In May, I met the Girl Camper group at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Illinois, which is north of Chicago just near the Wisconsin state line. 

The park sits on the western edge of Lake Michigan and is broken up into two sections. The South section is the busier section with the campground and Nature Center. Near the Nature Center are two loop hiking trails.

The red trail is the Deep River Trail and is 1.8 miles long. The trail follows along a river that is usually blocked by sand dunes at one end. 

The Dunes Trail is 2.2 miles long and is also a loop. The trail starts out by leading down a gravel path to more remote sand dunes. 

Back by the campground, the beach was nice and pretty rocky in parts! The rocks were interesting and all different colors!

A fellow girl camper was telling us about how popular the park was decades ago. As you walk along the beach trail, you see deteriorating structures that tell a story from long ago. There used to be a concession stand and bath house and the life guard would climb the ladder at the top and watch out over the lake. There were also sun shelters that are now being swallowed by the dunes. The State is trying to bring the park back and has brought in a lot of rock to build the beach back up.

The campground is pretty large with reservable and non-reservable sites. The sites are spaced pretty far apart, and at the north end of the 200s, several sites are in a pine grove. They also just built a new Camp Store, which had a snack bar and park merchandise. There is also a hotel within this park too! 

I also took a drive to the north part of the park with a fellow camper, and we hiked the trail there and also walked along the beach. This part of the park was pretty quiet and peaceful. 

A bike trail runs throughout most of the park. One day we followed the trail north to the marina. They had a small brewery, Harbor Brewery, and live music. It was a nice halfway point to our ride!

Also, no dogs are allowed on the beach or the hiking trails, so Ellie stayed home this trip. 

We also experienced all the seasons of the Midwest from hail on Thursday, sun and short sleeves on Friday, to cold and windy on Saturday! 

Also, this park is located pretty close to a lot of places, so you can easily go into town for breakfast or dinner. We went to Emily’s Pancake House, and it was really good! I recommend the pancakes 🙂 I also drove to Wisconsin, which was about a 20-minute drive, and picked up beer that is only sold in Wisconsin! Shout out to New Glarus Brewing Company! 

This park was nice and a great day trip from Chicago. The lake felt like the ocean in the middle of the Midwest! You can even see the skyline of Chicago (barely visible in the picture below!)

I hope you enjoyed this post!