Illinois, Part 3 - More Adventures in the Starved Rock Area [240531-0601]

Continuing our adventures in the Starved Rock State Park area...

(Editor's note:  don't forget to check out our latest trailer Trailer 5 - Acadia National Park [250903-08], if you haven't already!)

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After a wonderful morning spent hiking in Matthiessen State Park, we went to the post office in the nearby town of Utica so that Tom could write and send his Father's Day card early (not wanting a repeat of the whole Mother's Day card fiasco, where it took over two weeks for our cards to get from Nebraska to California, arriving well after Mother's Day).  Here's the front, so you can see what the falls in Starved Rock State Park supposedly look like when there's actually water in them. 😜

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With our cards safely on their way, our next stop was the Illinois Waterway Visitor Center (by the lock and dam visible from the Starved Rock viewpoints).  In the Center, we browsed the various displays and watched a short video on the history of the Illinois Waterway.

On the observation deck out back, we got a fairly nice unobstructed view of Starved Rock.

We also got to view a barge exiting the Starved Rock Lock on the high side, and then a small fishing boat enter the lock from the high side, get lowered, and then exit the lock on the low side.  Unlike the first lock we had visited in Guttenberg, IA that looked like it only bridged a barely noticeable foot or so of depth, the Starved Rock Lock bridges closer to 15 feet of depth, so the water height change within the lock was much more noticeable here.

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Pretty much every evening as we pulled into the campground we saw the tiniest, cutest little rabbit (Tom called it the "Teacup Bunny", since it looked small enough to fit in one) by the side of the road.  We finally managed to get a photo of it (sort of).  Photos of some of its larger relatives from around the campground included too because, well, bunnies!

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As forecast, Saturday turned out to be drizzly, rainy day with the wet stuff starting to fall around 6 a.m.  Undaunted, we drove to a different part of Starved Rock State Park to do a little bit of hiking.  The printed park maps and Google Maps had a difference of opinion where the actual parking lot was supposed to be, and it turned out that Google Maps was correct:  the parking area (calling it a "lot" would be overly generous) was just off the main road at the head of a road that is now gated off.  You still have to walk along that old park road, that is in such a state of disrepair (as is the old trailhead parking lot it leads to) that you wouldn't want to drive your car on it even if the gate were open, to get to the "official" trailhead.  But after that little extra bit of unexpected hiking in the rain, we were able to start our intended hike.

Our first stop was St. Louis Canyon, which were were pleased to find still had a respectable waterfall in it.

The rest of our hike wasn't quite as fruitful.  Kickapoo Canyon should have been the "next" thing on our path, but we never saw it nor a sign for it - either on our way out, or our way back.  Our best guess is that it might have been in this area, but since there are absolutely no photos of it in any of the park literature nor online (which should've been a tipoff of some some sort 🙄) we'll never know for sure.

Sac Canyon would easily have been missed, had it not been for the sign for it on the bridge over the trickle of fall leading into it.  (Yes, this is how much water the "fall" has in it after it's been raining for the past 6 hours.)

At the end of our planned journey (before we turned around and backtracked the way we came) was Aurora Canyon, which was barely visible through the trees.  Luckily there was a sign for it by the dried out waterfall ledge that leads down to it.

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After our hike, we drove back into Utica and parked outside the library to use the WiFi there (eventually finishing and posting "South Dakota, Part 1").  The rain stopped in the early afternoon, and the air turned warm (80 degrees) and muggy.  In the evening, live entertainment started in the parklet dining area a block away, so we got heard a number of old hits being butchered . . . er . . . "re-interpreted".

Tomorrow we'd be leaving the Starved Rock area, and heading towards our next adventures - in Indiana.