Beautiful natural area, nature center is very kid-centered with friendly help, small gift shop,…read morebenches and picnic tables for resting!

Review Visit: September 29th, 2013…read more I remember coming here a few times as a kid on field trips. It was awesome as kid. They taught us about animals, bugs, nature and everything else outdoorsy. Then we got to hike a smaller trail as a group. Maybe this is what caused me to be such an avid outdoors person. Coming back here after about 2 decades was a huge nostalgic trip. Nothing had changed from what I remember as a kid. I'm sure things have been changed and updated since the early 90's, but it still retained that feel and look I remember as kid. The main building has set hours, but I do believe you can hike there before they open, as long as you follow the rule of 'no hiking before sunrise and after sunset'. Don't quote me on that. Inside the building is a small gift shop. There are quite a few learning activity areas to enrich yourself on local foliage and fauna. They hold a lot of events here, so you are surely able to drop in once a week and encounter some fun activity going on. There are plenty of trails to hike. If you want a quick hike, they have short trails. If you desire something challenging, you can hike some tough trails. Just be careful, I know a few people who have wandered off the path and ended up in a business area of Peoria Heights. The last time I was there, they had a 100-mile hike challenge. It was $10-15 to sign up and you record your hiking distances in a book there. Once you reach 100 miles, you get an award of some sort. I think it was a t-shirt and a certificate. Ive been wanting to sign up for it since I learned about it. But life gets busy. :/ Parking is plentiful but be warned; its a popular place, so there is usually a good amount of cars there at all time. But you shouldn't have a problem most of the time finding a parking spot. If you are native to the area and haven't been here, do yourself a favor and check it out. If yo are from out of town, also do yourself a favor and stop by for a quick hike. You won't regret it.

Cannot recommend enough if you are a lover of nature at all. Great walking trails, but you might…read morenot want to forget Bug repellant. Early morning is my favorite time to hike the trails there.

Very well kept trails with Bluebird houses here and there . Nice views of the Mackinaw on bluffs .read more

Advertisement says 25 a night. We got charged 30 for broken rotted picnic tables, unkempt campsite…read morewith no pad, closed restrooms, open restrooms were filthy.

Nice campground here, medium lake a great outdoors experience for walking, bringing pets, running…read moregetting that exercise in. I overall liked it.

Review Visit: October 14th, 2015…read more First impressions are hard to change... If you live in Illinois at all, you know of the budget cuts, budget cuts, tax increases, budget cuts. Jubilee College State Park is one of those that has been hit by budget cuts. Decided to check this place and Jubilee Cafe out in the same day. My first time there, I encountered a few areas that were closed due to inadequate staffing. So a lot of places have become overgrown and broken down. This state park is beautiful and it's a shame that it is in such a bad shape. While looking up some info on it to write this short blog, it appears that after 3 years they finally have a (volunteer?) Park Ranger and a volunteer group to help clean the place up and make it usable. Having never been here, I tried quite a few different places that I thought were openings to go hiking, but I really never could tell what was what since everything was overgrown. Now if this volunteer group is helping out and making the place a bit friendlier, I would love to go back and check it out again. Maybe even update this blog post. I just hope I don't have to mark it 'Closed'. It fills me with such sorrow that beautiful recreational places like these are cut short on budgets and fall into disuse. I won't get into politics, but I hope they figure something out and restore this park and all the other closed/understaffed to their rightful natural beauty.

So many great memories of Jubilee State Park. Went there many times as a kid and we had our annual…read moreChurch Picnics there which were a ton of fun. The place is a gem and truly beautiful with fantastic hiking and biking. I recently discovered the "South Trails" for Mountain Biking. Some super sketch single track in areas and you will find a ton of crossover bridges, many with only a 2X4 allowing to cross the copious small creeks that meander throughout the woods. Decent elevation and tons of roots, rocks and obstacles to keep you on your toes...or pedals as it were. You don't want to miss this I will be back for sure next time i'm down visiting the fam!

It's been a wonderful two week stay at the Illiniwek Forest Preserve. There are lots of trees, it's…read morenear the Mississippi River, clean bathrooms, and firewood available. They have electric and water, but no sewer. They do have a dump station. There are towns nearby to find groceries, restaurants and shopping. The preserve has a playground, volleyball, biking/walking paths, and a nearby park with an 18 hole disc golf. We met many friendly families and had beautiful sunsets. The staff is very friendly and the sheriff patrols the site every day making you feel safe.

Staying here was my first camping experience since moving to the Quad Cities, and we had a great…read moretime! We camped with four adults and three preschool aged children and there was plenty for all of us to do. We stayed along the river at a tent site, and had plenty of space. The campgrounds were clean and quiet, and only $16 for the night. With little ones, it was especially great that there are clean, stocked restrooms. We really enjoyed being on the river at our site, but also the easy walk along the bike trail that connects to other parks. Overall, I highly recommend this site for easy, nearby camping.

Review Visit: August 9th, 2016…read more Somehow I am usually the last to learn of cool places. Farmdale Reservoir is no different. I have driven past signs for Farmdale many times in my life and just thought it was a giant water reservoir or something like that. Then one day I decided to google it to see what it was. Well, talk about kicking yourself in the ass for taking forever to do something. I came out here and hiked for a few hours and enjoyed every second of it. I decided to hike the 'tough' trails and they proved to be a challenge. Especially if you were mountain biking. While I only hiked about 4 miles and it was just a small section of the map, I was very impressed and will be back in 2017. The entire area is beautiful and far enough removed from society that you do feel isolated, but not far from help and home. This could be a great place to bring dogs, if you have one and they are properly trained. They say Illinois is boring... but we have beautiful places like this to help dispel that notion.

