We Visited All 63 U.S. National Parks

When visited:            May, 2021

When Established:   February, 2018

Park ranking:            63 out of 63

Why to go:               Gateway Arch

Why not to go:        There are many national monuments and state parks with more to offer than this park

When Gateway Arch became a national park in 2018, we knew that we needed to plan a trip to St. Louis to reach our goal of visiting all the U.S. national parks.  When COVID arrived in 2020, we shifted our travel focus to USA destinations.  We planned our visit to St. Louis to coincide with a visit to Busch Stadium by the New York Mets.  After our visit, we left St. Louis to head to Salt Lake City for our son’s college graduation from the University of Utah. Afterwards we all went to California to visit Pinnacles National Park.

Visiting St. Louis in May, 2021 was not seeing the city in its prime.  The city was pretty empty as it had not yet recovered from COVID.  However, that made accessing the baseball tickets much easier as well as attending Gateway Arch National Park. We also attended the St. Louis Botanical Gardens.

The park is located in downtown St. Louis on the Mississippi River.  This made access to the park quite simple as there are ample hotels in downtown St. Louis.  We chose a hotel near the arch and the ball park.

Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse, St. Louis, Missouri

The national park consists of the Gateway Arch, a steel arch that has become the definitive icon of St. Louis; a park along the Mississippi River on the site of the earliest buildings of the city and the Old Courthouse, where the Dred Scott case originated.   It is the smallest national park in the United States at 192 acres, less than 2% the size of the next-smallest, Hot Springs National Park.

Gateway Arch and Reflecting Pool

The Arch, known as the “Gateway to the West,” is the tallest structure in Missouri. There is a unique tram system to carry passengers to the observation room at the top of the arch. We purchased our tickets for the tram car to the top of the arch. Prior to our tram ride we explored the arch from multiple angles.  We were able to get directly under the arch and were amazed by the width of the base.  There are multiple walking trails that allow you enjoy different views of the arch but also see the river and watch for a variety of bird life.  Our weather was wonderful, which made the arch almost impossible to not be photographed from every vantage point.

Gateway Arch base

We did the elevator ride via COVID so there were restrictions – in addition no video cameras were allowed.  We had our own tram car to the top which felt like climbing the first hill of a gigantic roller coaster as the climb is at an angle.  Once reaching the top, we had ample time to view the city including the stadium and the old court house on one side and the Mississippi River on the other.  We descended down without any incident and were glad to have done the ride.  It’s visiting the tallest structure in Missouri!

Aside from visiting the top of the Arch, visiting the museum and Old State House, there isn’t much to do.  There are plenty of areas for a picnic and time to observe the bird and boat life on the river.

Several hours is enough time to visit the entire area and walk the grounds.  Quite simply, this should be a national monument and not a national park – but it is a good reason to visit St. Louis.