Illinois has a free canyon park 90 miles from Chicago and almost no one goes there

Starved Rock’s quieter neighbor

About 90 miles southwest of Chicago, a 1,938-acre park full of canyons, waterfalls and color-streaked sandstone sits wide open with almost nobody in it.

Matthiessen State Park shares the same geology as famous Starved Rock just up the road, but it pulls a fraction of the crowds.

You can walk in any day of the year starting at 7 a.m., stay until sunset, and never pay a dime.

The canyons here feel tighter, deeper and more personal, and the story of how this land went from a Danish immigrant’s private retreat to a public park is worth the drive on its own.

A Danish industrialist built his own private canyon park

Frederick William Matthiessen came into the world in 1835 in Altona, then under Danish control.

He built a life as an industrialist and philanthropist in LaSalle, Illinois, and near the end of the 1800s bought about 176 acres along the Vermilion River. He called it Deer Park.

He put roughly 50 workers to the task of carving trails, raising bridges, laying stairways and building dams through the property. After he died in 1918, his family gave the land to Illinois.

The state opened it to the public and officially renamed it Matthiessen State Park in 1943.

Water carved a mile-long canyon through 470-million-year-old stone

The center of the park is a canyon that runs about a mile long, cut by centuries of water pushing through layers of St. Peter Sandstone.

That sandstone formed roughly 470 million years ago, back when this stretch of Illinois sat along a prehistoric seashore. The canyon splits into two sections.

The Upper Dells start at Matthiessen Lake, where Lake Falls drops water from the dam into the canyon below. The Lower Dells pick up at Cascade Falls, where the rock drops 45 feet.

Cascade Falls drops 45 feet between the Upper and Lower Dells

Three waterfalls line the Dells trail. Lake Falls sends Deer Creek down from Matthiessen Lake into the Upper Dells, though the Lake Falls bridge and trail are closed to all hiking traffic until further notice.

Further along the stream bed, you come to the Giant’s Bathtub, a natural pool that rocks and pebbles carved into the sandstone over thousands of years of swirling motion.

Cascade Falls is the main event, a 45-foot drop where the two Dells meet. Spring and heavy rain bring the strongest flows.

By midsummer, the water often slows to a trickle.

Mineral streaks paint the canyon walls yellow, red and green

Groundwater seeps through the sandstone, and when it evaporates along the canyon walls, it leaves minerals behind. Those deposits create streaks of yellow, orange, brown, red and green across the rock faces.

One side canyon called the Devil’s Paintbox got its name from the bold swaths of color packed into a small space. The park also has natural mineral springs scattered through the property.

White-tailed deer once gathered at those springs to use them as salt licks, and that population gave the original estate its name, Deer Park.

Ferns, cliff swallows and salamanders fill the cool canyon floor

The damp, shaded canyons create a habitat that looks nothing like the rest of Illinois. Mosses and liverworts coat the canyon walls, fed by constant moisture.

Ferns grow thick in the rich soil along the floor.

Frogs, toads and salamanders live in the streams and pools down below, while cliff swallows and rock doves nest in pockmarked sandstone ledges above.

Walk up to the forested bluffs and you might spot cedar waxwings or scarlet tanagers moving through the canopy.

Five miles of trail wind past waterfalls and down canyon walls

Matthiessen has about five miles of hiking trails, including the 3.2-mile Dells Area system. You walk along canyon rims, descend to the canyon floor and pass all three waterfalls.

A popular loop drops near the log fort, follows the canyon past the Giant’s Bathtub and circles back along the bluff past Cascade Falls.

Bluff-top trails are easy walking, but the canyon floor gets tricky in spring when water runs high. Stepping stones, wooden stairs and boardwalks help, though your feet may still get wet.

Watch for Strawberry Rock along the Lower Dells trail.

Ride horses and fly model airplanes along the Vermilion River

South of the canyons, the Vermilion River Area spreads out into a wilder landscape of forests, wildflower prairies and riverbanks. Nine miles of multi-use trails here are open to horseback riding and mountain biking.

You need to bring your own horse, and the campground runs from May 1 through late October or early November.

Horseback trails open May 1 and close after the second weekend of November, depending on weather and conditions. The park even has a radio-controlled model airplane field tucked into this section.

Kids can explore a French-style log fort before hitting the trail

A restored log fort sits near the Dells Area parking lot, built to match the style of French fortifications from the 1600s and early 1700s in the Midwest.

Kids enjoy climbing through it, and it also marks the starting point for the main Dells trail. Picnic tables, playground equipment and water fountains surround the fort.

The Dells restroom building is currently closed for repairs, with portable toilets available. Over in the Vermilion River Area, you get separate picnic shelters, tables and grills.

A field archery range with four targets sits in the northwest corner of the park.

The waterfalls freeze into towers of ice every winter

Matthiessen stays open through winter, and the canyons transform.

The waterfalls freeze into sculptural towers of ice that draw visitors even in January and February. Ice formations build along the canyon walls and take on shapes that change week to week in the cold air.

You can bring your own skis or snowshoes and hit six miles of cross-country trails, or stick to the 3.2 miles of Dells trails on foot to see the frozen falls up close.

Either way, you get a park that looks nothing like it does in July.

Same sandstone, same waterfalls, a fraction of the crowd

Starved Rock sits just a few miles north and pulls millions of visitors a year.

During busy season, its parking lots close when full, especially Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Matthiessen gives you a similar sandstone canyon and waterfall landscape with far fewer people on the trails.

The narrower, deeper canyons of the Lower Dells feel more enclosed than Starved Rock’s wider formations. Both parks’ waterfalls run strongest after snowmelt or rainfall and can dry out in summer.

You can see both in one day since they sit only about two miles apart by road.

Get there early and keep your feet on the marked trails

The Lake Falls bridge and trail are closed until further notice, so check trail conditions before you go. Swimming and wading in any waterfalls, creeks or canyon pools are not allowed.

Neither is rock climbing, rappelling or ice climbing, and serious injuries have happened here. Stay on marked trails in the canyon areas, because going off-trail is both illegal and dangerous.

On weekends from May through October, the Dells and Vermilion River parking areas often fill by around 11 a.m. and may not reopen until 3 p.m. Leave the drones, metal detectors, bicycles and skateboards behind.

Explore Matthiessen State Park in Illinois

You can find Matthiessen State Park at 2500 IL-178, Oglesby, Ill. The drive from Chicago takes about an hour and a half via I-55 and I-80, putting you roughly 90 miles southwest of the city.

The park sits about four miles south of Utica and three miles east of Oglesby. Gates open every day at 7 a.m. and close at sunset, with free admission and free parking all year.

For the best experience with the fewest people, show up early on a weekday morning.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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