it is so fun I have a lake house up there its 10 out of 10 experience me and the boys coming up her…read morenext weekend to look at it and really good for fishing and hotdogging.

After one visit to Lake Shannon, my wife and i were literally sold. We look forward to keeping an…read moreeye on properties here. Not Redneck, but very Rural. There are NO nearby grocery store or gas station. but that should not effect your lake life relaxed stay. A bit South of Joliet, we had no idea how to get there, and were way out of our comfort zone in an adventurous sense. I was told that our friend had "plenty of beds" so surely this could not be a trailer home. To my surprise these deluxe double wides, or manufactures homes, are extremely nice. Many have large porches, garages, or 2 floors! A lot of the boat docks have coverings and winter storage options like lifting the boat directly out the water where it sits. This is a "speed boat" lake. A flooded strip mine that gets up to 100ft deep in the center. There is NO sand bar, or party cove. Only families with kids skiing, tubing, and cruising. The lake could not be more picturesque with a cute bridge, various channels and beautiful landscaping. We cannot wait to be invited back, and will keep an ear to the street when a property, complete with Boat, goes up for sale.

Best park that's in Channahon of course. Channahon State Park has some nice views of the DuPage…read moreRiver. It actually is bigger than it seems with lots of open areas and trails. Has lots of places for grilling. The park also usually isn't crowded so it's a good place for chilling and hanging. A lot of great scenery around. It's located along the DuPage River. This is near the end of it where it flows into the Des Plaines River, so around here there's certainly lots of water. Among the other features is the war memorial. This honors those from Channahon who died in various wars. It consists of a few flags and pillars with names of those who died. The park also has a building that looks like it has bathrooms but it's closed off it seems. Gets crowds when it's good weather for boating. It's located close to the marina with the Big Basin Saloon, a popular hangout. There's plenty of areas along the water including a few trails.

First time coming here, wanted to try something new to visit on a day off work and this place is…read moresuch a beautiful gem! Great views everywhere from all places! The park itself is great for the summer for shade from the sun. Bathrooms are okay. The dam itself is really cool to see. Highly recommend coming here on a run to take everything in better. Even a better place to fish at! Not too crowded at all, very peaceful! 4.5 stars

Good place to go fishing in early may and June when the bass are spawning. It best go early morning…read moreor late afternoon

My boyfriend is into photography and wanted to get some good pics of the Milky Way. As you can…read moretell from the pics the ones he took at Mazonia/Braidwood turned out great! We didn't get to walk around the actual fish and wildlife area very much because it closes at seven and he wanted night pictures but it seemed pretty nice from the few minutes we spent walking around.

My wife and I love this area for taking peaceful walks, and we especially love when we come across…read morethe deer, if you're calm and quiet enough, they will not run away!

I've came here a few times and I wonder why my review got deleted? This place is absolutely…read morebeautiful! Tons of stuff to do and see, the trail has recently been repaved. Very well maintained by the city of Plainfield. Plenty of parking but use advisory from coming in from the Lockport road access.

Great park located around Yorkville with a few big lakes. It has lots of hiking trails. Silver…read moreSprings State Park gets its name from the pool of bubbling water. Of course, there's tons of other things to see around it. The popular activities include boating, fishing, and picnicking. Bigger park with a lot of history. It's an area that was purchased by the state in 1969 and turned into a park. The park was originally 1,250 acres, and added a prairie restoration project in 1980 among expansions since. Kind of what the land was like before settlers took it. There's a path that goes through it where visitors can check out animals, grass, and wildflowers. A few man made lakes are highlights. Loon Lake is the biggest one, popular for fishing or getting photos. A refreshment stand is located by it. The spring is the biggest attraction of the park though. Amazingly the water in it never freezes. There's amazing plantlife around it including watercress. Also fun when it's colder. There's a toboggan hill that's fairly steep. Among the kinds of trails are equestrian. There's also plenty for basic hiking. Has lots to look at here for hours and you can even stay overnight by camping. It's got an area that's available for youth groups. This area is only reachable through backpacking so it's far away from loud noises or vehicles.

Serene lake with a good 2-mile hike along lake, river, woods amd some prairie. It was a quiet…read moremid-day walk one snowy day... until I pass by a group of kids screaming and sledding along a slope, how fun :)

One of my favorite preserves to walk around especially if you prefer a preserve with a nice lake…read morescene. Can get busy during the weekend, but several paved trail paths and places for both biking, walking, fishing, and animal-watching. Trails can be taken in a way where you can range from 1 mile to 10+ miles of walking/biking. Bathroom available in one of the parking lots.

Beautiful picturesque forest preserve for a trail walk, we come for an annual picnic, a reunion of…read morea shrinking group. Very scenic, peaceful, we were in a shady glen with a view of the lake and we had a couple of picnic tables and we brought lawn chairs. Looks like there were some small boats to rent on the other side of the lake, there were a couple of people fishing and we saw a few bicyclists enjoying the paved path. No litter, plenty of parking, they did move the restrooms which are relatively well maintained.

This is the place where the 2006 movie the Lake House was filmed starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu…read moreReeves! I advise to research this fantastic time travel romantic film that is based on the Korean film Il Mare! Maple Lake is part of the beautiful Cook County Forest Preserve. This is one of my favorite places to visit in Illinois!

The entire, enormous area of Palos Forest Preserves are just amazing, so much love. You can camp,…read moreyou can boat, you can hike, and, more importantly (at least for me) is the single track mountain biking that can be had. I have been coming here early and often of late and just today brought my friend and my Son, for his first excursion of single track biking excitement. She doesn't bike but loves to hike so we broke out on the bikes and she went walking ahead. Before that we ate a light lunch near Maple Lake, incidentally the only lake in that area where you can rent a kayak/boat or byo...other nearby lakes, like Bullfrog, require you to actually camp in order to utilize the lake for any sort of boating. This location, as with most Palos Preserves specific locales, is very well maintained, clean and just stellar all the way around. Will be back, again, again, again, etc.....

Some of the clearest waters you'll see in Illinois. So much fun to kayak in and around the lake. It…read moregets up to 100 feet deep! That and the clarity can give you some really pretty views inside the lake. Not the best for fishing which is kinda a bummer. Roomer has it there's some good walleye here though. Overall such a beautiful lake and do recommend. mildly busy and there are kayak rentals available if you don't have your own

We had a 12:00pm appointment. The 2 very kind workers that were there were unfortunately unable to…read moreunlock the doors to give us the kayaks that we reserved. They were on time but their manager/supervisor was bringing them a key. Unfortunately for us, their manager didn't arrive until 1:45 almost 2 hours after our scheduled appointment time. The 2 workers were very apologetic with us responding it's not their fault. We would like to say to the management, do better!! How dare you have people wait for your slow behinds!! it was extremely hot and very inconveniencing to your patrons. And to make matters worse we didn't even get offered a discount for our inconvenience!! If offered a discount it would have at Least showed you had some professionalism but alas you didn't. Had you shown just an ounce of professionalism I would have possibly considered giving you another try. I wouldn't recommend Whalon Lake Kayak rental to my dog. Sincerely, Very hot and disappointed patron