Hidden Washington backyard gem, hiking, running, biking, and dog walking trails all over with some…read moresurprising views for central Illinois sprout out this suburban park as essential oxygen to check in frequently. Coming from Indiana I didn't realize what was here til introduced recently and quickly fell for this lil slice of Gatlinburg. Parking isn't well marked but just like life I kept going until I found what I wanted. A decent Saturday morning gave clear nice weather without a crowd, will definitely be back!

Great park and historical site in Rock Island that's an important part of Native American culture…read more If you want to know more, come here and check out the museum about it. Black Hawk State Historic Site is located on the former location of an amusement park, that's no lie. Lodge has a museum about the famous warrior and the village that was here. The rest of the park has other feature such as trails. Black Hawk was a famous chief. In the 1800s the Sauk tribe was living here. They were later forced to move west. Soon this area became an amusement park. The railroad was used to bring people here, and when cars got popular, the park didn't have as many visitors. It soon closed. Then the Civilian Conservation Corps build the lodge and made the area a park. All this can be learned by visiting the museum. This is located in the lodge, and you can watch a video about the history of all this. Also there's trails for hiking. One overlooks the Rock River. Elsewhere in the park is the site of an 1886 coal mine. There's also a pioneer cemetery with a few old tombstones. Also there's lots of deer. The last time here we came across a bunch in the woods just standing around and eating leaves. Cool place as far as this area goes. It's got a lot of history to it. The museum in the lodge is helpful for learning about whatever.

Black Hawk State Park is a real gem for Rock Island. Beautiful at any time of the year, there are…read moreseveral picnic areas, three playgrounds, a lodge, a museum and reception hall, and many hiking trails throughout the park. I've loved coming here throughout my life! Lately I've mostly been utilizing the trails which are easy, though some maintenance is needed for deteriorating wooden walkways, washed out sections, and fallen trees on the trails. It's pretty quiet on the weekdays, though I'd imagine things will start picking up now that summer is in full swing. If you haven't been to Black Hawk Park, I highly recommend it! Please pick up after yourself and your dogs.

Sand Ridge State Forest is a place to clear your mind and enjoy the beauty of our outdoors! The…read moreforest will forever be my drug of choice to escape from reality, even if it's just for a short walk making conversation with myself!

Wow what a golden find in Illinois. I usually don't camp in…read morethis state because it seems like one big cornfield, but now finding this place about an hour from my home might make this an annual thing. So after our last treacherous back country camping trip in Colorado, my friends and I decided it was time for some Glamping close to home for Labor Day weekend. We found this place... A man-made forest (largest one in IL) that has beautiful pines, oaks, fungi and cacti all growing next to each other. The camp sites were clean and well maintained. Plenty of sites and hiking trails. There are fire pits for BBQ or bonfires, picnic tables, trees to hang your hammock, & stores near by for beer runs. There are no showers, but there are plenty of water spigots and bathrooms. The camp rangers were informative and friendly. They came by daily to pick up cash for the sites... which is soooo convenient. They recommend making reservations online but you could probably just show up and find a spot. We had a group of 8 and split 3 connecting sites for the long weekend. The entire weekend we probably only saw 2 other campers.

Great break as we drive along 155. Cute nature center for children and short hiking trail so they…read morefelt like they were out in the woods away from everyone

Sugar Grove Nature Center is a wonderful little gem in central Illinois. This is an area dedicated…read moreto teaching children and their families about the natural wildlife and vegetation native to the region. There are several miles of well kept trails, a learning center, and a children's play area. The play area is especially unique in that it encourages kids to get dirty, dig, and play in the creek. Also, there are events held all year round, many are free and most are very cheap when they are not. We visit regularly and love it.

To hike or not to hike, that is the question…read more A friend of mine had told that he enjoys going on hikes out at Robinson Park. Having never heard of this place, I decided to look it up. Much to my surprise, it was no more than 5 minutes from my job. We talked about going after work some day (we work similar hours) but decided to drop in on a Saturday so we could hike without worrying about the sun setting. I've never been out in the area but found parking to be something that fast approaches as it is off a busy road. There seemed to be a few different spots to park on one side of the road and an extension of the main lot on the other side. Jacob and I parked in the main lot and I told him to lead the way since this was his hiking territory. Once we got hiking and came upon the first map post, Jacob pointed out the trail we would be traversing, about how long it is and what challenges we will encounter. As we climbed up and down hills and crossed some bridges, Jacob would point out trees and what defects and diseases they have as he is an arborist. It was really cool to learn a lot about trees while getting lost in nature. In-between all that, we would chat about life and he would tell me about his previous hikes out here. Once we got to the end of the trail (which ended up at Camp Wakonda) and took a small breather, we headed back but taking a longer route to swing by one of Jacob's favorite spots. It's hard to capture nature's beauty in a simple photograph. This spot had a bench to sit on that lets you look out over the forest canopy, taking in the view and listen to the wind. I can see why he likes to stop here on each of his hikes. After our break, we wrapped up the hike and went our separate ways. I expected it to be a decently easy hike since I ride my bicycle 16 miles 2-3 times a week but the trail Jacob took us on really put us through our paces. There were a few steep hills that got the quad and calves burning like no other. The main park also continues on the other side of the road and that path, according to Jacob, can lead to Detweiller Park. We did about 5 miles in 2 hours and if we both didn't have stuff to do, I would've asked if he wanted to check out the other side for a half mile or so. I'm not sure if the other paths are easier but if you are looking for a challenging hike, Robinson Park is your place to be. I'm excited to come back out and try the full hikes on each side of the park.