The Gem Hunt
America decides what makes the map.
Every state has a spot the algorithms miss — the one locals send strangers to. Name it. Vote on the finalists. The winners get built into Roamward, the scenic road-trip app that proves you actually went. No download required to play.
Nominate
What does Illinois do better than anywhere?
One hidden gem — a place a chatbot would never know. The most-named spots become finalists, and the crowd votes the winner into Roamward.
Vote
Illinois gems, most-loved first
- 1Cave-in-Rock State ParkA 55-foot-wide limestone cave yawning straight onto the Ohio River in far-southern Illinois, once a hideout for river pirates, with a little ferry still shuttling cars across to Kentucky.
- 2Garden of the GodsSandstone cliffs and balanced formations like Camel Rock crowning the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois — the quarter-mile Observation Trail has the best long views in the Midwest.
- 3Mississippi Palisades State ParkLimestone bluffs tower 250-plus feet over the Mississippi near Savanna in Illinois' hilly northwest corner, with sweeping river overlooks in driftless country that looks nothing like flat Illinois.
- 4Cozy Dog Drive InThe Springfield diner where the battered, deep-fried hot-dog-on-a-stick was perfected, and one of the last original eateries still cooking on Route 66 — a friendly, memorabilia-stuffed stop.
- 5World's Largest Catsup BottleA 170-foot water tower shaped like a giant 1949 catsup bottle, looming over Collinsville near the St. Louis side — pure roadside Americana with a birthday festival every July.
- 6Ferne Clyffe State ParkTucked in the Shawnee Hills near Goreville, this rugged park hides a 100-foot intermittent waterfall at the end of Big Rocky Hollow, plus shelter caves and narrow sandstone gorges — gloriously uncrowded.
- 7Gemini GiantWilmington's 28-foot fiberglass spaceman has greeted Route 66 travelers for decades, helmet on and rocket in hand, at the edge of a small park — one of the Mother Road's most beloved photo stops.
- 8Atlanta Bunyon StatueIn Atlanta, a towering muffler-man "Paul Bunyon" clutches a giant hot dog instead of an axe, a survivor of Route 66's golden age now restored downtown beside the town's charming old clock and murals.
- 9Apple River Canyon State ParkIn the far northwest corner near the Wisconsin line, spring-fed streams cut limestone bluffs and wooded ravines into a quiet canyon laced with easy trails — a scenic, leaf-peeping retreat.
- 10Beyer StadiumIn Rockford stands the restored home field of the Rockford Peaches, the real women's baseball team behind "A League of Their Own" — walk the grandstand site where the all-American girls actually played.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Illinois next?
Add your vote — the loudest state gets mapped first.
How it works
Nominate
Drop the most underrated spot in your state — the gem an itinerary generator would never surface.
The crowd ranks it
Name a place someone already nominated and it rises. The most-loved gems become the state’s finalists.
Vote the winner in
Finalists go to a public vote. Winners get built into Roamward — credited to the people who found them.
Go verify it
Drive it, GPS-verify the stop, earn the badge, and share the map that proves you were first.
Don’t miss the winners
Be the first to find what the crowd picks.
Join early access and we’ll tell you when your state’s gem wins — and when Roamward opens for iOS testing.
Get early access