Buffalo Rock State Park — Attraction in Ottawa

I will not return! What a bizarre place. Firstly, the random real buffalo are kept behind a chain link fence in a decidedly uncelebrated way, very much an afterthought. All of the pictures you see online of people near the pretty rock formation are technically not supposed to be there, there’s a large sign that says “RESTRICTED ZONE” right before you can reach that spot. Finally, the park is way too close to a gun range, you can hear the loud and steady popcorn POP pop POP of gunshots the entire time you’re anywhere on the trail. Not at all relaxing, there’s no way to feel like you’re in nature when you’re preoccupied by the sound of patriotic ‘mericans exercising their rights or whatever. The only reason I’m giving it two stars instead of one is that the buffalo didn’t look unhealthy and we were there in the afternoon on Labor Day and it wasn’t crowded. All in all we weren’t having it and neither was...

We were looking forward to seeing the bluffs that are on many pictures on the website.... but no rocky areas/bluffs to see. I'm thinking they may have closed a few trails? There were prairie trails.... and they were nice. However our nature walk was interrupted with a lot of gunfire from a nearby outdoor shooting range. Effigies? None were marked or obvious, except on the paper map and website. This is also advertised, but there was nothing to really see. Placed that used to hold signs were blank. I know the state has financial issues, but this park needs some new signage and tlc. We enjoyed our walk, but missed seeing the bluffs. There were a few areas where we could see the river, but that was all. The drive into the park is really nice and the bathroom facilities are bigger...

Small but big in many ways. Actually sometimes small is more peaceful. We were here last weekend. Beautiful sunny cool pleasant day. Got there about 8:20. First time here. The views of the IL River were spectacular. We were about 30 minutes into our hike, when we started to hear gunshots. Well unbeknownst to us, we didn't know it was a gun range in the area. We sorta tried to just tune out those sounds and just get more into our hike. Saw several different species of birds. Then we finally saw an eagle. 🦅 That was really cool! We met some friendly faces along the trail too! Most epic part is when arrive at the bluff. What an awesome place. Plan to go back before winter sets in and see the two remaining buffalo . We heard that there was a recent loss. Hope they can introduce more buffalo...