Pere Marquette State Park — Attraction in Saint Peters

What a difference a year and a different camer cabin makes. A year ago, I would have given tbis place a 5 star rating, no doubt. I stayed in camper cabin/Rent a camp #13 for 1 night on the way to Ohio, and one night on the way home to Arkansas. I liked it so much that I booked for 4 nights this year........in camper cabin 15, the only one available. What a difference!!!!! Since my tent got "tornadoed on" after I got home from my last camping trip, tent camping wasn't an option, so here i am in #15, and boy does it have issues. First off, the online system wouldn't let me reserve for 4 nights, even though the cabin was open the 4th night, so I reserved online for 3 nights, then called a couple days later to inquire about the 4th night. They did get me the 4th night, but they charged me a "change fee", on top of the regular price. What??? It's not my fault the online system erred in not allowing the 4th night to start with. A friend who reserved last year said that it has to do with what they consider "arriving" and "departing". Still, not my fault. It wasn't a huge fee, but I'm poor, and it's ridiculous. But, the biggest issues are with the cabin itself. A) It's surrounded by highly invasive Japanese Honeysuckle, to which I'm very allergic, so no sitting in the shade. B) The cabin, especially the porch, is totally infested with Carpenter Bees, which will sting, if provoked, AND wasps, so no sitting on the porch. The humming alone would drive a person crazy. C) The ceiling fan doesn't work, at all. Pulling the chain just makes the light flicker. The second chain turns the light off and on. D) This probably wouldn't be an issue for most, but you have to crawl on your knees on the bed to turn the heat and air on. I'm an orthopedic mess, so crawling on my knees isn't ideal. Ive had 6 surgeries on my left knee, so I'm not supposed to be crawling around like that. After 48 hours, I had to, though, as it was sweltering in there, and the Honeysuckle pollen was getting to me with having the door open. I couldn't stop coughing. There are a couple of other more minor things, well, one's only minor because I knew about it already. The "mattress" is extremely uncomfortable, and only 3 or 4 inches thick, so bring an air pad or a mattress topper. Lastly, there's a big step from the ground to the porch, so my fellow short people should take note. With my aforementioned orthopedic problems, I had to grap the porch post to help pull myself up. It's not a deal breaker, but it's not handicapped friendly. Camper cabin 13, as of last year, had only about half of these issues. You could sit on the porch in that one, without bees and wasps buzzing around you.

So, Pere Marquette is a beautiful park, and it has lots of bird life, which is my jam. I just wish I could sit outside and enjoy it like I did last year. I would camp here, and might stay in cabin 13, but i definitely would not stay in #15, unless the invasive Honeysuckle and stinging insect problem were dealt with. I realize that this is "nature", but nobody wants to be held hostage by things with stingers. The honeysuckle is not native and should...

I'll try to be thorough. My husband visited this park as our belated honeymoon. Just a few days out of town camping and spending some quality time together. The park is BEAUTIFUL. And I am very impressed with the thought that went into the tent camping sites. Normally, it's 500 RV spots and one little grassy spot next to the dump station for tents. To have a large, dispersed area of tent sites with picnic tables, barbecue grates and fire rings is absolutely refreshing. I appreciate the fresh water spigot as well.

Roads and grounds are very well maintained. The shower house had adequately hot water.

I only knock off a star because of a few annoyances. My husband and arrived without a vehicle. Ours is in the shop soba very kind friend offered to make the hour drive out to drop us off and come back to pick us up 4 days later.

Because we didn't have a vehicle, I specifically called to ask if there was a place to buy ice. Firewood, water etc. I was told yes, it was all available

We got here and the campground host really seemed like she wasn't happy about us being there. When I asked about ice, she said "oh no. We don't sell ice." And the "firewood" is just bundles of sticks that they collect from the park, not split native hardwood. For $6 you get a bundle of sticks. When I asked where we could buy ice, she told me to go to the gas station in Grafton. I explained we dont have a vehicle and our friend is just dropping us off and about how I was told there was a place to buy ice, she told us to try the lodge.

Well, the lodge treated us like 3rd class citizens. Even when my husband went into the gift shop to buy a soda. We asked if we could pay to get ice from the restaurant or one of the guest ice machines. They just said "go to the gas station in grafton."

So I did....via a $40 round trip on uber. On a camping trip. In the largest state park in Illinois that has 100 RV, a playground, a massive visitor center and a giant grand lodge. Even the smaller state parks in Missouri have a small sundry that sells bloody ice.

So that's probably my only gripe. I get that camp grounds don't think anything of tent campers but you can make a FORTUNE over RV campers in a small camp store selling ice, ACTUAL firewood, water, drinks, etc for tent campers who can't or dont want to go all the...

The Ravine Trail would have been a lot more difficult to hike up than the only trail section they actually rated as difficult was (we went down Ravine). There are "steps," but in most places, it's easier to go around them (if you don't mind being a little close to the edge of the ravine) than to use them because the spacing is odd, and I guess erosion has caused the bottom step in each section of stone steps to be pretty much the full height of the giant block (so about a 1 ft. drop/step up each time)... and there are quite a few separate sets of steps that are like that. I'm definitely happier we went down that rather than up it. There was also a short section that felt a lot steeper going down it than the "difficult" trail felt going up ('though it was a shorter distance). The one trail section that was rated "difficult" was steep the whole 1/4 mile, but it was actually wide, smooth, and straight, making it not that bad (a little hard on the calves, but not treacherous or otherwise challenging). So I feel like their rating system for difficulty might be a bit skewed. I would have swapped those scores for those 2 trails, personally. But I actually enjoyed the Ravine Trail more because I enjoy the challenge of a little scrambling (when my knees are up to it).

Also, if you have bad knees and find it's easier to go downhill if you jog it so you don't cause as much shock on your knees with each step, be aware that the ground is very sandy and the Ravine trail in particular has the texture of being sprinkled with kitty litter, so be careful you don't slip. A really good pair of hiking shoes will help you keep your footing, but mind your speed. It's easy for gravity to propel you forward faster than it's safe to go, but I recommend holding back because of the texture...