Starved Rock State Park

Located about an hour west of Chicago, Starved Rock State Park is a natural paradise. The camp sites are spacious with plenty of shade. We were able to get a 50 amp electric spot. Water and a dump station are available in the campground.

The park headquarters and trails are located just down the road from the campground. Our advice is to review the park hiking trail map carefully. All of the distances are measured from the park headquarters which means that the trails appear longer than they have to be. There are other parking lots located along hwy 71 that give closer access to many of the trails.

We hiked from the headquarters to Starved Rock and French Canyon. After a lunch break back at our campsite, we drove about 3 miles to the Ottowa Parking lot and hiked the Ottowa and Kaskaskia Canyons as well as the Council Overhang. This time of year, in August, the water wasn't flowing but we can imagine that the waterfalls would be great in the springtime with the snow melt.

Franklin D Roosevelt is credited with creating a bunch of social programs. With the development of the Civilian Conservation Corps, he gave people job opportunities during the Great Depression, which helped to develop their skill set and work ethic. In turn, he was instrumental in developing our natural public lands.

The workers were given free housing, food, clothing as well as money for the hard work they did. As we have traveled, we have seen the results of this effort. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Big Bend National Park were built almost entirely using CCC labor. Over 700 State Parks were also developed using CCC workers.They also planted over 3.5 billion trees across the nation. Starved Rock State Park was developed using CCC workers.

Overall, we are glad that this was a stop on our map and would recommend adding it to your Ilinois road trip.