St. Louis Canyon, Illinois, United States

5Mike R 5:00 PM May 20, 2022

Easy hike to a nice waterfall
We originally planned to hike at Matthiessen State Park, but the part we wanted to explore was closed due to road construction. Looking for a place to turn around, we noticed the small parking lot for St. Louis Canyon (part of Starved Rock State Park), and decided to check it out. The first part of the "trail" is hiking down a closed section of old park road, but then it joins up with the trail system from Starved Rock. Nice easy hike into the canyon, with a nice waterfall reward at the end. Glad we stopped to check out this part of the park we hadn't seen before.

4Indy-ND 5:00 PM Jul 14, 2021

Surprisingly nice waterfall in the canyon.
I had been to Starved Rock before, but didn't make it through the entire park, so I wanted to check out St. Louis Canyon since I was driving past the place on my way back home. There is a separate parking area for the canyon hike that is outside the main park, which is nice. The walk to the actual trail is an old road and not scenic in any way. Matter of fact, walking back up it (it's slopes down from the parking area to the trailhead) sort of sucked after the hike. At least you don't start all the way from the main Starved Rock parking area. The main hike has elevation changes, many bridges, and a creek. The canyon itself is a bit taller than I expected and the flow of the water fall was excellent. I had the place to myself most of the time I was on the hike (Monday in May) which was nice (and quiet). The whole hike, with spending time just taking it in with pictures, lasted around an hour. A perfect hike if you have limited time, but want to wander in the woods a bit.