BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER AND AUTHOR OF “NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND” BLOG
UPDATED 5/21/26
Have you ever visited a national park, monument, or other National Park Service (NPS) property? If not, now is a great time to start. According to the NPS, “the National Park System covers more than 85 million acres and is comprised of 433 sites with at least 19 different designations.”
The good news: that’s a lot of options—especially if you live outside the Chicago area.
The bad news for Chicagoans: there are only a few NPS properties in the Chicagoland area. But let’s make lemonade out of lemons. Here are six noteworthy NPS natural and historical destinations to check out this weekend—or at any other time. Some destinations typically require a full weekend.
1. Indiana Dunes National Park (50 miles from downtown Chicago): One of our nation’s newest national parks! Yes, there are towering dunes, sandy beaches, and crashing surf at this NPS treasure, but also wetlands, rivers, prairies, swamps, bogs, marshes, and quiet forests. The national park’s 15,000 acres feature 50 miles of trails, as well as more than 1,100 native plants, which places it fourth in plant diversity among all NPS sites. More than 350 bird species have been sighted at the lakeshore. Looking for itinerary advice? Click here for tips on what to do if you have 1–2 hours, a half day, or an entire weekend to spend at the lakeshore. And click here for my article about the park, and here for my article about its neighbor, Indiana Dunes State Park.
2. Pullman National Monument. One of the NPS’s newer monuments is located on the far south side of Chicago. You won’t find nature in abundance, but rather a wealth of history about the first model, planned industrial community in the United States and the Pullman Company, the founder of the community. Another noteworthy site in the Pullman Historic District is the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, which explores African-American labor history. A. Philip Randolph was a labor and civil rights leader, and the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a union that represented African-American railroad porters during contentious battles with the Pullman Company over worker rights. (A quick note from the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum’s website: “The museum property is undergoing Expansion Construction. ANTICIPATED, RE-OPENING SPRING 2026. However, during this time, many of our programs and events are occurring off-site.”)
3. Lincoln Home National Historic Site (200 miles from downtown Chicago in Springfield, Illinois). Surveys of presidential historians and the general public typically rank Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) as the greatest president. So why not tour his Springfield, Illinois, 12-room, Greek Revival house, in which he lived for 17 years before becoming president? While in Springfield, also consider checking out The Lincoln Depot, where the president-elect gave a farewell speech before heading to Washington, D.C. in 1861; the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum; and the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. If you’re on a presidential site kick, also check out the Ulysses S. Grant Home in Galena, Illinois (about 170 miles from Chicago). Note, the Grant (1822–1885) home is not part of the National Park Service. Galena is full of Grant history.
4. Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (about 211 miles from downtown Chicago in West Branch, Iowa). Herbert Clark Hoover (1874–1964) was the 31st President of the United States. According to the Hoover Presidential Library, he “was born in West Branch, Iowa, where he enjoyed fishing in the local creek and working in his father’s blacksmith shop.” Hoover only lived in Iowa for the first decade of his life. He was orphaned at age 9 and left Iowa to travel to Oregon to live with his maternal uncle, Henry Minthorn. Hoover enjoyed a life of achievement that included positions as a mining engineer, humanitarian, and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. At the historic site, you can visit president Hoover’s birthplace cottage, his father’s blacksmith shop, and other historic structures. You can also visit the gravesite of the president and his wife and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum.
5. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail “spans 1,200 miles, traverses some of Wisconsin’s finest geologic and glacial features, and passes through the ancestral lands of 15 Tribes,” according to the NPS. The trail stretches from Door County in the east to northwest Wisconsin. The nearest access point from Chicago is the Janesville segment (which is about 110 miles from downtown Chicago). The Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA) says that “this segment uses the City of Janesville’s extensive paved trail system that links parks to create an urban greenbelt.” The IATA is an excellent resource to learn more about the trail. There are other trail access points near Janesville.
6. Effigy Mounds National Monument (220 miles from downtown Chicago). More than 1,200 years ago, a culture known today as the Effigy Moundbuilders began building mounds of earth in the shapes of birds, bison, bear, lynx, turtle, deer, and other animals along the Upper Mississippi River and in other areas in what is now Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Some were burial mounds. Archaeologists speculate that others were used to mark celestial events or serve as boundaries between tribes. Effigy Mounds National Monument, which is located three miles north of Marquette, Iowa, features more than 200 mounds in what many consider to be one of the most beautiful areas of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Note that the Fire Point Trail involves a somewhat-challenging climb up switchbacks that is entirely doable for those in good health/shape. Is hiking the Fire Point Trail worth it? YES. The views of the Mississippi River from Fire Point were beautiful, the forests were filled with wildflowers and birdsong when we hiked, and discovering and tracing the shapes of the animal effigies was both enjoyable and awe inspiring.
Here are four things to check out at Effigy Mounds and the surrounding area that I did not get a chance to see during my visit:
- The Marching Bear Group in the South Unit. Many consider it the most impressive collection of effigy mounds in the monument. An EMNM staff member told me the following about the trail’s hiking difficulty: “The elevation gain for both trails (i.e, Fire Point and Marching Bear) is about 400 feet. The South Unit trail differs from the North Unit in that the trail does not switch back up and is gravel, not wood chips. If you hiked in the North Unit without issue I do not see the Marching Bear Trail being any problem. Just keep in mind that to get to the Marching Bear Group and back is four miles.”
- The one-mile Yellow River Boardwalk Trail, which travels through a wetland environment. It is accessible for those with disabilities. Located south of the visitor center.
- Sny Magill Unit. Features the largest mound group, and is located about 12 miles south of the visitor center. Ask the rangers at the visitor center for directions to this remote unit.
- The Driftless Area Wetlands Centre, an environmental education facility that features information on wetlands, prairie, wildlife displays and animals native to the Driftless Area. Located just south of Effigy Mounds.
Click here to learn about other NPS parks and properties. The database is searchable by type of activity (e.g., hiking, caving, state, stargazing, historical), state, and other criteria.
© Andrew Morkes (text); MAIN ARTICLE: all photos copyright National Park Service except if otherwise credited
PHOTOS-MAIN ARTICLE PHOTO: Ice Age Trail Sign, Wikipedia Commons; Ice Age Trail Map, U.S. Department of the Interior; Hoover Schoolhouse, John Eicher, NPS; all other images, © Andrew Morkes
Looking for some other great nature destinations in Chicagoland? If so, check out my book, Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit. It features amazing destinations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Click on the title to learn more. The book has 306 pages and 210+ photos and is only $19.99.
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ABOUT ANDREW MORKES
I’ve been a writer and editor for more than 30 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the author and publisher of The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I also served as a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school for five years.
In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 80 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, College Readiness: The Vault Guide for High School Juniors and Seniors, the Vault Career Guide to Consulting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series), Lerner Publishing, and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades, Hands-On Careers, Social Media Today, Woman in STEM Careers, Getting Started, and Cool Careers in Science series).
Here’s a list of the environmental- and clean energy-focused titles that I’ve written or co-written:
- Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit
- Wind Turbine Technicians (Great Careers Without a Bachelor’s Degree series)
- Environmental Scientists (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Renewable Energy Careers (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Environment (Getting Started series)
- Solar Power Technicians (Careers in Infrastructure series)
- Women in Environmental Sciences (Women in STEM Careers)
Articles about my work have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Practical Homeschooling, and other publications. My photographs of musicians, artists, and the natural world have been published in several books. My poetry has been published in Cadence, Wisconsin Review, Poetry Motel, Strong Coffee, and Mid-America Review. As an amateur artist, I’m pleased to say that four of my paintings were included in the 2025 Beverly Art Walk.
