North Central Illinois

Spring has sprung in southeast Michigan.  H is restless.  He spun the direction dial and West won.  We pulled out and followed Rt 20 around the tall stately monument in the center of Angola Indiana.  Just past Lagrange, the Shipshewanna Flea Market was open and parking was still free till after Memorial Day so we got our walking exercise in and even did a little shopping.  Our first night’s destination was Potato Creek State Park, 15 miles south of South Bend.  It hasn’t changed any since the last time we stopped on another adventure, 10 years ago! 

 

Illinois River

We stayed just one night in Potato Creek because they were full for the upcoming weekend.  H thought wisely and called Starved Rock State Park in Ottawa Illinois to make sure they had a place for us to park for the duration of our trip.  Nope - they were booked solid, and it wasn’t even the holiday!   Illini State Park, west of Joliet and about 20 miles east of Starved Rock, still had a few “walk in” sites available – so we headed there, via the Lincoln Highway (Rt 30) and then Interstate 80.

Illini State Park is named after an Indian tribe who once called the area home.  It sits on the Illinois River across a high bridge from Marseilles (Mar – sales).  It’s French and they too lived in the area for a while!  Our first glimpse of the long winding river, broken up by a plethora of locks and dams, was of a laden barge being pushed up the river past a pleasant little park with a statue of its namesake proudly keeping watch.   Illini has 2 camping loops – one is right next to the river, across from one set of locks and has clean, but older facilities.  The other loop has no facilities other than a not yet smelly pit toilet building and electricity.  The beautiful wooded surroundings totally made up for it and it was not difficult to jump in the truck and drive to the other loop for a good, hot (almost scalding!) shower.

In Florida, two years ago we met John and Anne who were from NE Illinois.  John came to visit us at the campground!  He and H played with the drones and rode our NEW electric fold-up bikes! (Remember – H sold our old fold-up bikes down in Florida!)  I was saddened because sweet Anne was not feeling well and could not make the trip to enjoy the conversation and the great lunch out at the Marseilles Family Diner.  Get Well, dear Friend!

On top of Starved Rock

Starved Rock State Park and the surrounding area is not the flat boring expanse of farmland that make up most of the state.  The Illinois River Valley was carved by melting glaciers surging thru sandstone rock.  During early spring, after the winter thaw and frequent rains, Starved Rock brags about her 18 canyons and waterfalls with vertical walls of moss-covered stone that create settings of geologic beauty.   The parks namesake is a real rock!  Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa tribe was slain by the Illiniwek tribe and the battles began.  A band of the Illiniwek sought refuge on top of the 125-foot sandstone butte.  The Ottawa tribe surrounded the bluff until the hapless tribe at the top died of starvation.  On our first visit to the park we did climb the steps AND the hill – and THEN up the 65 wooden steps to the top of the famed rock to gaze out over the river and dam below and the “Lovers Leap” on the neighboring sandstone cliff.   Walking along the top edge, looking out over the available 3 sides of awesome viewing was well worth the huffing and puffing to get to that point!

water fall at St Louis Canyon

Our day for hiking to a waterfall was on a Saturday.  All the state parks were full of groups of families out for a nice day.  The overflow parking lots were definitely all overflowing!!  We took our second choice of falls to go find because its location was at the outer edge of the park with its own parking area.  However, the parking area was blocked off so we ended up parking near the highway and walking down the pockmarked deteriorating blacktop just to get to the sign directing us to the St Louis Canyon.  The .3- mile hike from there was also not handicap accessible – a narrow sand path on the edge of deep ruts of babbling water.  Then it was up steps and then down more steps. The sand path continued downward, with roots creeping across them as they attempted to hold the sand from sliding into the

stream of water below.  As we rounded a curve and over another small bridge, the view opened up to the huge half circle bowl and the steady stream of water that splashed to the pool at the bottom from what seemed like the highway heights above.  By the time we returned to the parked truck, we were both hurting and out of breath!

path to the canyon

Of course, the nearby towns were explored – Marseilles, Ottawa, Utica and Streator.  Streator’s claim to fame is their “Walldogs” artists and their Festival of Murals each June/July.  While driving their main

downtown Streator Ill.

street area we saw what we thought was a restored old block of town.  As we approached we realized we were looking at a 3 dimensional mural that took up the entire side of a building!  Ottawa has its history with Abraham Lincoln’s first debate in 1858 and the nearby Buffalo Rock State Park.  This park has a collection of outdoor earthen sculptures, inspired by Native American burial grounds.  The images were wasted as the grass had not yet been mowed and the best viewing needed to be from above.  Buffalo Rock is also home to 2 American Bison who were oblivious to me wanting to get their photo thru the 2 fences of their enclosure.

I’ve got more of our adventure to show and tell you about, but I’ve run out of time and space!   I’ll continue soon and tell you about Chicago!