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Chain O' Lakes State Park
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
16 reviews for Chain O' Lakes State Park
16 reviews in English
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Review from Phil C.
Elmhurst, IL
2/1/2012
I worked at the park when I was in high school. It was a great place to work and had a great time when we went camping. About the alcohol glad to here about the rules.
For the people that cant enjoy the outdoors with out drinking go to a hotel. I am sure its not all the folks that drink that cause this problem but for the idiots that come out and just get wasted well those are the ones like always who wreck it for the good folks. Hey listen to the other guy if you want to drink and act like idiots go north to cheese head land. He is right they don't care as long as you spend your money you can act like a drunken fool so get to getting. As for the park employee's My boss Ed would have never let us disrespect the people that came to enjoy the park and what it has to offer. A big hello to Curt if your still there. from PC -
Review from Michael G.
Melrose Park, IL
11/17/2011
Don't go here if you like to drink, swear, and enjoy being with your friends. Drive the extra 10 miles to Wisonsin where they actually want your business.
They were clear about the rules. We broke them. I guess some Illinois parks are lenient with the drinking rules but not this place. They eavesdropped on us for what we estimated to be about a half hour. We know this because they recited back to us what they heard us talking about.
They also went through every piece of trash in our garbage back looking for anything incriminating. We were smarter than that of course.
I guess they did us a favor by not writing us up, but the 20 minutes of humiliating us still wasn't worth it. -
Review from Corin W.
5/4/2011
You can hike for hours and see prime examples of local flora and fauna. Really, it's an incredible way to spend the day. We know folks who've camped here too and have had great experiences with the place.
You can get lost in magic here: ambiguity and mystery intended.Listed in: A Plus, You don't know what you're…
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Review from Matt M.
Chicago, IL
7/31/2011
Had a great weekend at the state park. Hiked about 8 miles of trails that lead us through forests and prairies. Then we camped in the Mud Lake section of the park (near the southern end).
Looking at some of the other reviews, it seems that people were most upset about the fact that they strictly enforce the no alcohol rule. It is posted all over the place, and shouldn't be a surprise. If you are looking to drink alcohol, you might as well camp in your back yard. If you are looking to get away from city or suburban life, hike, boat, etc. then this is the place for you. -
Review from Rob B.
Crystal Lake, IL
6/29/2011
Imagine a beautiful piece of Midwestern landscape, complete with mature oaks, maples, and pines, nestled near beautiful lakes and streams. Tent campsites are fairly isolated - nice thick trees and brush between - distances between sites up to 50 yards. Bike trails are nice - lots of them and scenic overviews. Plentiful wildlife - lots of birds and critters. Most everything you want in a camp-site. Now imagine that, and placing a bar on an island right off the coast of one of those lakes. Imagine lying awake at night listening to a live band blare its music and motor-heads with their stink-pots racing up and down that lake. What an incredible let-down. It's an odd juxtaposition of land conservation and NASCAR. I'll bring the boys with our bikes back here, but won't be camping.
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Review from Russ S.
Chicago, IL
8/23/2010
This place was a total nightmare. Now maybe we're part of a different, younger crowd than normal. But I believe camping should be in the woods, not 5 feet from the road.
The boat rental is insanely expensive, and the boats were garbage. The "anchor" didn't even stop us from drifting in a weak wind. 80$ for the rowboat with motor for a day! Last time I rented one elsewhere, it was 42$. And to add to the crappy corporate mindset going on there, the boats have to be back by 6pm even if its not dark until 9, so ignore the fact that they're open until 8 and you paid for a full day. They claim they just leave it at 6 so it's the same all year round. Hey guess what idiots, the sun goes down at different times and if I'm paying an exorbitant amount on your horrible little rowboats, I want to get my money's worth. /rant
Other then that, the concessions were all over priced but that can be expected.
There's NO SWIMMING IN THE LAKE, or from their boats at all, and even if you rent a boat with a motor, you're not allowed to leave the small lake (i forget the name) that the park is on, so forget about going to the much better fox lake.
We almost didn't get a spot because from now on all their reservations go through some horrible online reservation website. MUST RESERVE 7 DAYS IN ADVANCE.
THERE'S NO ALCOHOL ALLOWED! I still don't understand how you camp and fish without a beer or two.
