We decided to kick off our 2026 hiking season with a park that was long overdue: the Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail, I&M for short. This state trail is a 61.5 mile towpath running alongside part of the canal, starting in Rockdale and ending in LaSalle. The starting point of the trail is about... Continue Reading →
The final parks for our 2025 hiking season were Wolf Creek State Park and Eagle Creek State Park. They are about 3 hours and 15 minutes south of Chicago, or 45 minutes south of Decatur. The parks are located on opposite shores of Lake Shelbyville in Windsor, IL. The history of these two parks is... Continue Reading →
The final park for Labor Day Weekend 2025 was Big River State Forest. This park is nearly 3,000 acres of wooded area, about 3 and a half hours west of Chicago, or an hour south of the Quad Cities. The original piece of land was the 200 acres known as the Oquawka Refuge, which was... Continue Reading →
The third day of our Labor Day Weekend trip for 2025 brought us to Nauvoo State Park in Nauvoo, IL. This park is about 4 hours and 20 minutes southwest of Chicago, or 2 hours south of the Quad Cities. This park is very small, only 148 acres located right in the middle of the... Continue Reading →
The second day of our Labor Day weekend trip had us going to Argyle Lake State Park in Colchester, IL. This park is about 4 and a half hours west of Chicago, or an hour and 45 minutes south of the Quad Cities. The park used to be known as Argyle Hollow, and was part... Continue Reading →
Our annual Labor Day weekend trip of 2025 took us to the western border of Illinois, about an hour and a half south of the Quad Cities. We planned for 5 parks over the course of 4 days, and we decided to tackle the two smallest parks on day one. Delabar State Park is in... Continue Reading →
For Memorial Day Weekend 2025, we visited Galesburg for a quick overnight trip, visiting the two closest parks: Rock Island State Trail and Snakeden Hollow State Fish and Wildlife Area. Rock Island ST is a 26 mile long trail spanning several towns, but starts in Alta, IL (just north of Peoria) and goes north to... Continue Reading →
The final day of our longest trip to date took us to Lake Murphysboro State Park. This park is 5 hours and 30 minutes south of Chicago, or about 20 minutes west of Carbondale. After a crazy few days, it was really nice to go back to basics in a way, with a really nice... Continue Reading →
Day five of our trip down to Carbondale was our busiest day yet, at least in terms of numbers of parks visited. First up was Trail of Tears State Forest, followed by three Fish and Wildlife Areas all located off highway 3, close to the Missouri border: Union County SFWA, Devil’s Island SFWA, and Cape... Continue Reading →
Day four of our Carbondale trip was easily the day we were most nervous about. The three parks we planned for that day were Fort Defiance State Park, Horseshoe Lake State Park (Alexander County), and Kinkaid Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area. Fort Defiance located in Cairo, IL. It is the southernmost point in Illinois,... Continue Reading →
Fresh Air Friendship 