Lowden State Park — Attraction in Rockvale Township

Lowden has become my favorite camping destination the last 10 years as I have brought my now almost-10 year old here since she was a baby. We call it “the usual place” and have so many great memories at Lowden.

It’s a modest park, but you’d be hard-pressed to find another campground that compares if you enjoy actually being in the woods when camping.

I make the trek from Chicago so I can get some time nestled in the woods in the “class C” primitive walk-in sites several times a year. I haven’t encountered another state park with similar walk-in sites. They offer privacy and quiet that you just can’t get in a standard campground, especially for tent-campers,

The walk-in sites are fairly easy to access, and we use a foldable wagon and backpacks to bring in our supplies. Though the walk-in sites can’t be reserved, I’ve never had an issue taking my pick of the sites, even on holiday weekends.

Overnight you can hear owls, and then be awakened by a lovely bird symphony. It’s dog-friendly, and it’s not too hard to get to the water pump where the water tastes good! The pit toilets are well maintained and not too smelly. You can buy firewood on site that’s less expensive than at the gas station down the street. I’ve encountered many critters here, but visitors take good care of it, and I’ve never had issues with critters making a mess of our supplies.

The hiking is modest but pleasant, with an easy loop on the White Oak side that connects to the other half of the park via a street crossing that is fairly easy to navigate. I’m always impressed by the biodiversity here, with so many native wildflowers, spring ephemerals, fungi, sedges, and grasses. On the main park side, there are some fun ways to get a longer hike up and down the hill that leads to the campground, and great views of the Rock River and the famous Blackhawk sculpture by Laredo Taft.

They recently rehabbed that monument and haven’t replaced the placard that told more of the story of Indigenous history, and I hope that gets replaced soon.

I always look forward to...

We enjoyed our stay from Thurs-Sun at sites 54 and 55 in Shady Rest. There was plenty of room for our tent, our friend's camper and the Volkswagon Westfalia on the adjacent site. The bathroom on this side was clean and the front door was propped open for ventilation. Sunsets at the Blackhawk statue were lovely and there was ample room for bocce games. Our only inconvenience was the camp host riding up in his golf cart while we were sitting around the fire and accusing us of parking on the grass and infringing on another site when our Nissan Rogue was well within the 40 ft drive with our friend's truck and camper. He didn't bother to get out of the cart to actually look, but told us to park the car off the site. This meant we had to lug our cooler and supplies to our car before bed. Moving our car meant we had to drive on the grass to get past the camper which seemed contrary to what he asked us not to do. Meanwhile, the site across from us had a vast parked in the grass along side a truck and 5 wheeler trailer. So much for a camp host! This experience won't keep us from coming back since the sites are inexpensive and close to home. It was otherwise a great weekend despite the gap in...

Sadly in a state of disrepair. The entry road and road through the campsites is really rough. The park buildings look close to falling down, no exaggeration. The roof of one of what always to be a storage or maintenance building is falling in and has random pieces of tin making a last ditch effort to hold the building together. The "hiking trail" isn't really marked. You almost have to know about it to use it. It's too bad too, because it's a nice little trail and more people would use it if they would bother to mark the entrances and the path itself. You can connect to the other side of the park across River Road for only a few months out of the year. They mostly show preference to hunters on that side of the park vs visitors or residents who actually want to use it.

The tall trees make this a great place to go to get away from the sun in the summer, and I'm sure this place was gorgeous 30 years ago. Now it looks practically...