We just got back from the Illinois state park on Lake Michigan. My daughter has lived here (Lake Villa) for over a year, and didn’t know about this very nice park/beach, only 20 minutes from her home! The park consist of 4,160 acres, and you can swim, picnic, hike, fish camp, just enjoy nature, or do some boating. Believe it or not the sandy shoreline runs for 6-1/2 miles, and is the only remaining beach ridge shoreline in the state. The park consist of dramatic ridges and swales, dunes, marshes, oak forest, and tons of animal life and vegetation. 650 species of plants have been recorded in the dunes area alone, where you will see a dazzling display of wildflowers.
In the 1700s this area was part of the “Three Fires” of the Algonquin Nation: the Potawatomi, Chippewa, and the Ottawa. Prior to that the Miami called this area their home. During the civil war there was a p.o.w camp, not far from here, and during WWI and WWII it was used as a training ground for tank maneuvers. In 1948 people started to see how important this area was, and Illinois Dunes Preservation Society started buying up land to protect the natural beauty of the area.
Next time we go, we will take a picnic lunch, and spend the whole day. I saw a few people fishing some of the marshy areas, before you get to the lake, and the deer crossing signs are all over! Ducks. geese, egrets, and blue heron are common to the area. The water was crystal clear, and we found plenty of colorful rocks, for the rock garden. To top it all off, it was not crowded at all! We couldn’t drive through the campgrounds (without a 25.00 dollar sticker,) but from what we saw, it was very nice. I’m still working on posting some pictures, but haven’t figured things out yet.
Mike
Sounds awesome Mike. Looking forward to the pictures once you get them figured out.