Skip The Grand Canyon — Visit These 10 Underrated Midwest Alternatives Instead

So, you've seen the Grand Canyon. You've made your way to the south entrance, parked your car, meandered past the Grand Canyon Visitor Center, and made it to Mather Point, like pretty much everyone else that day and every other day. It's enough to make you wish you skipped the Grand Canyon. Not literally, clearly. But perhaps in a flustered moment, you wondered if there were any alternatives you could've visited instead. There are — in fact, you'll find 10 in the Midwest alone.

If you're wondering why you'd even want to skip one of the United States' most iconic vistas, consider yourself lucky. You either haven't been yet or visited at an opportune moment during a lull in the heat, parking, crowds, and the rest of the common tourist complaints about the Grand Canyon. The iconic national park is as busy as it is beautiful.

Finding a facsimile of the Grand Canyon is impossible. Its rare mix of trails, geological wonders, waterfalls, spectacular views, and diverse nature on such an impressive scale (covering 1,904 square miles) cannot be duplicated. But broken down into its parts, you can find the Grand Canyon's many facets sprinkled throughout Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, and even Michigan. Here are 10 places you can find a microdose of the Grand Canyon in the Midwest, without having to elbow your way around to get a good view.

The closest like-for-like swap for the Grand Canyon is a 1,100-acre piece of Missouri made up of sandstone cliffs and box canyons. Hickory Canyons Natural Area in eastern Missouri may not be a dead ringer for the magnificent Grand Canyon because of its diminutive size. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in character. After rainy periods, a 40-foot waterfall bookends one of the canyons. Alongside the cliffs and canyons, a diverse collection of plants grows, from oaks and sugar maples to wild azaleas, with woodpeckers fluttering overhead and bobcats roaming about. The area's dual hiking trails lead guests to scenic views of the canyons.

If you're looking for a bucolic, almost too quiet alternative to the Grand Canyon, Apple River Canyon State Park may be worth a gander. Resting just one hour west of Rockford, the 1,907-acre scenic oasis of a state park contains all the limestone bluffs, springs, streams, and ravines one would need for a memorable weekend away. The Apple River is the flowing heart of the state park, eroding the limestone for centuries to create the canyon. The state park's waters are also home to trout. Guests frequently note its lack of crowds, making it a sleeper pick in the underrated-yet-worth-it category.

If your ideal trip to the Grand Canyon involves a long trek or paddling down a river in a canoe, Shades State Park may scratch your itch. The 3,000-acre park lies an hour west of Indianapolis. The park's many hiking trails offer everything from a light stroll to a moderate trek. Its Six Ravine Hiking Challenge lets visitors take up to three hours to traverse the Shades' ravines, with ladders and waterfalls along the way. Like many other destinations on this list, it may lack the Grand Canyon's grandeur, yet it has the requisite canyons and rugged vistas, sans the crowds.

How about the steady sound of rushing water churning through a 300-foot-deep gorge that at times can be a mile wide? All the Grand Canyon alternatives have, until now, been relatively diminutive in size. But Michigan's Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness adds size to the equation. The 16,700-acre destination includes waterfalls, terraces, and gorgeous vistas from the gorge's edge. The thick pine and hemlock forests offer a bit of greenery to the equation, too. The only downside is its remoteness, as it's tucked away in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the eastern edge of the Ottawa National Forest, itself an underrated wonderland of waterfalls and trails.

As far as underrated alternatives to the Grand Canyon go, Starved Rock State Park lies somewhere near the top of the list. Located 90 minutes southwest of Chicago, it's a destination-worthy wildflower wonderland. Its 13 miles of marked trails cover the state park's imposing bluffs (which soar about 100 feet above the Illinois River), with a diverse array of plant and animal life calling the area home. You won't have the place to yourself, though. A 2025 report by Google Maps suggests it's among the most popular state parks in the United States, with over two million visitors annually. However, the park's trails are currently undergoing extensive renovations, so you might have some more breathing room once the upgrades are finished.

If you put together a list of the Grand Canyon's so-called main ingredients, you'd probably list a river, rocks, and a canyon out in the wilderness. Well, Michigan's Upper Peninsula features a 4,700-acre bucolic getaway comprised of those exact same features — they're even spelled out in its name. The Rock River Canyon Wilderness lies between Marquette and Munising, where the Rock River and Silver Creek cascade down a tear in the Earth's surface that's up to 150 feet in depth, creating two separate canyons with waterfalls and ice caves to boot. Visitors claim just getting there is an adventure in itself, but a worthwhile one.

The Grand Canyon's immense size naturally lends itself to an immense experience. Turkey Run State Park in Indiana offers the same potential for diverse adventures, as it's one of the state's best natural wonders, filled with sandstone ravines and abandoned coal mines. It's quite popular, too, with over 800,000 visitors annually making the 80-minute trek west of Indianapolis. The park's sandstone ravines create imposing facades that line every visitor's journey through Turkey Run, with 11 trails (from easy to very rugged) leading to scenic views or under the edges of cliffs. Reaching some requires crossing an iconic suspension bridge standing over Sugar Creek.

The Grand Canyon's immensity makes for a logistical headache. You simply cannot make it a quick jaunt. Missouri's 171-acre Pickle Springs Natural Area takes care of that issue, offering a condensed version of the Grand Canyon's best features. Its imposing sandstone formations, wet-weather waterfalls, and box canyon offer a serene escape into nature, less than 90 minutes south of St. Louis. Be sure to check out its Trail Through Time, a "Best Of" collection that traverses the area's unique rock formations, waterfalls, and overlooks.

The Grand Canyon keeps cropping up in smaller doses in the Show Me State. Hawn State Park, about 70 minutes south of St. Louis, mimics its larger counterpart with canyons, cliffs, creeks, and waterfalls, making it one of Missouri's prettiest state parks. The nearly 5,000-acre park is home to several trails, camping, diverse nature, and geological nerd-ery. Its Whispering Pine Wild Area occupies a large chunk of the park, covered in pines and oaks, with bucolic wildlife scenes to boot. It's exactly the sort of antidote to crowds one might seek after visiting the Grand Canyon.

As far as Grand Canyon stand-ins go, this one is arguably a little too on the nose. Illinois' Little Grand Canyon Trail in the Shawnee National Forest offers a natural wonder with breathtaking views at the bottom, living up to its namesake. Located on the state's southerly border with Missouri, it's about two hours from St. Louis. Try to visit between spring and fall, when the vegetation either blooms or changes hues. The 3-mile-long trail offers a wide range of eye-catching views, from overlooks that peer out at the 300-foot bluffs to spots that let you gaze upward at those very same bluffs from below. The trail isn't for novices, though, with a moderate-to-difficult rating and plenty of steep, strenuous sections.