Starved Rock State Park - 2010

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/4-6/2010)

Picture Gallery: Flickr

We hit the road at 11AM on Friday.

As we did last year, we stopped at Outdoor World on the way down to Starved Rock to pick up some last minute items.  We then headed into the park to setup camp.  A new item in our camping gear is the sun/rain shelter (13×13 feet).  Wow..I have to say it worked very well. I was concerned about it being flimsy and getting blown over or breaking. But it stood up to some heavy rain and gusts of near 30-40 mph.  I’m very satisfied. Coleman (the Walmart of camping gear) has a winner!

This year was also the first year we were able to go camping with the old exploding popcorn bomb hazardous device. It’s really really hard to find them at stores and camping gear places. Not sure why. The kids love them. Probably the burn factor and the ultra sissy parents that have a fear of fire. Oh no! A 6 year old cooking on a propane stove, holding a metal object that could explode at anytime. Oh no! Danger. bahhh Maybe a pocket knife next year.

Who doesn’t like smores!  Melissa tried a peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker smore. The peanut butter gets all melty. Melissa says it was great, but I didn’t like it. I needed a gallon of water to wash it down.

We headed to bed with rain in the forecast and we got a good drenching and a bit of wind. Everything stayed dry, including the kitchen stuff under the new sun/rain shelter. The girls didn’t go to sleep until shortly after Midnight. About 4 hours past their bed time, but they just couldn’t sleep.  Made for a bad night sleep for daddy.

Saturday morning came too early and daddy was grumpy.  Melissa got up and took a shot at making pancakes. They never seem to work out very well and they make a horrible mess to clean-up when you are done.  Add to it that we each eat about 2 and it just wasn’t worth the effort.

Rain was in the forecast for the entire day so we didn’t want to risk horseback riding.  We decided to do some hiking.   Our favorite place to hike in the area is actually not at Starved Rock, but Matthiessen. Matthiessen State Park is much better for hiking and is only a mile away from Starved Rock.   The girls love the fact that you can hike in the water and has a very real adventure feel to it. Better than the manicured paths of Starved Rock.

The water falls are beautiful and there are even a few areas where you can do a bit of water sliding on the rocks or dipping into a waterfall or two if you can deal with the cold.  The mosquitoes were out, but not as bad as I remember last year.

Given the threat of rain we decided to head into Ottawa for lunch and a movie at their cute small town theater. The girls are always up for a movie.  We of course got out of the movie and were greeted to sun shine and blue skies.  Figures.

We headed back to our campsite for dinner.  We broke out the new smaller dutch oven we picked up at Outdoor World and set about to making cherry upside down cake.  By the time we had the food on the table I was noticing the sky turning dark and the clear signs of storms approaching.  Just as we finished and were cleaning up, the camp ranger came around and told everyone that there was a tornado warning for the county to our west.

What?! Another good argument for having cell phone service in the camp ground. Cell signal in this area is just horrible. Thanks AT&T. Not! So my attempts to get a good view with my iPhone and RadarScope was painful at best.  I made a command decision to pack everyone in the car and head out of the camp ground. I’d rather be visually chasing the storm than the storm chasing me.  Sierra was upset that we would have to leave meaning no playing Uno tonight. She looked at the sky and shook her fist in anger.

Using what cell service I did have I maneuvered us between two severe warned storms and got in behind the biggest looking one and Melissa droves us back east towards our campsite. While driving through the small of Magnolia we came across what appeared to be recent tornado damage. [ Confirmed later by NWS damage survey team as EF2/135+ MPH winds ] Many large trees down, roofs off homes and other signs of severe damage.  By now it was 9:00PM and we had no choice but to head back to camp or be locked out for the evening (gate closes at 10PM).  I could see another round of storms coming in but they didn’t look as severe. (Storms tend to not be as severe after another storm has worked over the same area) We hunkered down in our tents and rode out the storm. For a few minutes there it was what I imagine being at camp 2 on Everest is like. The side of the tent was buckled inwards and if I had not staked down the tent like I had I’m sure we would have been rolled and or very wet.

The girls went to bed a little earlier this night.

Sunday….HORSEBACK RIDING!! I don’t know how many times the girls asked about horseback riding all weekend but I was sure there was going to be a meltdown if daddy couldn’t figure out how to make it happen.  Sunday broke with an absolutely beautiful blue sky and crisp cool morning. After a short hike to the top of Starved Rock to kill some time (I mean, come on, it’s called Starved Rock. You have to hike to Starved Rock.) we headed over to Cedar Creek Ranch.

Just like last year, Paul (the owner) did a fantastic job with the girls.  He really has a way with kids and has a true encouragers heart. The girls were absolutely beaming with pride and accomplishment when we were done.  At $15 for a controlled ride, I’d say it was money well spent.  I’ll have more about Cedar Creek Ranch in my next post.

A perfect end to a nearly perfect weekend.  Woot! Starved Rock for the win…again.