Donnelley/DePue SFWAs and Hennepin Canal State Trail

For our next hiking day, we decided to head back out on I-80 for two parks past the Starved Rock Area: Donnelley/Depue SFWAs and Hennepin Canal State Trail. As the parks get further and further away, the planning required is getting more and more intense, even for day trips like this. Visiting multiple parks in one day is much more common than now, as driving nearly two hours makes one want to get as much out of the trip as possible. Donnelley/Depue is 99 miles west of Chicago, and the closest part of Hennepin Canal is 118 miles west. 

Donnelley/DePue State Fish and Wildlife Areas are considered a complex, primarily for waterfowl hunting. These parks are managed by the same people and are always discussed in conjunction with each other.

We actually attempted twice to find Donnelley/Depue. The research that we did beforehand indicated that there would not be hiking here, so we drove out on a rainy June morning. We put the park name into our maps app, and it led us to the town of DePue, specifically to the post office. That surely couldn’t be right, so we drove around trying to find something specific that was affiliated with the park. Lake DePue was nearby, so we looked there, but there was no signage or any other indication that it was what we were looking for. Seeing as it was raining pretty hard, we decided to call it for the day, head to Tangled Roots for lunch, and reattempt on a nicer day.

After more research and a new plan, we drove out on I-80 again. This time, we had specific driving instructions from the website, coordinates, and a park brochure map. All of which led us back to Lake DePue and its lack of signage. We could not even find the park office that was referenced. The lake was very pretty and it would be a nice place to come and enjoy being by the water, especially on a summer morning, but having researched so much and looked more than once, it was very disappointing to not have something more concrete.

Putting Donnelley/Depue behind us, we continued on to Hennepin Canal State Trail. This canal covers over 100 miles and 5 counties, starting in Hennepin and ending in the Quad Cities, as well as the feeder canal coming from Rock Falls in the north. It was built to connect the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, and is considered a national historic place. The trail stretches nearly that entire length, on both sides of the main canal and the feeder canal. The IDNR has linked to an interactive map of this park, showing points of interest along the way. This is such a sharp contrast to the first park, and we were confident in our ability to find signage here. 

We decided to go to the access point closest to the visitor center, but there are many options available, especially if you are coming from somewhere other than Chicago. We crossed a bridge to get to the trail on the other side of the canal from where we parked, and decided to hike for about an hour. If you want to hike somewhere that is reliably well maintained with very minimal elevation changes, you will find it here. You may see some interesting wildlife (we saw a turtle and lots of dragonflies), and the stretch of trail we took actually went underneath I-80, which was unexpected.

The only complaint would be that hiking this may end up being boring. The scenery and the canal don’t change very much, you can’t count on seeing wildlife, and on hot days you may end up walking in the sun for a long time without a shady reprieve. On the other hand, that consistent trail may be nice for someone just getting started.

After finishing up, we went to Coal Creek Brewing Company in Princeton, IL. We really enjoyed our experience here. The beer was even better than we’d expected, and the atmosphere was really fun. We started chatting with the owners, who let us try some very unique stuff from out of state. If you are in Princeton, IL for any reason, please give them a visit.

Lastly, we stopped at Ginger Road Brewing in Utica. We go to Utica a lot, and were delighted to find out that a brewery was opening. We had previously been here, and the owner actually recognized us. The beer here is also really good, they are unafraid to try brewing unique flavors. Although they are closed for the season now, we are excited to add Ginger Road to our list of things to do whenever we visit Starved Rock.

All in all, this hiking day was a bit of a mixed bag. While the breweries were some of our new favorites, the parks were just ok. Lake DePue is nice enough, but we weren’t able to find what we were looking for, and Hennepin Canal is reliable and well maintained, but doesn’t have the best scenery. But as with every park, as long as you know roughly what to expect, you will probably have a good time.