Starved Rock and Mathiessen State Parks (IL)

**jbeletti** · 11-23-2003, 05:36 PM

Hi all,

This is my first post on camping. Too bad we didn't have our Trailmanor for this trip

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This was our (Jim, Nancy and Ruby) first camping trip in many years. Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks were beautiful with their fall colors showing. Ruby handled her first ever camping and hiking trip very well and the pop-up camper (my first time towing a trailer) worked out great.

These 2 state parks are located near Utica, about 90 miles SW of Chicago in central Illinois.

We camped at the Starved Rock campground. It's located about a mile east of the park entrance. This campground consists of 3 separate areas.

One area consists of several acres of open grass for tent camping. It's called the Youth Camp. The Boy Scouts had the entire place when we were there.

The second area is the non-reserved area. It has 58 campsites. The road through it is paved. I saw tents, pop-ups and large motorhomes in this area. I'm not sure about electrical hookups in this area. There's a single central bathroom/shower building and a couple pit toilets in this area.

The third area is the reserved area of the campground. This is where we camped. There are 74 campsites in this area. As in the non-reserved area, this area also features paved road through it. I saw tents, pop-ups and large motorhomes in this area too. All sites have electrical hookups and there's a single central bathroom/shower building and a couple pit toilets in this area as well.

The dump station for this entire campground complex is near the entrance across from the permit booth.

I would definitely stay here again but will opt for a more secluded site. Nancy wanted to be closer to the bathrooms on our first trip with no toilet in the pop-up. With our TM 3023, we'll be all set next time

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See a few pictures of this trip and read a longer travelog: http://www.beletti.com/travel/101703/101703.htm

**Carol** · 11-24-2003, 05:17 PM

Hi!

"The second area is the non-reserved area. It has 58 campsites. The road through it is paved. I saw tents, pop-ups and large motorhomes in this area. I'm not sure about electrical hookups in this area. There's a single central bathroom/shower building and a couple pit toilets in this area."

We stayed in the non-reserved area 2 years ago in one of the wooded sites around the edge of the open field in our TM. We did have electric hookups there. The bathroom/shower building looked fine. The only caution is to check out the levelness of the sites. The one we picked went downhill steeply. We dug a hole for the tongue hitch and lived with a decided slant to whole camper. LOL! The site had a large private area in the back with a picnic table and firepit. We were too tired to move or to do more since we were just there overnight on the way home to Wisconsin from a 3 1/2 week trip.

It is a very nice park. We hiked there many years before when we used to live in Illinois. Your pictures are great!

Carol