Get Outta Town: Starved Rock State Park

By Benjy Lipsman in Miscellaneous on Jul 7, 2004 7:55PM

As much as we love Chicago, sometimes it's nice to escape from the big city for a day. Chicagoist took a day trip down to Starved Rock State Park recently.

Located near Utica, Iliinois along the banks of the Illinois River, Starved Rock is about 90 miles southwest of Chicago. The park has 13.1 miles of hiking trails through woods, along the river and around and into incredible sandstone formations created by glacial runoff.

In additional to the natural beauty, Chicagoist spotted lots of wildlife including dozens of squirrels and chipmunks, a variety of birds, bugs mating on a flower, a snake and a mama and baby deer, spots and all. Chicagoist is very sorry to the deer for dropping his camera on the wooden bridge and giving them quite a fright, although they remained close enough to photograph anyway.

While the weather cooperated much better then forecast, Chicagoist enjoyed Starved Rock so much we didn't even mind getting caught in the late afternoon thunderstorm. And we're already planning an overnight camping trip come fall to view the fall foliage.