Summer Road Trip: Starved Rock State Park & Matthiessen State Park - Oglesby, Illinois

Chapters:
Intro: (0:00)
French Canyon & Wildcat Canyon: (0:47)
Starved Rock Lodge: (1:49)
Visitor’s Center: (2:46)
Illinois River & Dam: (4:18)
Starved Rock Trail: (4:46)
St. Louis Canyon Trail, Parking off Rte 178: (5:16)
North Utica, Illinois: (6:18)
Matthiessen State Park, Dells Area: (6:42)
Upper Dells: (7:26)
Lower Dells: (8:02)
Signing Off: (9:39)
Hey everybody, it’s roadtrip time. I had to drop my daughter off for a weeklong summer event a few hours from home, so we took a little detour afterwards to visit Starved Rock State Park.
After checking in, we decided to hike a couple of trails before nightfall, as the trails are closed after dusk. We started our journey towards the French Canyon on a short loop trail. The path diverts to the left towards the French Canyon, and returns back on the right from the Wildcat Canyon area.
As we reached the Wildcat Canyon, we viewed it from two different lookout points on both sides of the canyon. There’s a small waterfall atop the canyon and plenty of people found their way into the bottom of the canyon from some other path. We could have explored more, but decided to make our way back to the lodge to have a late dinner.
The Lodge has a great room for parties, a bar, an outside lounge patio area in the back, a restaurant, a pool, hot tub, and sauna, and comfortable beds.
After we checked out, we headed out to the Visitor’s Center a few minutes away. The visitor’s center has a little dining area, restrooms, souvenir shop, and a little historical display of Fort St Louis which once stood atop Starved Rock, and a little note of the history of the area.
We headed down the trailhead towards Starved Rock. As we did, we detoured to view the Illinois River.
We came back down and headed down the road to Route 178 and parked almost across the road from the Grand Bear Resort, at a small potholed parking area for a shorter path down to see the St. Louis Canyon. The canyon can be accessed from the main trail network at the lodge or the visitor’s center, but it will be a 4.5 mile hike to get there. If you park at the lot off Rte 178, it’s only a 1.5 mile hike to get there. The waterfall was flowing nicely from the evening rains and plenty of people were taking in its natural wonders.
As we headed back to the car, we took a trip over the bridge to North Utica, Illinois to see the town and grab some lunch. We stopped off at the downtown area that features several sidewalk pavilions and sidewalk dining options from the local bars & restaurants. We ate at Skoog’s and had wraps and a burger. The staff was friendly and the prices were cheaper than eating at the lodge.
We made our way down the road to Matthiessen State Park, in the Dells section. No, there weren’t a bunch of farmers here, nor were there any computers. The park contains equestrian trails, hiker trails, and fishing opportunities in the Vermillion River. There’s miles and miles of hiking available in the park. We ended up detouring off the Bluff Trail and headed down the stairs into the Upper and Lower Dell areas of the canyons below. Matthiessen has its own beauty and shouldn’t be missed if you’re in the area and can handle a lot of stairs or long hikes.
The arched bridges and the cascading waterfalls, the deep canyons, and the tiny caverns carved into the rocks by the power of nature were a nice way to cap off this trip.
Individual trail hiking videos in this series will be posted in the coming weeks and months following this montage of our adventures. Please feel free to like, comment, and subscribe as it helps the channel grow. As always, thanks for watching. Have a great summer.
Links:
Starved Rock State Park:
www.starvedrocklodge.com/star...
Trail Map:
www.starvedrocklodge.com/acti...
www.starvedrocklodge.com/wp-c...
Lodging:
www.starvedrocklodge.com/lodg...
Campground:
www.starvedrocklodge.com/wp-c...
French Canyon Trail:
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/il...
Pontiac Canyon, Wildcat Canyon, & Beehive Overlook:
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/il...
Starved Rock Trail (we started from the Visitor’s Center):
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/il...
Saint Louis Canyon (we parked at the lot off Rte 178):
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/il...
Matthiessen State Park
www.alltrails.com/parks/us/il...
dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/...
Dells Canyon & Bluff Trail:
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/il...