On the final day of our Alton trip, we visited Beaver Dam State Park in Plainview, IL. It is about 4 hours and 15 minutes southwest of Chicago, or an hour north of St. Louis. Beaver Dam SP got its start in the 1890s, when 18 local men decided to form a lake club here.... Continue Reading →
The next day of our Labor Day weekend trip was dedicated to Horseshoe Lake State Park in Madison County and Frank Holten State Park. Both Horseshoe Lake and Frank Holten are about a 4 hour drive from Chicago or a 15 minute drive from St. Louis, and they are about 20 minutes away from each... Continue Reading →
Our second day visiting Alton, IL was one of our most exciting hiking days yet. We were visiting our 60th park, and for that milestone we visited Pere Marquette State Park. This park has been one of our most anticipated, and was the reason we decided to come to this region for our big trip... Continue Reading →
Closing out our Springfield weekend from August of 2023, we went to Clinton Lake State Recreation Area. This park is in DeWitt, IL, about two hours and 45 minutes away from Chicago, right around halfway between Bloomington/Normal and Decatur. The day we went was very overcast, and a little humid, but nonetheless a good day... Continue Reading →
Now deep in summer, our next trip scheduled was a weekend in Springfield in order to visit the State Fair. After a very fun day exploring and meeting folks from the IDNR, we devoted the rest of the weekend to hiking, with the closest park being Sangchris Lake State Park. Sangchris Lake SP is in... Continue Reading →
We decided to start the 2023 hiking season by heading down south for a quick overnight trip, visiting a couple parks near Decatur. The first park of the weekend was Edward R. Madigan State Park in Lincoln, IL. It was a very chilly morning, even snowing as we picked up some morning coffee, but by... Continue Reading →
On day two of our long weekend, we had an extremely full day, visiting 3 parks, the zoo, a brewery, a gastropub, and finally stopping for ice cream. The plan was to start with the largest park, and then get to as many parks as we could that did not have any hiking. The first... Continue Reading →
Fresh Air Friendship 