They check up on you like you're children. They were very upset that our 10 lb. dachshund wasn't on a leash the whole time.. come on. And they're just looking to give you a ticket if they even see a beer. Thankfully I was successful at hiding it.
This is what happens when corporate america takes over camping and introduces ridiculous rules. Thanks a lot lawyers.
I'm sure the time of year is important for Mosquitos, but we were drenched in bug spray and they still ate us alive. It was impossible to escape them. No exaggeration, we had trouble just putting up our tent because of them.
Only good thing i can say is that we were initially pleased with the 12$ a night camping fee.
I will NEVER consider going here again. -
Review from Alfredo P.
Chicago, IL
8/11/2010
For the most part, Chain O' Lakes offers a great camping experience as long as you take into consideration two factors. Those factors are the tons of biting insects (at least in August) and the possibility that if you don't put your permit on your site as soon as you get it, your spot may be resold.
The good:
- Decent sized camp sites for $12
- Easy navigation through the park
- Beautiful vegetation and bodies of water
- Was able to rent a site at 6:00 pm on a Friday without reservations
- Friendly employees
- Pretty close to Chicago
- Plenty to do if it tickles your fancy (hiking, biking, canoeing, horseback riding, etc)
The bad:
- Your site can be resold if you don't get there immediately and put up your permit. We got to our site about 25 minutes after we paid for the permit and there were people already there with their tent set up and a fire going. We had to go back to the entrance (not the main office) to be issued a new permit for a different site.
- There are a ton of biting insects in August. You might as well bathe yourself in DEET if you don't want to come home itchy. I used multiple types of bug repellent and still went home with over 200 mosquito bites. -
Review from Jess S.
Chicago, IL
6/8/2009
Friend and I arrived here at about 2:00pm Friday of Memorial Day weekend and snagged two "rustic" sites in the overflow area (the wooded lots were full - of course). We had a great stay that night and the four of us went canoeing on Saturday. We didn't get to the boathouse till 1 or so and easily reserved two canoes (cheap!). You can also rent rowboats (w/ or w/out a motor) and paddleboats.
Its was a gorgeous, well-maintained park. Lots of hiking trails (didn't get to explore them the first time) and a busy boat launch.
Good times indeed. -
Review from Kelly R.
Chicago, IL
6/28/2010
Pros:
- Decent sized, cheap campsites (about $12 for non-electric)
- For non-holiday weekends, probably don't need a reservation. We got there at about 9pm on a Friday and had no problem getting a site
- Relatively clean bath house
- Tons of trails for hiking and biking in a variety of settings (wooded, prairie, etc.)
- Boat rentals (canoes, rowboats, paddle boats and speed boats). I think it was $25 to rent a canoe for about 3 hours
- Horseback riding
- Not too far from "civilization" so it's perfect for a weekend getaway. Only takes about an hour to get there from Chicago.
Cons:
- No swimming or beach area
- Alcohol ban (which we ignored, and then got busted and had to dump an entire bottle of wine or pay a big fine)
- TONS of mosquitoes, spiders and biting flies (at least in June) -
Review from Pam F.
Forest Park, IL
8/11/2006
Besides all the things that Sarah F. mentions, Chain O Lakes State Park also has a free boat launch. Of course, to launch you will need to have a Fox Waterway boat sticker (you can buy weekend, or seasonal passes). On the weekends the Aux. Coast Guard is usually there and will give you a free safety inspection as well.
Very well maintained park (considering it's Illinois). Pretty any time of year. -
Review from Padraig J.
Chicago, IL
8/30/2010
Chicagoans should avoid this place as it is not suited for outdoor fun. There are really no plusses about this state park, except for cheap canoe rental.
The green area is really just a patch of field and a few tree lined roads that service picnic areas and are an excuse to justify the boat launch. The prarie itself might be nice for a light hike if you lived close by, however to drive out there on a Friday for that one small vista was worthless. There was no sense anywhere of being lost in nature. There are only four trails each about 1.5 miles long- you know about as long as your hike to the Metra or CTA on any given day? Planes, trains and automobiles were constantly audible at night from our site.
That goes triple for the lake: the wakes created by the hundreds of motor boats were so stiff that it makes canoeing a chore. There are moments of wildlife on the lake: egrets, comorants, and geese but that's on manmade concrete bunekrs created for them.
