Ramsey Lake SRA and Coffeen Lake SFWA

Our big hiking trip this year was over Labor Day weekend, visiting parks around Alton, IL. The first day was dedicated to Ramsey Lake State Recreation Area and Coffeen Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, two parks that were on the way to our destination. Ramsey Lake SRA is in Ramsey, IL, about 3 hours and 40 minutes southwest of Chicago, or about an hour and 20 minutes east of St. Louis. Coffeen Lake SFWA is in Coffeen, IL, and is about the same distance from both cities, but about half an hour away from Ramsey Lake.

Ramsey Lake SRA is just shy of 2,000 acres, with the initial purchase acquired in 1947. The land was originally known as “Old Fox Chase Grounds” because of the fox hunters that used it. It used to be used for carnivals and other events as well. 

We started out by going by the lake and taking some photos there.The lake is pretty big, but also seemed pretty quiet the day we went. It is a very relaxing spot to do some fishing.

The hiking available here is the Old Fox Chase Ground Hiking Trail, a 2.3 mile loop trail, that lists its difficulty as moderate. This trail has one of the nicest trailheads we’ve seen, with very clear signage detailing all of that information. Although we were apprehensive about the moderate difficulty, we started down the trail (the most difficult hike we had completed up to this point was the 2 mile moderate trails at Apple River Canyon, with the continuous steep hills.)

The scenery here was a reasonably nice forest, and an unexpectedly well kept trail. In our opinion, the moderate rating is too harsh. Most beginner hikers would have little difficulty here. There are also plenty of wildflowers along the way, to brighten up the walk.

After finishing up here, we drove straight over to Coffeen Lake SFWA. Coffeen Lake is another cooling lake for the local power station, with only parts of the lake being open to the public. In fact, when we were driving to the lake, our maps app wanted to take us through an area that was definitely private property. That is actually the biggest issue we have with the lake. It is a very strange shape, and trying to find what we were looking for was difficult. 

The trail that we eventually found was the Coffeen Lake Heritage Trail. It’s a very short trail, but too overgrown to finish. The lake itself is pretty enough, but the combination of the underwhelming trail and the difficulty getting around, we would say to go to Ramsey Lake instead.

After that, we stopped in Witt, IL to try some wine from Half Witt Winery. We tried a few different wines here, and were very impressed with all of them. In particular, their Sunrise and Sunset Wines were outstanding. If you are anywhere near Witt, we would consider this a must visit winery.

Our final stop of the day before heading into Alton was Opera House Brewing in Hillsboro. They have a good selection of rotating beers that they brew, but they also have interesting cocktails as well. The brewery itself seems to take inspiration from the historic building with lots of exposed brick and old wood. Opera House Brewing, as well as Hillsboro in general, are worth visiting if you are in the area.

Ramsey Lake was undoubtedly the highlight of our first day of the trip. It is well kept, easier than it appears at first, and a quieter alternative to some other parks of similar size. Coffeen Lake is ok, but you will probably get more out of Ramsey Lake if you are choosing between the two. Still, the whole experience was a solid way to start our long weekend.