May is National Bike Month, so hook the bike on the car and hop on the Great River Road for an early summer adventure you won’t soon forget.

Try exploring a classic river town on two-wheels along the Mississippi River Trail. It’s nearly 3,000 miles of on-road bikeways and pedestrian and bike paths you can take from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

Check out these National Wildlife Refuges along the Mississippi River Trail:

• Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (240,000 acres, 241 river miles long through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa)
• Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge (15,000 acres, part of the largest bottomland hardwood swamp in America, runs through Louisiana)

Or bike to a national park:

• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (aka the St. Louis Gateway Arch)
• Natchez National Historical Park (Natchez, Mississippi; see an antebellum estate)
• Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (New Orleans, Louisiana; made of six sites where you can learn about everything from wildlife to the Battle of New Orleans)

Find out more about the Mississippi River Trail and get detailed maps here.