People of the Midwest, Where do you go?

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I have grown up on the West Coast of the USA. When I am overwhelmed, I escape into the mountains, or onto a windswept, wild shore of the Pacific Coast. I don't feel safe in flat lands, exposed, without shade and shelter. I like there to be contour to the land, and new places to explore.

This has been a curiosity of mine for years. I have been blessed with high desert, deep forests, glacial topped peaks, all within a day trip of the crashing surf of the Pacific Coast. I don't have a car right now, but if I did, I could go to the top of a volcano, and then go whale watching all in the same day, if I wanted to.

For people who live in the Midwest, in that place where corn and grass stretch on and on forever, and mill towns live at the fork in the highway, houses circled like wagons in the night, where do you go? Where do you find solace? Where do you explore when you need to get away from the rat race? What kinds of places do you go where you can refresh your soul?

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

The Midwest is far from being flat and featureless. Even the forests are quite varied from the Oak Savannas to the South to the Beech Maple woodlands in this hilly area along the lateral Moraines of Lake Michigan. And, the Great Lakes are nothing like the ponds of the American West: They are inland, freshwater, seas. [edit] A sad problem is that people from other parts of the country visit, thinking that they know lakes, and do not respect these inland seas. Two or three of them die each summer in my area.

I take solace in everything from canoeing/kayaking the big lake and pristine, undeveloped, rivers, to bicycling on rails to trails routes, to hiking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore only minutes away from me. The Midwest has the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with over 1,200 miles of canoe routes in pristine Northern forest covering 1,699 square miles. Westerm Wisconsin has the Driftless Area, a landscape of Cambrian Sandstone ridges and deep valleys untouched by glaciation with the Sparta-Elroy trail, America's first rail trail, running through it and containing three tunnels, one over a mile long. The whitewater rivers on the Canadian Shield are lively and technical.

The landscape of the Midwest is more subtle than Western Landscapes, but there are great ways to enjoy and appreciate it that takes as much skill to feel at home in.

Here's a group of us enjoying the Au Sable, a gold medal trout stream in Michigan.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

The Midwest is far from being flat and featureless. Even the forests are quite varied from the Oak Savannas to the South to the Beech Maple woodlands in this hilly area along the lateral Moraines of Lake Michigan. And, the Great Lakes are nothing like the ponds of the American West: They are inland, freshwater, seas.

I take solace in everything from canoeing/kayaking the big lake and pristine, undeveloped, rivers, to bicycling on rails to trails routes, to hiking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore only minutes away from me. The Midwest has the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with over 1,200 miles of canoe routes in pristine Northern forest covering 1,699 square miles. Westerm Wisconsin has the Driftless Area, a landscape of Cambrian Sandstone ridges and deep valleys untouched by glaciation with the Sparta-Elroy trail, America's first rail trail, running through it and containing three tunnels, one over a mile long. The whitewater rivers on the Canadian Shield are lively and technical.

The landscape of the Midwest is more subtle than Western Landscapes, but there are great ways to enjoy and appreciate it that takes as much skill to feel at home in.

Here's a group of us enjoying the Au Sable, a gold medal trout stream in Michigan.
View attachment 71725

that's really beautiful

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

that's really beautiful

As I said, subtle landscapes to immerse yourself in. So many sensations.

But, honestly, I am entranced by the desert Southwest, the Colorado Plateau. I have run its rivers, hiked and goat-packed its slickrock, hiked through the mazes of the San Raphael Swell, and have seen the Kachinas at Zuni.

 

[Magna]

It sounds like you're wondering more about the "Grain Belt" of the U.S., YD? Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska? As Gerald said, the Great Lakes states like Minnesota are considered in the "Midwest", but it's far from flat. It's geology is widely varied from glacial lakes areas to river bluffs, etc.

South Dakota has the Badlands and reservoirs which can be like large lakes. I've never been there but I know a northern part of Nebraska has bluff country.

 

[Misery]

I'm in Illinois, and for the most part I would indeed describe it as flat/featureless... most of this state is just grass. Having gone on far too-long drives in all directions through it (particularly towards Iowa), I can definitely confirm that bit myself.

