Frivolous Friday: Starved Rock State Park

Frivolous Fridays are the Orbit bloggers’ excuse to post about fun things we care about that may not have serious implications for atheism or social justice. Any day is a good day to write about whatever the heck we’re interested in (hey, we put “culture” in our tagline for a reason), but we sometimes have a hard time giving ourselves permission to do that. This is our way of encouraging each other to take a break from serious topics and have some fun. Enjoy!

Spouse and I went for a little trip and hike at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois for our wedding anniversary. We didn’t camp this time, since we wanted to relax for our anniversary and we wanted access to a hot tub, but we did spend Sunday in the park exploring it.

Starved Rock is the most popular park in Illinois, possibly because it is an oasis of interesting geology in an otherwise exceedingly flat landscape. The park lays along the Illinois river, and contains several beautiful canyons and small waterfalls as well as tall bluffs overlooking the river. These features were eroded by the repeated flooding associated with glacial melting in the last ice age in an event called the Kankakee Torrent. The rock exposed in these bluffs and canyons is fairly soft sandstone.

Starved Rock itself, a big section of bluff along the river, isn’t all that impressive to see from inside the park itself. We climbed the long set of stairs, expecting to see something more impressive, but the view of the Illinois River wasn’t actually worth the climb. On the other hand, our short hike to Wildcat Canyon was definitely worth it, with nice views of French Canyon on the way, and lovely scenery. Most of the hike had tree cover and the trails are well maintained given how much use they get.

Speaking of use of the park, it was PACKED. I wouldn’t visit again on a holiday weekend. We luckily got there early enough to find parking in the overflow lot, and get a good amount of our hiking in before it was too busy, but by early afternoon they closed the gates to the park because they were at capacity. I don’t blame them, as by then the hiking trails were completely packed with people. I plan to go back and explore a lot more of the park, but it will need to be at a less popular time.

We had a picnic lunch using my favorite camp stove under one of the big trees near the Visitor Center. We watched people catch two big fish in the river while we relaxed in the shade. Others nearby grilled, played volleyball and catch, and generally had fun.

Not feeling up to a second hike, especially in crowded conditions, we headed back to overflow parking (up a huge flight of stairs on the way) and into the nearby town of Utica. While Utica was also full of holiday travelers, we did enjoy some ice cream and a wander through a few adorable antique stores before heading back to our hotel.

I look forward to going back to Starved Rock State Park when it will be less crowded, and to exploring other Illinois State Parks. Starved Rock is open year-round so maybe it will be a good place to get some winter hiking in this year. Mostly it was lovely getting to spend a few days out of the city with my amazing spouse.

Frivolous Friday: Starved Rock State Park
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Frivolous Friday: Preparing For First Camp

Frivolous Fridays are the Orbit bloggers’ excuse to post about fun things we care about that may not have serious implications for atheism or social justice. Any day is a good day to write about whatever the heck we’re interested in (hey, we put “culture” in our tagline for a reason), but we sometimes have a hard time giving ourselves permission to do that. This is our way of encouraging each other to take a break from serious topics and have some fun. Enjoy!

I keep most of my camping gear stored for the winter in a different city than where I live most of the time, so when the season begins I need to go fetch gear from the garage. I love going in and sorting through my pile of stuff, imagining adventures of the past and future.

While I have a lot of gear, I’ve been moving towards simpler and simpler camp set-ups over time. I don’t want to be daunted by the idea of packing for camp and end up skipping it because things are too complicated. I don’t want set up to take a long time, nor teardown (the worst part of camping). This is the opposite of how most of my big poly family camps – my spouse doesn’t plan ahead as much as me, and preparing for camp tends to be frantically throwing 6 musical instruments, a box of granola bars, and bottle of wine in the car. This works surprisingly well for them! My boyfriend and his family have a big, luxurious camping set up that’s great fun to use with them, but a style I’d rather not do on my own. The full kit requires a full sized van and small trailer but creates an extremely comfortable home for a big group.

Since I have limited time to get out to the trails I want my kit to be simple, light, and able to be kept together most of the time so that I can simply toss socks and food into the kit and get out the door. On my own, simpler is better. As much as I love gear, I just don’t need that much, and I want to carry as little as I can get away with.

This time I pulled out basic lightweight gear only – none of my car camping gear like large tents or air mattresses or lanterns. I stuck with my sleep pad, frame pack, lighter sleeping bag, and an old rain fly from a now-dead tent that I hope to turn into a shelter tarp before heading out. I brought my backpacking tent as well, but my hope is to switch to using my hammock instead when I am on my own. The tent itself sleeps 2 people who really like each other and will keep me dry in nasty storms, but it weighs 6 pounds which is totally unnecessary weight when I’m on my own in good to moderate weather. I would recommend it, though, if it was still being made. Unfortunately the company isn’t in business anymore and my tent is about a decade old and obtained second hand.

I found a small walk-in campground near home to do my gear test. It should be very quiet there in April, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m going in two weeks, which gives me time to adapt the rain fly and plan my food! I’m definitely going to try something new if I can. Perhaps next week I’ll write about the menu once I figure it out.

Frivolous Friday: Preparing For First Camp

Frivolous Friday: Hiker’s Spring Fever

Frivolous Fridays are the Orbit bloggers’ excuse to post about fun things we care a lot about that may not necessarily have serious implications for politics or social justice. Although any day is a good day to write about our passions outside of social issues, we sometimes have a hard time giving ourselves permission to do that. This is our way of encouraging each other to take a break from serious topics and have some fun.

Spring is here! Although Chicago had an incredibly mild winter this year, it’s still exciting to have the weather warming up and flowers start to appear along my walk to work. My winter was a little darker than usual due to working overnight full time and spending a lot of my time in classes and studying, but the winter classes and weather have passed.

I love spending time outdoors when I can, and spend much of my free time fantasizing about camping trips and hiking excursions. The lead up to spring is often full of spending time looking at hiking gear, planning camp food, and searching for fun places to get out of the city. In recent years I haven’t gotten out as much as I’d like. The combination of work, school, and family responsibilities has kept me from camping more than two or three times a year, and kept me from any serious hiking for several years.

This year I don’t have any more free time than I have in the past, but I do have a slightly more predictable schedule, which helps enormously in planning. I also have a few more friends who enjoy this kind of outing, so I have planned weekends away with friends, with partners, and by myself. I’m particularly excited to explore new state parks and try out some new gear, including my new hammock which I hope will be a lighter alternative to my backpacking tent.

In the long run, I’d like to start doing some more serious hikes, possibly starting with the 160 mile River to River trail in Illinois. This summer, though, I’m going to test my newer gear, work on freezer bag cooking recipes, and just get out of the city as much as I can.

As spring and summer advance, keep an eye here on Frivolous Fridays (and any other time I feel like it) for reviews of gear, vegetarian backpacking food options, and maybe some pictures of pretty places I get to visit. Hopefully I will only encounter the fun kinds of bears.

Frivolous Friday: Hiker’s Spring Fever