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Posts Tagged ‘Starved Rock’

Frozen Waterfalls the Only Sign of Winter at Starved Rock This February

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, Nature and Stress, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2012| 2 Comments »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

Last Sunday my man and I went to Starved Rock State Park near Ottawa, IL for a much-needed bit of fresh air, exercise and time in nature. We hiked the Illinois Canyon (Starved Rock has many canyons and this one is the deepest so it allows for much exploring!) on Sunday and saw a few hardy folks with their dogs and walking sticks. Some families treated their bundled up children to the wonders of this canyon along with us.

Since it’s been a mild winter, the ground was fairly muddy and the entire area looked ready for Spring. Yet, it’s only mid February so there are still frozen waterfalls and other cold sights to behold. I am posting a short video of water droplets falling from one of the more intricate waterfalls and some pics of the great outdoors. Check it out yourself before the actual spring comes and the frozen water turns the mud into a much stickier mess. For a map and Directions to Starved Rock click here.

Frozen waterfall at Illinois Canyon of Starved Rock State Park, IL. Image by Sue Shekut.

My hiking poles came in handy as we crossed this stream! Image by Sue Shekut

My favorite waterfall and pool in Illinois Canyon, Starved Rock, IL. Image by Sue Shekut.

Although its February in Illinois, this looks a lot like Spring in Maui. Image by Sue Shekut

My photographer boyfriend illustrates how high the walls of the canyon are. It doesn’t feel like we are This doesn’t look like Illinois at all. And to think, this area was once likely ocean! Image by Sue Shekut

A trio of collie dogs shared the waterfall with us. Image by Sue Shekut.

Crossing the streams of Illinois Canyon requires agility and great balance–or you get wet! Image by Sue Shekut.

Outside of the state park near Ottawa, we saw this car and wondered how what distracted the driver enough to miss the road–and dry land–so entirely! Image by Sue Shekut

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Fitness In The Forest-Part 2-Starved Rock Begs to Be Hiked

Posted in Fitness, Stress Management, tagged , , , , , , on November 7, 2009| 1 Comment »

By Sue Shekut, LMT, ACSM PT, Certified Wellness Coach

My boyfriend and I are avid hikers and bicyclers. We have spent many happy hours biking and hiking around Chicago area forest preserves this spring, summer and fall. But we get tired of the relative flatness of the terrain. Then we went to Starved Rock State Park this October and fell in love with the canyons in the area. We hiked about 8 miles one sunny Sunday, climbing literally hundreds of stairs and hills. It’s not the Grand Canyon, but for Chicagoans, it’s only 1.5 hours away from downtown and well worth the trip! And, it’s family friendly. We saw many parents with small children, babies in backpacks and people from all over the Chicago area.

I’ve loaded some of the pictures we took and use them as screen backgrounds. Feel free to use them yourself to give you a bit of natural relaxation on your computer desktop.

The View of Starved Rock from Lover’s Leap, the rock outcropping directly opposite Starved Rock.

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Starved Rock

LaSalle Canyon. See how small the person in the picture is compared to the canyon? This gives you an idea of the majestic size and scale of the canyon.

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LaSalle Canyon at Starved Rock, Oct 2009

I love this shot of the bottom of one set of stairs along the hike. Some thoughtful previous traveler gave us a heads up on the stair count before us. 155 stairs to climb. With the motivational cue: Do It Fatman!

We did it!

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Stairs at Starved Rock

The view from the top of the stairs. Indeed, 151 stairs we climbed. And prior to that another 141 stairs at another area of the trail.)

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Another view of LaSalle Canyon. At this time of year, there was less water so we were able to hike into the canyon and walk all the way back to the edge of the waterfall which is behind us in this shot.

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If you look closely you can see the tiny trickle of waterfall still falling in October.

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