We decided to kick off our 2026 hiking season with a park that was long overdue: the Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail, I&M for short. This state trail is a 61.5 mile towpath running alongside part of the canal, starting in Rockdale and ending in LaSalle. The starting point of the trail is about... Continue Reading →
The next park we visited over the summer of 2023 was Des Plaines State Fish and Wildlife Area. This park is located in Will County, just off of interstate 55 in Wilmington. We visited on an overcast day, with the plan of exploring the nature preserve that is onsite. The land was owned by the... Continue Reading →
One of the things that has come up during planning for this project is the fact that parks tend to be clustered together. For example: Starved Rock, Matthiessen, and Buffalo Rock are all within a 20 minute drive of each other. Around Oregon, IL you will find 4 parks in the area so close that... Continue Reading →
In early October, we visited Goose Lake State Natural Area: 2,537 acres of prairie and reclaimed marshland located about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. When we decide to visit a specific park, we usually have a plan or a strong reason to head out there. This is especially true as the parks are starting to... Continue Reading →
Our July's have been very busy for as long as we have known each other, so after a few weeks of solo vacations and family get-togethers, we were able to resume hiking at the end of July with a visit to Shabbona Lake State Park. The day we went was sunny and beautiful, and we... Continue Reading →
In Utica, all of the road signs directing you to the nearby state parks will have three different destinations on them. First: Starved Rock, Second: Matthiessen, and Third: Buffalo Rock State Park. We have been to the first two parks several times over the years, but we finally managed to make it to the third... Continue Reading →
Park 17 on our journey was Kankakee River State Park, about an hour and a half south of us. While this one is actually fairly close compared to some other places, we kept overlooking it in favor of the parks that are clustered together. For example, there are several along the Illinois River which meant... Continue Reading →
With spring truly here, we decided to head up north one more time to check out Moraine Hills State Park and McHenry Dam. This park is located in McHenry county, about an hour away from us. The landscape is very similar to nearby Volo Bog and Chain O' Lakes, with the same glacier movement forming... Continue Reading →
With the season drawing to a close and the cold weather looming, we wanted to get a couple more parks in while we still could. The ones we did that day were Illini State Park and William Stratton State Park, mostly for their small size. We started our morning by driving the hour and a... Continue Reading →
October 29th brought our first major dilemmas. 1) We had plans that evening and didn't want to wear ourselves out and 2) it was raining a bit. A good solution to this was to go to Channahon State Park, because it is very small and not very far away. Originally, this park was known as... Continue Reading →
Fresh Air Friendship 