World Heritage State Parks

Several state parks are World Heritage Sites or on the Word Heritage Tentative List, including:

1. Redwoods State Parks, California – a World Heritage site, together with Redwoods National Park, including Jedediah Smith, Del Norte Coast, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks

Serpent Mound, Serpent Mound State Memorial — Serpent Mound State Memorial, Ohio

2. Serpent Mound State Memorial, Ohio – World Heritage Tentative List

Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

3. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Illinois – a World Heritage Site

4. Poverty Point State Historic Site, Louisiana – a World Heritage Site

5. Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia (deep inside, but jurisdictionally distinct from, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which is on the World Heritage Tentative List)

Top 15 State Parks

These are my picks for the Top 15 State Parks, in addition to the World Heritage ones listed above. And below this list I have a list of my picks for the Top 3 State Parks of each state. But did I miss any? Did I pick ones that you like? Please leave me a comment with your picks for the best state parks!

Fort Mackinac, Marquette Park, and Mackinac Island Harbor, Mackinac Island State Park

1. Mackinac Island State Park, Michigan (was the second national park designated)

Mount Katahdin from Sandy Stream Pond, Baxter State Park, Maine

2. Baxter State Park, Maine (adjacent to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument)

3. Niagara Falls State Park, New York

4. Adirondacks, New York (A state park, but considered a forest preserve, and its land is intermixed with private land and towns)

The Needles in Custer State Park — Custer State Park, South Dakota

5. Custer State Park, South Dakota (adjacent to Wind Cave National Park)

6. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

7. Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah

8. Ecola State Park, Oregon

9. Red Rock State Park, Arizona

10. Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas

11. Mount Washington State Park, New Hampshire (adjacent to White Mountains National Forest)

12. Nā Pali Coast State Park, Hawaii

13. Chugach State Park, Alaska

14. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Florida (adjacent to Biscayne National Park)

15. Antelope Island State Park, Utah

Top 3 State Parks in Each State and Each Region

Northwest

- - Oregon’s Pacific Coast state parks
  - Chugach State Park, Alaska
  - Lime Kiln Point State Park, Washington

Alaska

1. Chugach State Park

2. Denali State Park (adjacent to Denali National Park)

3. Totem Bight State Historic Park

Washington

1. Lime Kiln Point State Park

2. Deception Pass State Park

3. Moran State Park

Oregon

1. Oregon’s Pacific Coast state parks

- - Devils Punchbowl State Natural Area
  - Ecola State Park – near Cannon Beach with Haystack Rock
  - Fort Stevens State Park – next to Astoria and Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
  - Neptune State Scenic Viewpoint – next to Thor’s Well in Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, part of Siuslaw National Forest

2. Silver Falls State Park

3. Valley of the Rogue River State Park

Idaho

1. Ponderosa State Park

2. Bruneau Dunes State Park

3. Priest Lake State Park

Montana

1. Flathead Lake State Park

- - Wayfarers
  - Yellow Bay
  - Finley Point
  - West Shore
  - Big Arm
  - Wild Horse Island

2. Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park (previously Lewis and Clark Cavern National Monument)

3. Giant Springs State Park

Honorable Mention: Pictograph Cave State Park

Mid-Pacific

- - Redwoods state parks, California
  - Big Sur Coast state parks, California
  - Nā Pali Coast State Park, Hawaii

McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur Coast, California

South Dakota

1. Custer State Park (adjacent to Wind Cave National Park)

2. Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area

3. Fort Sisseton State Park

Nebraska

1. Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park

2. Indian Cave State Park

3. Arbor Lodge State Historical Park and Arboretum

Honorable mention to Ethel and Christopher J. Abbott Visitor Center, which is managed by the State of Nebraska’s “History Nebraska” (the Nebraska State Historical Society), as the visitor center for Chimney Rock National Historic Site.

Kansas

1. Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park

2. Mushroom Rock State Park

3. Kanopolis State Park

Iowa

1. Pikes Peak State Park

2. Maquoketa Caves State Park

3. Loess Hills state parks

- - Preparation Canyon State Park
  - Loess Hills Scenic Overlook
  - Loess Hills State Forest

Missouri

1. Ha Ha Tonka State Park

2. Prairie State Park

3. Meramec State Park (next to Meramec Caverns)

Great Lakes

- Mackinac Island State Park, Michigan
- Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Illinois (a World Heritage Site)
- Serpent Mound State Memorial, Ohio (World Heritage Tentative List)

Upper Tahquamenon Falls — Fort Mackinac, Marquette Park, and Mackinac Island Harbor at Mackinac Island State Park, Michigan