Route 178 & 71
Utica IL, 61373
Phone: 800.868.7625
This State Park located in rural LaSalle County, Illinois, about 75 miles west-southwest of downtown Chicago. The park is 2,630 acres in size and includes 13 miles of hiking trails, numerous waterfalls (ice falls in winter) and other landforms. The park contains 18 sandstone canyons carved over the last 12,000 years by a combination of surface water runoff and groundwater outflow. Starved Rock itself is a large eroded butte overlooking the Illinois River. French explorers built a fort called Fort St. Louis atop the rock in 1682 but had abandoned it by the early 1700s.
More Info
General Info
Specialty: State Park
Features: Boating, fishing, camping, horseback riding, picnicking, and winter sports just to name a few of the many outside activities at the park
Hours: 5:00 am to 9:00 pm daily
Starved Rock State Park is one of the busiest State Parks in Illinois with yearly attendance over 1 million visitors each year. While the natural areas show definite signs of great use (erosion is one of the biggest problems the park faces), a great deal of botanical diversity is found there. As an example, 18 species of ferns have been identified in the forest, wetland, and canyon habitats.
Route 178 & 71 
