My First Trip to Starved Rock Was a Blast

I’ve lived in the ‘burbs nearly my entire life, and I’m ashamed to admit that this past weekend was my first trip to Starved Rock.

We rented a cabin at Grand Bear Resort and enjoyed the indoor waterpark, but the main attraction for me was the natural beauty of the area. We got out to hike on Saturday, and much like it was everywhere else, it was warm and rainy! I had to mentally prepare and accept the fact that I was going to be drenched from head to toe by the end of the day.

The group started out with my entire family, plus my father in law and brother-in-law’s girlfriend. We didn’t make it very far before my two year old daughter exclaimed her displeasure with the muddy nature of the adventure and quietly bowed out.

— Narrator: She was not quiet. —

My wife and my daughter were out, so that just left the four of us. We trekked through the Ottawa Canyon trail, which is a short, flat easy hike, even if we had to trudge through some shallow creeks to get to the payoff at the end. We passed through Council Overhang and on to the waterfall, which was ROARING because of all the rain!

On the way, we had to walk through some steams, but as my Father-In-Law mentioned, once you’re wet, you can’t get any wetter, so we just stepped right through. I needed new shoes anyway.

What a fun time and a great memory I’ll get to share with my son.

 

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A post shared by Nick Jakusz (@nickwithamic)

The next day my wife tried to get her dose of Mother Nature and hike to the top of the actual Starved Rock, from which the park takes its name. Unfortunately for that group, it was really just 500 stairs to the top, not much of a “hike.” They came back a little worse that we did the day before, but hey, at least they got a cool view!