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, a full 6 hours or 350 miles away from Chicago. In terms of miles, it is the furthest distance from Chicago to any park. Horseshoe Lake is 16 miles north of Fort Defiance in Olive Branch, IL. Kinkaid Lake is in Murphysboro, IL, about 5 and a half hours south of Chicago, or 20 minutes west of Carbondale.
Fort Defiance is where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet. It is one of the largest river confluences in the world, and it is a destination for people to see something so amazing. However, the reason we were so nervous was because the week before our trip there had been historic rains, and the waters had not fully receded by the time we were down there. We knew that Fort Defiance had been closed the day after the rain because of high water, and we had no idea how bad it would still be when we got down there. It was also the longest drive that we had to take to any park from Carbondale. We were really nervous about driving for an hour and then being stuck.
Unfortunately, it became clearer and clearer the further south we got that the waters had not receded enough for the park to reopen. And upon arriving at the parking lot, we were greeted with a closed gate and a sign saying “closed due to high water”. In addition to it being the southernmost point of the state, it is also the lowest point. With both rivers affected by the rain, the park was probably 10 feet minimum under water. On a normal day, this small park is a good spot for fishing and picnicking, specifically because of the amazing river views, but it can quickly get overwhelming if there is too much rain.
Unable to do anything else, we headed to Horseshoe Lake. This is the second Horseshoe Lake State Park, the other one is located in Madison County, near St. Louis, and we visited that one in 2024. We were also nervous about visiting this park because of the flooding. We knew that part of the park had flooded and was inaccessible immediately after the rain, but it wasn’t clear to us if there had been any change here either. Fortunately, the water here had gone down enough that all the roads were accessible and we were able to drive around the entire lake.
The original tract of land purchased by the Department of Conservation was intended to be a Canada Goose sanctuary. Most of the park is used to maintain waterfowl populations, and it is a very swampy lake, even on days with less flooding.
There is supposedly a trail on the island in the middle of the lake, but access to the island is limited to a bike road. We got out and walked a bit of the bike road, but didn’t get all the way to the island. It was a very pretty lake, we just couldn’t get over how intense the flooding had been, and the lingering effects on every body of water we passed. It seemed like there were more trees in the lake than there would have been otherwise.
To finish up, we headed back north and finished the day at Kinkaid Lake SFWA. This lake is basically just for fishing and picnicking. There is a nice marina on the lake, and it was quite busy the day we stopped by. As far as we could tell, there wasn’t any place to hike here. We may be wrong, because parts of the park are managed by the IDNR, and parts of them are managed by the US Forest Service, so it was somewhat unclear what activities there were. Regardless, it was really pretty and a nice way to finish our parks for the day.
As far as businesses, we had planned for three, one for each park, but the coffee shop we had paired with Fort Defiance was closed as well. The other two places we visited were Minglewood Brewery in Cape Girardeau, MO, and Small Town Scoop in Murphysboro. Cape Girardeau is a really cute river town, with very interesting local shops and restaurants. Minglewood Brewery had some good beer and good food, and is worth stopping in if you happen to be in town.
On these trips, we like to get ice cream at least once, and usually wait until we get in town to ask someone there what they recommend. Small Town Scoop in Murphysboro was recommended to us for this trip, and we decided that we liked it so much that we wanted to feature it. It was a great way to finish up a busy day.
Although we really wanted to see Fort Defiance, it was still a crazy experience getting to see just how high the rivers were. If you are really into rivers, I would consider this area to be a must see. Aside from that misadventure, the parks were pretty nice. Neither of them were about hiking, and probably aren’t worth visiting if you don’t live within an hour drive, but they were very pretty to go to nonetheless.
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