANGE NPS photo/Jennifer Clark

National Park · MO

Gateway Arch National Park

Gateway Arch National Park is a compact, urban landmark park sitting on the St.

A white canvas wagon sits in front of a large rock buttress with mountains in the distance.

62GOOD RANGE NPS Photo

National Historic Trail · CA

California National Historic Trail

The California National Historic Trail is not a single park you drive to - it is a sprawling 5,000-plus-mile corridor threading through ten states, tracing the routes of more than 250,000 Gold Rush-era emigrants who headed west in the 1840s and 1850s.

A wagon swale is cut deep into limestone rock with trees in background.

62GOOD RANGE NPS photo

National Historic Trail · ID

Oregon National Historic Trail

The Oregon National Historic Trail spans over 2,000 miles across six states, encompassing public lands, private property, urban areas, and wilderness.

Warm light from the setting sun gives an orange glow to a rock bluff overlooking a grassland.

62GOOD RANGE NPS Photo

National Historic Trail · CO

Santa Fe National Historic Trail

The Santa Fe National Historic Trail offers a diffuse experience, stretching for 900-plus miles across Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico.

A rider in a red vest on a horse in a grassy patch surrounded by sagebrush with clouds in the sky.

61GOOD RANGE NPS photo

National Historic Trail · CA

Pony Express National Historic Trail

The Pony Express National Historic Trail is less a park and more a vast historical concept.

large white house, green lawn, two trees in front

59GOOD RANGE NPS

National Historic Trail · AL

Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail spans over 5,000 miles across nine states, marking the 1838-1839 forced removal of the Cherokee Nation.

Frame house made of wood with U.S. and French flags flying on front porch.

57GOOD RANGE NPS/Nick Sacco

National Historical Park · MO

Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park

Ste.

47FOCUSED NPS Photo/Matt Turner

National Historic Site · MO

Harry S Truman National Historic Site

The Harry S Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri, offers a focused, personality-driven historic house museum experience.

How this page is ranked

Behind the Missouri ranking

We sort by the Experience Score, a like-for-like measure of what a unit offers on paper and how reachable it is, pulled from public data and capped so one factor never runs the table. Beauty and crowds are deliberately out of it. That is the lens on all 13 Missouri entries here.

What the ranking cannot tell you: whether the views floor you, how packed a lot gets in July, trail conditions after rain, or how good a ranger walk is. A small, focused site can rank below a sprawling park and still be your better trip. Read the score for what is on offer, then open a unit for the verdict on who it actually suits.