Camping (finally) at Starved Rock

We got back to our campsite a little before noon. The standing water was gone but the ground was still muddy. After a quick lunch, we set up camp in what dryish spots we could find. Allow me to say a quick word about camping at an Illinois State Park. Don’t. To begin with, it takes about an hour to get checked in. And then there’s the bathroom facilities. Our section of the campgrounds had about 50 spaces, most of them filled, and one bathhouse, most of the time closed. And so what did we have? Four porta-potties, lined up next to each other and located about 150 yards from our campsite. Delightful.

Around 3:00, I went hiking with my wife and several friends. We walked up St. Louis Canyon to see the most significant waterfall in Illinois. Amazingly, although I only live two hours away, I don’t think I’ve ever been there before. It was impressive, although it was tough to see around the dozens of other people who kept wandering where I wanted to take pictures.

Two views of St. Louis Falls

After 20 minutes or so, we hiked back up out of the canyon and took another trail along the ridge to the lodge.

On Friday, I picked up a brochure that mentioned the many chainsaw carvings that can be seen around the lodge. These included Bears Searching for Honey Near the Stop Sign, which we found, and St. Francis, the Totem Pole, which we didn’t. I also found the one of Abraham Lincoln and took my photo with him.

Me and Abe

We had to wend our way through a crowd of people dressed up for a wedding. (There are two kinds of people in the world …)

Since we’d gone this far, we decided to walk down a truckload of stairs, across a short valley and up another truckload of stairs to the top of Starved Rock itself. The name of the rock comes from a mostly-legendary battle that may have taken place in 1769. Supposedly, a member of the Illiniwek people murdered Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa. The Ottawa and their allies, the Potawatomie, seeking revenge, besieged the Illiniwek, who had taken refuge on the rock, and starved them out. The shot on the left shows the rock as seen from the lodge. The other two shots were taken from the top of the rock. In the one on the right, you can see the visitor center where we spent much of the previous afternoon in the rain.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating and laughing around the campfire.

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2 Responses to Camping (finally) at Starved Rock

  1. n8 says:

    I think I like the falls better frozen.

  2. karen says:

    I have to agree with you about the porta-potties. Giant plastic pee-pee boxes are a very poor substitute for an actual outhouse.

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