Heritage Corridor: Best Midwest Spring Trip

We visited the Heritage Corridor (La Salle County) for the weekend as a family. From kid-friendly hikes to waterfalls to a waterpark, our whole weekend exploring the region was magical. With it being just 3.5 hours from St. Louis and 80 minutes from Chicago, this is an ideal weekend getaway.

Where we stayed:

Grand Bear Resort at Starved Rock

Address: 2643 IL-178, North Utica, IL 61373

Grand Bear Resort has been welcoming families since 2004 and has a rustic vibe. We stayed in a 2-story deluxe villa, which had plenty of space for our family of 7. On the first floor, there was a full kitchen (fully stocked with dishes, utensils, etc) and laundry (both washer and dryer). There were also couches that surrounded a gas fireplace. Upstairs, there was a bunk bed room! Our girls loved the twin bunk beds and the additional twin bed. Our 2-year-old wanted to sleep in the same room as her big sisters, so she had a pack n’ play in the bunk bed room too. Across the hallway, my husband and I stayed in the primary bedroom with our baby in the bassinet. Our room had a king bed and even a jacuzzi tub. The best part about our stay was the incredible location! It is just minutes from Starved Rock State Park (directly across the parking lot from the trailhead for St. Louis Canyon) and only 4 minutes to Matthiessen State Park. You just can’t beat this amazing location!!

The waterpark was a great way for us to cool off after the day of hiking. It was a good size but still very manageable to keep tabs on our five kids! My girls gravitated to the kid slides (which were very fast!) and the lazy river. In the hotel lobby, there was ice cream for sale, so naturally we had to try some after swimming too!

There is a nice playground on the Grand Bear Resort that we could walk to from the villa. It looked like there was miniature golf that will reopen for the summer season (next to the playground).

Day 1

We left after school and drove to Grand Bear Resort, only 3.5 hours from St. Louis. We had sandwiches packed for dinner on the go and it was overall a smooth drive. We arrived at the resort before our kids’ bedtime to check in. We unpacked into our villa and went to bed so we could have fun in the morning!

Day 2

Our kids woke up around 7am, so we decided to eat a quick breakfast at our hotel before driving directly across the street to St. Louis Canyon at Starved Rock State Park.

The parking lot is small, but don’t let that fool you! This hike was absolutely amazing and the parking lot does fill up. The trail is unpaved, not stroller-friendly and is 1.7 miles round trip. It starts out down an old road (make sure to watch out for the uneven sections). At 0.3 miles, it turns into a trail through the woods. The stairs and the trail leads along a river through towering sandstone walls, ending at a 80-foot waterfall! My kids loved all of the sand next to the waterfall. The water was really flowing and it was a peaceful way to start the day.

We headed to Rock and Soul, a local gem store in town. We purchased a dirt bag (there are multiple sizes, but we chose the smallest $10 bag). Then, we headed to the sluicing station outside and discovered hidden treasures. Each of my kids got to keep around 20 rocks, and one of my kids even had a shark tooth! At the end of the experience, we received a rock identification card to take home. It was a fun time!

We ate sandwiches on our drive back to Starved Rock State Park, this time to the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center was packed and had lots of good information on the park. My kids liked the exhibit about the Illinois River explorations! After talking with the staff, we decided on hiking the Wildcat Canyon trail, which was one mile from the Visitor Center to the waterfall. The hike was filled with cool formations. We loved the view of the waterfall from above, which is one of the tallest in the park. Then we enjoyed the view right next to the waterfall. While there were many, many stairs, it was so peaceful and totally worth it.

After working up an appetite, we drove to The Rootbeer Stand (225 N Columbia Ave, Oglesby, IL). This iconic American restaurant was founded in 1955 and has the most amazing rootbeer. They even serve root beer by the gallon, which we of course bought! **Note that only cash is accepted here. The rest of our evening was spent swimming at Grand Bear Lodge and eating ice cream from the hotel lobby. It was such a great day! You better believe that we all slept so great after such a fun day exploring outside.

Day 3

We started our morning with another hike in the area! Out of the three waterfall hikes we did over the weekend, this one was my favorite. I took my 6-year-old and baby with me to explore Matthiessen State Park, while my husband stayed with some of our kids that were still sleeping.

We drove four minutes up the road to Matthiessen State Park and hiked the Lower Dells trail. One of the staircases was closed because of the recent rainfall and flooding. But, we were still able to access a set of concrete stairs on the other end of the trail to hike down into the canyon. We traveled through a sand stone canyon that ended at the 45-foot waterfall! When we faced the waterfall, there was a cave to the left. We went into the cave, discovering a tunnel that led to a neat view of the waterfall!! It was unbelievable.

We also explored the Illinois Waterway Visitors Center, which had an observation deck with views of Starved Rock Lock and Dam and the many, many pelicans. My girls loved this free visitors center too!