Delabar State Park and Henderson County SCA

Our annual Labor Day weekend trip of 2025 took us to the western border of Illinois, about an hour and a half south of the Quad Cities. We planned for 5 parks over the course of 4 days, and we decided to tackle the two smallest parks on day one. Delabar State Park is in Oquawka, IL, about 3 and a half hours west of Chicago or an hour south of the quad cities. Henderson County State Conservation Area is in Gladstone, 15 minutes south of Delabar SP.

Delabar is right on the Mississippi border, only covering 89 acres of land. The park is named after two brothers, Roy and Jack Delabar. They donated the site to the state in 1959, and it officially opened the following year.

The main draw for this park is for those wanting to camp. Though we were the only people there to hike, there were several campsites in use the day we visited. It is also a good place for fishing with the river access.

Unfortunately, the hiking does not compare to the rest of the park’s other amenities. There is a single trail available, about a mile and half loop taking you through the woods. It made sense to us that a park this small would only have a small area dedicated to hiking. But it was very clear to us that not many people actually hike here. Of all the trails we’ve hiked, this one had the most intense spider problem. The amount of webs cutting across the trail was so intense that we had to be extra careful and crouch to avoid them a lot.

Be that as it may, there were also a couple of downed trees blocking the path. One we were able to get over, but the other was completely impassible with the density of the foliage around. Having to turn around, we went to the road and walked back that way. Before heading to the next park, we decided to stop by the boat launch. This area was so serene and beautiful, and looking out at the river did make up for the disappointing hike.

The next park on the list was Henderson County State Conservation Area. This park is one acre smaller than Delabar, and the majority of the area consists mostly of Gladstone Lake. The land was purchased in 1961 from a railroad company that used to dredge sand and gravel for railroad maintenance, and used the lake water in steam engines.

This park does not have any hiking, the draw is entirely fishing and boating in the summer, or ice skating or ice fishing when the lake freezes in the winter. There is camping available here as well. Even though we weren’t able to hike here, the lake is very pretty, and there were several butterflies to make it more memorable.

One of the quirks about this trip was that it made more sense for us to stay in Burlington, IA, instead of somewhere within Illinois. For that reason, more featured businesses than normal ended up being out of state. Busted Cup Brewing is a local brewery within Burlington, that we were able to get dinner at. The beers here were all excellent, I especially enjoyed the raspberry beer. We would recommend visiting here if you are ever staying in Burlington.

The second business we want to feature is The Beancounter Coffeehouse and Drinkery. This place was an excellent way to start the morning with their unique drink menu. If you go later in the day, their entire menu has suggestions for adding liquor to enhance each drink. It is clear that the owners love dogs, and they have sourced their coffee so that part of the proceeds help local rescue shelters. We would highly recommend visiting here.

This first day of our weekend trip was pretty disappointing as far as the parks go. While they might be good for their boating, camping, and photography opportunities, both would only be good for people local to the area. Those who live more than an hour away probably won’t get much out of Delabar SP or Henderson County SCA.