Our 2025 hiking season kicked off with a bang. On March 13th, we were presented with the Outdoor Influencers of the Year award, and two days later we drove down for our first two parks of the year: Walnut Point State Park and Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial. Walnut Point SP is in... Continue Reading →
The final parks of the 2024 hiking season were Harry “Babe” Woodyard State Natural Area and Middle Fork State Fish and Wildlife Area. These were parks 67 and 68, which marked the halfway point of the whole project, and we thought that would be the best way to finish the season. Middle Fork SFWA is... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Our 2024 hiking season started with Kickapoo State Recreation Area, located in Oakwood, IL. This is about 2 hours and 45 min south of Chicago, or half an hour east of Champaign. We knew that this hiking season was going to be a little shorter, due to the cicadas around the state, as well as... Continue Reading →
The 38th park we visited was Iroquois County State Wildlife Area, located a few miles away from Beaverville, IL, about 80 miles south of Chicago, and less than a mile away from the Indiana border. It is very much off the beaten path, in the far northeast corner of Iroquois County. The original land was... Continue Reading →
The second park on our kick off weekend in March was Spitler Woods State Natural Area. This is a very small park at only 200 acres, located in Mt. Zion, IL, just outside of Decatur. Unlike the previous day, it was a beautiful, early spring morning that day, and we were able to enjoy a... Continue Reading →
The final park we visited in 2022 was Weldon Springs State Park. It is located about 3 hours south of Chicago, or 35 minutes south of Bloomington/Normal. Many of these parks thrive on natural beauty alone: an empty trail running thru a forest in the fall, rolling prairies that go on for miles, or the... Continue Reading →
With the last good weekend for hiking in 2022 upon us, we drove south to Bloomington/Normal to squeeze in two more parks before it got too cold. The first of those parks was Moraine View State Recreation Area. This park is about two and a half hours south west of Chicago, but only 30 minutes... Continue Reading →
Fresh Air Friendship 