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 →
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 →
For our next park, we finally got out to Castle Rock State Park in Oregon, IL. This is part of a 4-park cluster in Ogle County near the Rock River. Castle Rock has been one of the most requested parks for this project, and is probably the most well known park for this area, and... 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 →
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 →
Fresh Air Friendship 