In early October, we visited Goose Lake State Natural Area: 2,537 acres of prairie and reclaimed marshland located about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. When we decide to visit a specific park, we usually have a plan or a strong reason to head out there. This is especially true as the parks are starting to... Continue Reading →
We knew we wanted to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, and go hiking at least once, but we also knew that the most popular parks would be far more crowded than normal. That in mind, we settled on Lowden-Miller State Forest, a pretty large entry on it's own, but often overshadowed by... Continue Reading →
In 2021, we visited Galena twice, first for our annual girls trip, and second for the hiking weekend visiting Apple River Canyon and Mississippi Palisades. Both times, we discussed heading to Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area to check out the scenery, but it was not until mid-August 2022 that we finally made it out. The... Continue Reading →
Our July's have been very busy for as long as we have known each other, so after a few weeks of solo vacations and family get-togethers, we were able to resume hiking at the end of July with a visit to Shabbona Lake State Park. The day we went was sunny and beautiful, and we... Continue Reading →
In Utica, all of the road signs directing you to the nearby state parks will have three different destinations on them. First: Starved Rock, Second: Matthiessen, and Third: Buffalo Rock State Park. We have been to the first two parks several times over the years, but we finally managed to make it to the third... Continue Reading →
The final park we visited on our long weekend in Peoria was Mackinaw River State Fish and Wildlife Area. After all of the parks from the previous two days ended with almost no hiking, the three of us were so excited to have saved the best for last. This park is about 1,448 acres, however... Continue Reading →
On day two of our long weekend, we had an extremely full day, visiting 3 parks, the zoo, a brewery, a gastropub, and finally stopping for ice cream. The plan was to start with the largest park, and then get to as many parks as we could that did not have any hiking. The first... Continue Reading →
Kicking off our summer of hiking, we spent Memorial Day weekend in Peoria to visit as many parks as possible. On day one, we briefly stopped to pick up a friend, before travelling to Woodford State Fish and Wildlife Area. This park is deceptively large, but if you are not boating and have never been... Continue Reading →
Park 17 on our journey was Kankakee River State Park, about an hour and a half south of us. While this one is actually fairly close compared to some other places, we kept overlooking it in favor of the parks that are clustered together. For example, there are several along the Illinois River which meant... Continue Reading →
During initial planning for this project, we knew we would need to spend a lot of time just west of Rockford. Neither of us had been to that area before, and we knew very little about the terrain. We knew the rolling hills around Galena, and the many canyons of Starved Rock; but how do... Continue Reading →
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