Starved Rock SP
Illinois
Entrance fees and opening hours
- Free of charge
- Not covered by the Anual Pass*
- Open 24h all year round
*The Anual Pass is so to speak the "flat rate" for all Parks managed by the National Park Service. The pass costs a one-time fee of $80 and can be purchased at the entrance to each National Park, National Monument, etc. The pass is valid for 13 months.
For the GPS: 2668 E 875th Rd, Oglesby, IL 61348
Our visits: So far 1 visit in May 2017
Starved Rock SP
Description: Starved Rock SP is located on the Illinois River, less than 100mi south of Chicago. You can tell by the 2 million visitors a year that this is a very popular little park. There are plenty of ways to spend your free time here. Since we wanted to check out a few of the numerous canyons and waterfalls, we decided to go hiking. We had planned a half day for the park and hiked from the visitor center past French Canyon, Wildcat Canyon and Basswoood Canyon to Lonetree Canyon. Here was our turn around point. Along the Illinois River we went back to the Visitor Center.
Based on the Park map/Trail map you can see that you can still extend the hike considerably. There are a few more parking lots along the park road, from which you can reach the individual canyons with less effort. If water-bearing waterfalls are important, it would probably be quite good to inquire at the Visitor Center beforehand, because many of the waterfalls rarely carry water.
Trail length: 4mi roundtrip
Altitude difference: 1198ft
Time needed: 3 hours
Difficulty level: easy
Our rating: We enjoyed the hike through the park very much. We were there very early, so the crowds (Memorial Day 2017) did not bother us quite so much, but it was already very crowded at lunchtime. We would visit the park again, but then we would definitely avoid weekends and holidays. During the week you have the beautiful nature certainly much more to yourself.
