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Just thought I'd throw this out there, because for the most part people make the Midwest out to be as flat and open as the Great Plains. While some states meet this criteria, particularly most of Illinois and Indiana, I know there are areas of the Midwest that are far from flat. Some examples would be the Missouri Ozarks, The Porcupine Mountains of Michigan, and Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota, as well as the area in Northwest Illinois, Northeastern Iowa, Southeastern Minnesota, and Southwestern Wisconsin that escaped glaciation, in addition to Appalachian Ohio. While I know that certain cities in the Midwest like Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis are pretty level in terrain, there are other cities I have found that are not...St. Louis has its flat areas but also has big rolling hills too...the same with Kansas City, Cincinnati, and parts of Cleveland. I guess I was curious if Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis are really as flat as people make them out to be...what is the terrain of Milwaukee and the Twin Cities like? I know the Midwest can be flat in a lot of areas, but I know in other areas it has rolling hills too.
Omaha, Nebraska is quite hilly. After living in Champaign, IL, I thought Indy was hilly! OTOH, I was never very impressed by the "hills" in NW Illinois. Didn't look much different than Champaign to me.
Just thought I'd throw this out there, because for the most part people make the Midwest out to be as flat and open as the Great Plains. While some states meet this criteria, particularly most of Illinois and Indiana, I know there are areas of the Midwest that are far from flat. Some examples would be the Missouri Ozarks, The Porcupine Mountains of Michigan, and Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota, as well as the area in Northwest Illinois, Northeastern Iowa, Southeastern Minnesota, and Southwestern Wisconsin that escaped glaciation, in addition to Appalachian Ohio. While I have heard that certain cities in the Midwest like Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis are pretty level in terrain, there are other cities I have found that are not...St. Louis has its flat areas but also has big rolling hills too...the same with Kansas City, Cincinnati, and parts of Cleveland. I guess I was curious if Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis are really as flat as people make them out to be...what is the terrain of Milwaukee and the Twin Cities like? I know the Midwest can be flat in a lot of areas, but I know in other areas it has rolling hills too.
Indianapolis is not "level in terrain", ajf. It is very flat in areas, but not overwhelmingly so like Chicago or Detroit. In fact, some areas have some pretty tall hills (Crown Hill, Mann Hill) and there is like a 250-foot difference in elevation across the city.
The badlands/black hills ND/SD, very well not flat. Not much of a city around there though, but you can go to the Ozarks near Springfield, MO out to Tulsa, OK and it would be the most mountainous region in between the Apps and the Rockies.
Last edited by RangerDuke08; 12-20-2008 at 08:21 PM..
Also ajf, if you take a look at the "terrain" feature of Google Maps, you can see that quite a few areas even in the flat parts of the the Midwest have steep river valleys with some pretty good topography nearby.
Yes, Duluth is lovely. Dubuque Iowa is not flat, nor are a lot of other Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River cities. Hannibal Missouri has some serious hills, and even, Atchison Kansas.
Rapid City's in the Black Hills.
Minneapolis was surprisingly hilly and had lots of bluffs around the Mississippi River. I hear Tulsa is hilly.
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