The only exceptions are random small towns (sometimes VERY small), and those are... well, I avoid them, I'll put it that way.

As you get closer to Chicago, everything goes all gross (urban, concrete everywhere), so I never go that way.

With it being so spectacularly blank around here, where I REALLY go is to travel bloody far by plane to an island... a very SMALL island... off the coast of Florida.

A truly gorgeous place with a rather odd amount of variety for such a tiny island.

If you want to see it, just have a look at this, I made this post awhile back:

The Island

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I'm in Illinois, and for the most part I would indeed describe it as flat/featureless... most of this state is just grass. Having gone on far too-long drives in all directions through it (particularly towards Iowa), I can definitely confirm that bit myself.

The only exceptions are random small towns (sometimes VERY small), and those are... well, I avoid them, I'll put it that way.

As you get closer to Chicago, everything goes all gross (urban, concrete everywhere), so I never go that way.

With it being so spectacularly blank around here, where I REALLY go is to travel bloody far by plane to an island... a very SMALL island... off the coast of Florida.

A truly gorgeous place with a rather odd amount of variety for such a tiny island.

If you want to see it, just have a look at this, I made this post awhile back:

The Island

Have you ever been to Starved Rock? This time of year, fall hiking through its canyons running to the Illinois river, is quite nice. And, as a metro area goes, the massive mileage of bike trails around Chicago is impressive. A favorite of mine was the North Branch Trail that I would ride from Superdawg (the best hot dogs in the nation) to the beautiful Chicago Botanic Gardens, and back. If you want to study great urban parks for the enjoyment of the people, study Chicago.

 

[Aspychata]

Chicago was so beautiful for a city. Minneapolis has tons of lakes. Quite beautiful. Annandale really stands out. Flagstaff actually has a little ski resort in AZ. Minnesota was flat but has beautiful trees and lots of lakes. Wisconsin is very picturesque, l really enjoyed the spectacular scenery driving to the Dells. South Dakota was another fantastic state to drive around. If you are lucky enough to tour America, it is truly amazing how beautiful this country is. I think l used the word beautiful 50 times. Lol

 

[Suzette]

Most of my adulthood has been spent in Boulder, Colorado at the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. But to the east it is all grass land prarie and semi arid desert.

Grass, sage brush, wild horses, pronghorns and even some bison. This land is "America" in my heart. Wild grasses grow there over 6 feet tall. The prarie chickens and quail, ducks, geese, starlings, cranes, june bugs, lightning bugs, grass hoppers and cicadas...and thunder storms so wild you nose hairs twinge on the ozone in the air. Great cracks of lightening, booming thunder and huge hail stones.

I met a German couple once "in the middle of no where" when I was showing my husband some of my favorite places. Tourists, here in the place most people avoid...why? The said it was because of the sky. The sky stretches on forever. You can still find vistas where there are no wires, towers or homes. No people to bother you.

So, where do you go? Just out your back door, head east a few miles, make a right or a left and continue on until you feel contentment creep in.

 

[Unclewolverine]

I live in kansas, and although I drive my jeep 6 hours a day, I meet probably less than half a dozen people out on the road all day at work. There really isn't a rat race to run from; but generally if someone out here needs to get away, they just go home. During the whole lockdown, which out here was completely unnecessary, we never ran out of things to do on the farm. We restored the garden shed and made the garden larger, we built a new ground floor master bedroom, we tended our animals. You just need to get away from other people and there is plenty of that at home.

 

[Au Naturel]

The term "Midwest" comes from a time when anything west of the Appalachian Mountains was considered west. I think a more appropriate term would be North Central. West of that would be the Great Plains states and then we finally reach the actual western states.

I grew up in Michigan. Minnesota and Wisconsin and Michigan have vast tracts of forest belonging to the state and federal government, long shorelines on freshwater seas, hundreds of smaller lakes, and thousands of miles of creeks and rivers. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio have less wildland due to higher population density but it is still there.

To this day the North Country with its lakes, streams, forested hills, small mountains, and scattered farms defines my ideal of natural beauty. (Isle Royale is perfect heaven!) As a kid, I loved to wander around outdoors "au naturel" and there were many square miles near me where I could do this and be completely safe from discovery.

