Location – 3/5 We visited Oak Point Campground for an easy weekend getaway. This park is located near Golcanda, IL and is about 10 minutes from Lake Glendale swimming area. Lake Glendale area is a quick detour off Interstate 24 and decently easy to find. Campground – 4/5 One of the nice things about these campsites are the simplicity of them. There’s not much around but a nice flat private area, which is really all Continue Reading
Illinois
Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National Forest
Location – 5/5 Garden of the Gods is about an hour away from I57 interstate and was a very simple drive. There was a dedicated overnight backpackers parking area, though during busy times the day hikers take up spots. The official trail is 6.4 miles and seemed to be pretty accurate. Campground – 5/5 Most of the campsites were right on the trail, except the one we stayed at. It was about 30-40 feet off Continue Reading
Panther Den Wilderness
Location – 5/5 This site was close to a friend’s house, and his introduction to backpacking, so something close is always nice. Panther Den Wilderness official trail is only around 2-3 miles so we custom made a new route to be in the 10 mile range. The AllTrails mileage and elevation is off (5.44 mi. in, 3.95 mi. out, 1181 ft. elevation) compared to my watch (6.5 mi. in, 4.8 mi. out, 1339 ft. elevation). Continue Reading
McCully Heritage Project
Location – 4/5 The lack of pictures and reviews on Hipcamp made it difficult to choose the best of the 4 available sites, but the reviews were good and the pictures looked promising so we decide to stay here and picked a site at random. We finally arrived and were greeted by the host, who was very nice, and she instructed us that our SUV should barely (luckily) make the dip in the road coming Continue Reading
Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs
Location – 2/5 It was Labor Day 2020 weekend and we had originally planned to stay at Oak Point Campground in Golconda, IL on Lake Glendale. The site was first come first serve and as we arrived around 4pm, we were informed they were totally booked as of 30 minutes ago. She let us know there was a more primitive first come first serve campsite called Rosebud up the road that had sites available. The Continue Reading