In early April, we started our longest hiking trip yet, visiting Carbondale for 6 days. For the first day of this epic trip, we visited Burning Star State Fish and Wildlife Area and Little Grassy Fish Hatchery. Burning Star SFWA is in DeSoto, IL about 5 hours and 15 minutes south of Chicago, or 15... 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 →
For the final day of our 2023 Labor Day weekend, we visited Sam Dale Lake State Fish & Wildlife Area and Stephen A. Forbes State Park. Both parks are about 4 hours and 20 minutes south of Chicago, or about 40 minutes away from Mount Vernon (but 35 minutes away from each other). We had... Continue Reading →
For our third day in Mount Vernon, we visited Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park and Rend Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area. Both parks are off of Rend Lake, an absolutely massive man made reservoir, about 4 hours and 45 minutes south of Chicago, or 30 minutes south of Mount Vernon. We started bright and early... Continue Reading →
The second day of our Labor Day 2023 trip brought us to Beall Woods State Park, in Mount Carmel, IL. This park is located right on the Illinois/Indiana border, about an hour away from where we were staying in Mount Vernon, or about 5 hours away from Chicago. At only 635 acres, this is one... Continue Reading →
After 3 years of visiting state parks, we knew it was time to finally start making our way down south. Labor Day weekend of 2023, we did our longest trip yet. Four full days, dedicated to 7 parks close to Mt. Vernon, IL. The first day we started by going to Ten Mile Creek State... Continue Reading →