 

[Misery]

If you want to study great urban parks for the enjoyment of the people, study Chicago.

In all honesty you genuinely could not pay me to go anywhere near that city.

I've done it before. The nightmares linger.

The closest I'm willing to get at this point is the airport, and only because it's the only bloody way to the island.

I'll never understand the appeal of urban zones.

 

[Sherlock77]

I truly believe that beauty is everywhere, in different ways... Some is far more obvious, I do live one hour drive away from Banff National Park, I rarely go there... In the last ten years I have fallen in love with the prairies, much of it is rather flat admittedly, and I think there is beauty in that even... The grandness of the big sky is incredible!

And in Saskatchewan there is lots of varied scenery other than just flat land, right in the middle of the province are the Great Sandhills, a large area of sand/desert in the middle of the prairies, and yes, one of many places on the Canadian prairies that is a great place to get away to...

The nice thing about the prairies is that few people go there, and small towns are great places to explore, and very relaxing...

One photo of the Great Sandhills, mentioned above:

 

[Unclewolverine]

In all honesty you genuinely could not pay me to go anywhere near that city.

I've done it before. The nightmares linger.

The closest I'm willing to get at this point is the airport, and only because it's the only bloody way to the island.

I'll never understand the appeal of urban zones.

I've driven through and delivered loads in the greater Chicago area and I'm sure there are probably nice areas but I'm with misery, the parts I've seen of it I don't want to go back. I also could not be paid enough to live in a city again. I grew up in a small town of 15k and that was too much. I live outside of a town of 1k +or- and that is more than enough.

 

[Sherlock77]

A short montage/photo essay of prairie photos, poem by a friend of mine, this might scare you or not about the prairies, the prairies I have fallen in love with, driving down back roads with virtually no other traffic...

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

No, I haven't spent any time in the midwest before.

I've only been in a big L from British Columbia down to Baja and then straight over to Florida. All those states, plus Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.

I love sagebrush prairies, and valleys with distant hills. I've just seen in pictures and heard stories of people driving for days and seeing nothing but the same landscape. And while tall grass is beautiful, I was wondering if there are any hidden gems, and it sounds like there are many wonderful places to visit in the Midwest.

Have you ever been in Texas, where the sagebrush prairie ends, and you drive up into Sonora, where the pines are? It's so lovely.

Or around the border of Montana and Idaho, where you're driving straight up into the Rockies, passing mining towns as you climb higher and higher, car engine struggling, like you're trying to drive up the side of a knife?

Or on the Ferry from Vancouver BC, heading toward Victoria, and you pass all the islands. The clouds are heavy and full of mist. Oh it must be one of the rare beauties of the world.

There are really incredible places in this world, and I thank you for sharing your little pieces of heaven with me.

 

[Rasputin]

I have grown up on the West Coast of the USA. When I am overwhelmed, I escape into the mountains, or onto a windswept, wild shore of the Pacific Coast. I don't feel safe in flat lands, exposed, without shade and shelter. I like there to be contour to the land, and new places to explore.

This has been a curiosity of mine for years. I have been blessed with high desert, deep forests, glacial topped peaks, all within a day trip of the crashing surf of the Pacific Coast. I don't have a car right now, but if I did, I could go to the top of a volcano, and then go whale watching all in the same day, if I wanted to.

For people who live in the Midwest, in that place where corn and grass stretch on and on forever, and mill towns live at the fork in the highway, houses circled like wagons in the night, where do you go? Where do you find solace? Where do you explore when you need to get away from the rat race? What kinds of places do you go where you can refresh your soul?

There is a lake near my home that I sometimes go to, just to get out and go for a walk. You described much of the landscape where I live, in Nebraska.

 

[Sherlock77]

No, I haven't spent any time in the midwest before.

I've only been in a big L from British Columbia down to Baja and then straight over to Florida. All those states, plus Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.

I love sagebrush prairies, and valleys with distant hills. I've just seen in pictures and heard stories of people driving for days and seeing nothing but the same landscape. And while tall grass is beautiful, I was wondering if there are any hidden gems, and it sounds like there are many wonderful places to visit in the Midwest.

