Chain O'Lakes State Park — Attraction in Antioch

There are some great things about this park, but also some drawbacks. If you have a larger rig, not every camp site is great. Ours (#60) was behind a bunch of other sites. We checked in on a holiday so our space was almost the last one to be filled. Another site had taken our electrical connection due to the length of her power cord. So, we backed up further so we could use power from a different spot (the power poles are shared between 2 sites).

We had to back up pretty far due to a huge lump where a tree had been removed, which gave our rig almost a 12" lean, which means we would never get level. The ranger came and said we were parked too far back (after 90% of the campground was now vacant after the holiday).

My husband was gone for the day to a Cubs game so my sister and I had to move our rig. We were given the option to change sites (for a $2.50 fee, lol) or just pull forward (in front of the huge tree stump bump). We moved until my truck was 100% in the road, but the camper was 2-3' from the road and felt relatively safe.

There isn't water or sewer at the sites, so if you are staying long, you'll have to pack up and drive to the dump station. There are a bunch of hose bibs, so I could have refilled my water without moving by hooking all my hoses together to fill my fresh tank, but I didn't need to.

The other campers were mostly from nearby, but it was nice camping. There is no alcohol allowed in the park, so people stayed under control and there wasn't any noise to speak of.

The great thing is that there are TONS of trails to walk and/or rid bikes. There is an Osprey look-out made by boy scouts which is really cool. There's a deer watching area, also great. I really enjoyed biking around this huge park.

One of the dump stations is too small to get into with my size rig (40' 5th wheel trailer), but the other is fine. The signage is a little confusing, but we used it in spite of what it said. No one yelled, but it made it sound like campers weren't supposed to use it, but if that is true, who is the dump...

Recent bad experience. Park is over-run with conservation police giving you the vibe the park may be unsafe. Was policed myself because I had a tiki torch canister lit and was told no open flames outside of the fire pit that’s provided. Fine. But come on, a 5.00 tiki torch can’t be lit? Wife and I complied but the member of conservation who seemed polite enough, going as far to say our set up was nice, seemed to have come back multiple times after, presumably to check up on the fact that we remained compliant. We went to sleep and quickly cancelled the second half of our stay due to feeling so unwelcome.

This park has remained a family past time but it seems those times have gone. Concessions no longer have snow cone slushee machines for the family either, citing hard economic times and the supplier cutting them off because business wasn’t busy enough for it.

Sad, wife and I would have likely spent around 45.00 this last weekend on top of the camp fees on firewood and slushees. State kinda cost themselves some money there.

Illinois parks seem to do a fair job making you feel unwelcome. I’ve camped out of state and you’re lucky to see a ranger one time just to verify you should actually be there. Then that’s it. Camped at this park for a decade now and year after year it seems there’s either no police/ranger presence, or they’re driving by your site every 5-10 minutes.

Nope, still doing nothing illegal officer, just a fat guy cooking a hot dog. Nope; still doing nothing illegal officer, just a fat guy eating his hot dog. Nope, still doing nothing illegal officer, just a fat guy sleeping with an empty plate on his chest because he ate too...

The park is beautiful naturally speaking. Set on rolling hills and wetlands it makes for a perfect place for the average hiker, bring the canoe and kayak too!

We tented and were impressed with the rates in the non-electric area, but this does not excuse the state of the public buildings at the state park. We were very disappointed in the state of the pit toilets, they were fly infested, filthy walled, stained floors, and smelt worse than traditional pit stalls. The shower bathrooms which were a step up in hygiene were not much better. To my surprise the shower bathrooms where the flushing toilets were looked cleaned to a bare minimum, this means whom ever cleaned them chose not to clean walls, stall walls, and most surfaces. I entered a bathroom following a cleaning and it was frankly dirtier than your single uncles basement bathroom; cob webs, buggers on the walls, and it smelled of that sweet smell of old urine. we also went to the boat rental area where the bathrooms were no better! Do not get me started on the amount of cob webs on all the campground buildings. I am seriously disappointed on the quality of care taken to the public buildings at this campground. Cleaning at this state park is not taken too seriously.

This is not the case at other Illinois campgrounds! Do better! I would reconsider staying over at this campground if you do not use a camper toilet or if you appreciate...