Mautino SFWA and Johnson-Sauk Trail SRA

We continued our park journey on a late September morning, visiting Mautino State Fish and Wildlife Area and Johnson-Sauk Trail State Recreation Area. Mautino is located in Buda, IL, about 2 hours and 15 minutes west of Chicago, while Johnson-Sauk is 10 minutes further west in Kewanee, IL. Both parks are also quite close to the Hennepin Canal Trail, which was a park we visited earlier in 2024.

Mautino SFWA used to be a strip mine site, but is now a great place to go fishing or kayaking on one of the 16 lakes and ponds. In researching this park, we could not find any indication that there would be hiking, and while that is not the main draw of the park, we were able to find a grassy trail by one of the ponds. It far exceeded our expectations, and was a very pleasant way to start the day. The water was very calm and very scenic, completely surrounded by interesting plants and lots of very impressive spiderwebs. We did not find any other trails here, but were able to drive further in and get pictures of one of the other lakes, before heading to the next park.

The land where Johnson-Sauk Trail SRA is today used to be known as Henry County Conservation Area. When it became designated as a state park, a local paper asked the public to suggest new names. The most popular suggestions were to name it after Frank P Johnson, who was a state senator well known as an advocate of the park, or to call it Sauk Trail, after the tribe that is most associated with this area. In the end, they combined the two, forming Johnson-Sauk Trail.

We started by going to the massive red barn that’s onsite. It was built in the early 1900s by a man named Dr. Lawrence Ryan. He was a brain surgeon, but also had Black Angus cattle, and built the barn for them. Today it serves as a place to learn about the park, but it was closed the day we visited, so we could only walk around the outside.

After that, we decided to hike the trail that started off the lake. While the lake section is very pretty and worth doing, once we got to the point where it would turn into the woods, it was so overgrown that it looked like a dead end. This was a bit of bad luck, as there are other trails through different parts of the park, ranging in size and difficulty for hikers of all skill levels. We were so disheartened that we ended up deciding to focus on taking photos of the lake instead.

After finishing up with the parks, we headed into Kewanee to have lunch at Cerno’s Bar and Grill. While the food and drinks are good, what this space is known for is its history. The bar was built by Pabst Blue Ribbon in 1898, and was imported from Belgium. Additionally, it is clear that care has been put into making this space feel historic.

After lunch, we stopped at Coco’s Coffee Shop, where Steph got an iced coffee, I got a frappe with peanut butter, and we both got  cookies. Everything here was so good, and well worth a stop if you find yourself in Kewanee.

These parks really played with our expectations. Mautino we were not expecting the scenery to be as beautiful as it was, and we really weren’t expecting to be able to enjoy it from anywhere other than the main road. It would have been really nice to have official hiking trails going through here, so we could have appreciated it more. Johnson-Sauk Trail has everything to make it a really great experience. It was just the roadblocks of visiting when the barn was closed and then hitting a dead end on the trail that derailed it for us. If you are near Kewanee, both of these parks are worth visiting, Mautino for a quick stop or Johnson-Sauk for a longer trip.