Have you ever been in Texas, where the sagebrush prairie ends, and you drive up into Sonora, where the pines are? It's so lovely.

Or around the border of Montana and Idaho, where you're driving straight up into the Rockies, passing mining towns as you climb higher and higher, car engine struggling, like you're trying to drive up the side of a knife?

Or on the Ferry from Vancouver BC, heading toward Victoria, and you pass all the islands. The clouds are heavy and full of mist. Oh it must be one of the rare beauties of the world.

There are really incredible places in this world, and I thank you for sharing your little pieces of heaven with me.

A story about the prairies, perhaps four years ago during a three day road trip to Saskatchewan (infamous for flat prairies), I stopped in the town of Tompkins for some lunch as I was heading to Val Marie/Grasslands Nat'l Park... Had a great meal in the small cafe on the short main street, and I remember a couple from Spain also being there... This discussion came up with the cafe owner... He talked about the perception of flatness, how that portion of the Trans Canada Highway is very flat, yet if you drive a short distance to the south of Tompkins you would run into rolling hills (ie. not flat), but the average person driving through that stretch for the first time and just passing through without stopping will never notice that...

And Grasslands Nat'l Park (not that far southeast of Tompkins) is a natural wonder, alright very few trees, but there are rolling hills, one gravel road through it, hiking trails, great viewpoints from the top of hills, etc... And it is so isolated with so few visitors that it is free of charge to go in...

 

[Magna]

There is a song from one of my favorite bands from Minneapolis, The Replacements, that laments being "Stuck in the Middle" (ie the Midwest):

Out east they got heat
But we got mosquitoes

They got a west coast scene
Lemme tell ya where the grass grows

Down south they get so drunk
They think they're gonna piddle

Ah there ain't nowhere to go
When you're stuck right in the middle

Nothing on the left
Nothing on the right
Nothing on the left
Nothing on the right
Stuck in
Stuck in the middle
Stuck in
Stuck in the middle

Burgers on the grill
Oh what a thrill

I got a head full of teeth
Got a pocket full of nothing

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty one
Stuck in the middle
Lemme tell ya is some fun

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

There is a lake near my home that I sometimes go to, just to get out and go for a walk. You described much of the landscape where I live, in Nebraska.View attachment 71729View attachment 71730View attachment 71731

People underestimate Nebraska. A favorite of mine was when I motorcycled across it following US 20. I was in awe at the Ashfall Fossil Beds, just west of where the Loess Hills from the last glaciation ends. Then along the Niobrara to Chadron. Someday I will enjoy a canoe trip on the Niobrara. And, the Sand Hills. Spectacular scenery with a lot of history.

No, I haven't spent any time in the midwest before.

I've only been in a big L from British Columbia down to Baja and then straight over to Florida. All those states, plus Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.

I love sagebrush prairies, and valleys with distant hills. I've just seen in pictures and heard stories of people driving for days and seeing nothing but the same landscape. And while tall grass is beautiful, I was wondering if there are any hidden gems, and it sounds like there are many wonderful places to visit in the Midwest.

Have you ever been in Texas, where the sagebrush prairie ends, and you drive up into Sonora, where the pines are? It's so lovely.

Or around the border of Montana and Idaho, where you're driving straight up into the Rockies, passing mining towns as you climb higher and higher, car engine struggling, like you're trying to drive up the side of a knife?

Or on the Ferry from Vancouver BC, heading toward Victoria, and you pass all the islands. The clouds are heavy and full of mist. Oh it must be one of the rare beauties of the world.

There are really incredible places in this world, and I thank you for sharing your little pieces of heaven with me.

I hear ya. There are sublime places on this continent that anybody may seek out. I am reminded of what was said about our National Parks in the book, Mountains Without Handrails:
The parks are places where recreation reflects the aspirations of a free and independent people

They are places where no one else prepares entertainment for the visitor, predetermines his responses, or tells him what to do. In a national park the visitor is on his own, setting an agenda for himself, discovering what is interesting, going at his own pace. The parks provide a contrast to the familiar situation in which we are bored unless someone tells us how to fill our time.