Missouri/Arkansas

Set your course for these Midwest lakes, where you can revel carefree in open water without dodging crowds. At our six pristine vacation playgrounds-from Missouri and Minnesota to Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois-going to the lake means pure relaxation and leaving all your everyday hassles behind.

Bull Shoals

This lake twists and turns like a country two-lane for 80 miles through the Ozark hills of southwest Missouri and north-central Arkansas. Whether you poke along the blue-green channel in a houseboat or stay at a small resort, you'll have Bull Shoals mostly to yourself.

As the sun heats the still afternoon, it's hard to resist a swim in the chilly, spring-fed lake. Cool water temperatures also mean good fishing, even in August.

Easternmost of this area's chain of reservoirs, Bull Shoals winds deeper into the rugged Ozark hills than neighboring and busier Table Rock and Taneycomo lakes.

No bridge crosses Bull Shoals' center, and most of the 750 miles of shore remain undeveloped. The Route-125 Free Ferry shuttles north and south across the giant lake.

Small resorts cluster in pockets along the lake's northeast side and across the Arkansas line. You're sure to think you're lost by the time the gravel side road finally meanders to Turkey Creek Ranch about 50 miles east of Branson until you top a hill and, in the distance, see the serpentine lake.

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