Wildcat Canyon

Starved Rock is a most excellent park. I love the trails here – they are well marked and very very scenic. Today, we walked up to Lover's Leap and Eagle's Nest up on the bluff and then wandered over to Wildcat Canyon. Wildcat Canyon had the best waterfall yet. I don't know if it was because we really worked to get to the canyon – can you say fifty million steps all at once, going up – or perhaps it was because I actually stopped, sat on a log, contemplated the universe for a bit and really got a chance to feel the surroundings and appreciate what I was seeing. So many times when you are on the road, you go to a site, do the obligatory see-all and then move on. All too seldom do I really get to spend the time to really “see” what I am seeing. I know when I would go to a cathedral in Europe, I found that if I just sat in a pew, took the time to feel and absorb what I was seeing – it made for a much deeper experience. That was Wildcat Canyon for me.

View of the Mighty Illinois

View from Eagle's Nest - It is an optical allusion - the left side of the dam is lower than the right side

Wildcat Canyon Waterfall

Miko really does not like her picture taken - ' Gee Mom - just cut out this foolishness'

Looking at the falls from after climbing the fifty million steps

Funny thing is that we never climbed up to the namesake Starved Rock - where a band of First Nation people starved to death.  We could see it from Lover's Leap which was good enough for me.