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 →
After a string of cold and rainy weekends in March and April, we finally decided to risk bad weather and head back out to the Starved Rock area to get the two parks in the area that did not have hiking: Marseilles State Fish and Wildlife Area and LaSalle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area.... 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 →
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 →
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 →
Happy Fourth of July weekend! We wanted to celebrate both the achievement of having exactly 100 state parks to go, and the holiday, by finally discussing the most popular park in Illinois: Starved Rock State Park. We have been to this park many times, both for the project and just for fun, and we agree... 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 →
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 →
We knew we wanted to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, and go hiking at least once, but we also knew that the most popular parks would be far more crowded than normal. That in mind, we settled on Lowden-Miller State Forest, a pretty large entry on it's own, but often overshadowed by... Continue Reading →
Fresh Air Friendship 