Big River State Forest

The final park for Labor Day Weekend 2025 was Big River State Forest. This park is nearly 3,000 acres of wooded area, about 3 and a half hours west of Chicago, or an hour south of the Quad Cities.

The original piece of land was the 200 acres known as the Oquawka Refuge, which was acquired by the state in 1925. This land has the area’s oldest pine plantation, which contains red, white, and jack pine trees. Most of the forest has been converted to pine in recent years.  White and red pines are able to grow rapidly in the sandy soil of the area, and this proves to be quite profitable.

The area we ended up heading to was a campground, where only a couple of sites were being used. It seemed to be quiet and secluded, despite being fairly close to the road. There was a trail here, but much like every other park this weekend, there was an overgrowth problem, and we had to just walk around where we could. The park is right on the river, but it is hard to see through the forest. I believe it would actually be easier to see it in the winter or early spring when there is not as much greenery close to the ground.

Despite the disappointing trail, this park does have an interesting landmark: an old firetower. Fire fighting crews are very prepared during periods where forest fires are more likely. There are also 60 miles of firebreak trails which divide the park up into manageable sections for the firefighters. These can be used for hiking when there is a low fire risk, but we weren’t able to find these.

After heading out, we visited Patton Block Brew Pub in Monmouth, IL. They offer good food and a decent selection of beer, although they were out of their Tangerine Dream Ale the day we went, which was very disappointing.

When it comes to the state forests we’ve visited, it is often the case that they are more rugged and much harder to navigate. Although the area we visited was pretty, we don’t know that a novice hiker will get much out of coming here. We would recommend either Snakeden Hollow SFWA or the Rock Island trail instead, if you are coming from Galesburg or Monmouth. If you are coming from Chicago, there are plenty of parks that are closer that will have more to offer than Big River SF.

Thinking about the Labor Day trip as a whole, this was the first time we encountered an overgrowth problem at every single park. I don’t know if it is the region, or we just came at a bad time, but it was kind of discouraging. All of the parks we visited had so much to offer, and yet we just weren’t able to complete a hike at any.