I spent a long Labor Day weekend (5 days) at Mississippi Palisades
State Park; Ronna joined me for 2 of those days.
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| Campsite visitor. Photo by Ronna |
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Turkey vultures gathered in this tree every evening
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A nice campground with fairly level sites, some of which are pull through
. No water hookups here,electric only (as in almost all Illinois State Parks) but very clean and well kept. There are shower buildings and, of course, a dump station. Cell phone service is spotty although I was able to get a few bars of Verizon 3G using my signal amplifier; Ronna’s ATT was of no use. No over-the-air TV signal either but my site did have enough southern sky to use the satellite receiver. The parks 244 sites were just about full from Friday night through Monday morning. But on Tuesday I had the trails all to myself.
The park consists of 2500 acres of land located near the confluence
of the Mississippi and Apple rivers in northwestern Illinois, just north of the
city of Savanna, IL. It’s known for its steep cliffs (palisades) rock climbing / formations and hiking. The trails in the northern section are easier than those in the
southern section, but the more difficult trails give the best views.
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| Along Sentinel Trail |
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| Along Sentinel Trail |
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| Along Sentinel Trail |
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| Interesting rock formation along the trail |
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| View from Sentinel Rock |
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| Sentinel Rock in the foreground |
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| Along Pine Trail |
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| "Twin Sisters" area on Pine Trail |
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| Along Pine Trail |
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| "Twin Sisters" area |
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| Indian Head Rock |
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View from Lookout Point on Sunset Trail with
historic truss bridge in background. Photo by Ronna |
Ronna and I took a drive across the Mississippi into Iowa’s
only island city, Sabula, and watched the barge traffic navigating “Big Muddy”.
The truss bridge that connects Savana IL
and Sabula IA was built in 1932 and added to the National Register of Historic
Places in 1999.
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| Photo by Ronna |
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| Photo by Ronna |
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Photo by Ronna
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| Railroad swing bridge. Photo by Ronna. |
Later in September we will be heading to Gettysburg, PA. I will
post an update on that trip.