The campsites are mostly just gravel driveways with very small area for tents. The worst feature were the poorly designed fire stoves. They do not have campfire pits, just these strange raised platforms that have walls on 2 sides and don't allow you to sit around the fire and stare because the fire is covered. A hinged grate for cooking kept swinging down on the fire as well. It was really poor design, and ruined one essential element of camping.
BIGGEST PROBLEM: Want to know why you can always reserve space here? Because of the park's hostile management. We were genuinely harassed by the rangers who patrolled the sites CONSTANTLY. We were yelled at like children for having too many cars at our site- something we'd asked about up front, for momentarily having our small dog off leash, for audibley swearing when we had an accidental fire at our picnic table (wind blew a plastic bag into a citronella candle), and threatened with fines of course for having alcohol (one bottle was out). So we were forced to open our coolers for these mini-tyrants and pour out our beer. If the alcohol was the sum of our problems I wouldn't mention this, but the rangers were bullying, petty mall-cops and were constantly threatening at least 3 other campers we saw nearby with expulsion, and yelling about posting permits. It was inexcusable, and made for a hostile environment. There is no spirit of fun in the campgrounds- noone is playing their stereo and there are no children running around playing probably because people who like to have fun avoid this place.
Lastly this park is impossible to get to. We left in the middle of the afternoon well before rush hour and the nonexistant urban planning of the suburbs made this geographically short trip (55 miles) an exhausting 2 hour trek over jammed roads. Proximity was the only reason we chose this park, and there's no way we'd choose for that factor alone again. This was not a fun park.
There are many other state parks that would be much better to go to for beautiful nature exposure, relaxing outdoor experiences, nicer campsites, and proximity to Chicago. -
Review from mari k.
Round Lake, IL
5/7/2009
I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! Not only can you bring your RV but you can rent a cabin, you can fish, hike, horse back ride, bike, boat....the list just keeps going. Great place to bring kids, but I reccomend taking a picnic basket and a blanket and cuddle up with someone makes your heart melt, my husband last weekend dropped the kids by his parents, and decided to woo me! Gotta love him, pizza, wine, candles and a cute spot by a little babbling brook with a bridge over it....it was so romantic and perfect beautiful outside, with no bugs...YEAH!!!
So it not only gets 5 stars but it also get my MUST GO HERE!!! -
Review from Tracy K.
Chicago, IL
10/1/2006
I love the fact that this park has horse trails and an on-site horse rental.
For $21-30, you can rent a horse and go on a guided walking ride for up to an hour.
The guide was friendly and they seemed pretty well organized.
For insurance reasons, they can't allow you go alone with their horses or speed along the trails, but.. if you stick to the end of the group, you might be able to misbehave a little bit when the guide is not watching.
The direct line for horse rentals is: 815-675-6532. -
Review from Sarah F.
Madison, WI
10/20/2005 2 photos
This park is less than an hour and a half outside of Chicago and has a lot to offer. There are swimming areas, boat rental (canoe and row boats), hiking, horse rental, and camping. Camping only costs $12 and the sites are really nice.
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Review from josie w.
Chicago, IL
10/2/2010
The facility is nice, canoeing, clean, rangers are friendly as you will get to know them intimately as they visit your site every other hour! This is FAMILY camping so they are really on your case and just waiting for you to swear loudly or bust out the hooch-cool thing is they didn't throw us out and left us alone after the second day...(of compliance and cooperation)
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Review from Robert H.
Sauganash, Chicago, IL
11/2/2009
This is a good park with good amenities. It could be a great park, if they had more respectful and polite workers here. There was a time when it was hard to get a space in this park, but attendance has gone down recently because return customers do not feel welcome at this park by the staff. I have been there many times with my kids and have had problems with some of the bad attitudes from park workers and have also heard complaints from other campers. Some of the workers are very nice and respectful, but other workers have no common sense and think that they are on a military base and forget that we are customers. Some of them appear to be not good enough to make it into local police forces or have been on waiting lists for 15+ years and are on $10.00 an hour power trips.
Some examples- Quiet time is 10pm to 9am and about 10:05pm an officer was walking by my campsite and my dog (who was in the tent) heard footsteps and barked and the officer said "You better shut that dog up before I kick you out of here". One time a bathroom maintenance person stopped my 4 and 5 year old children as they were entering the bathroom and told them they had to walk 3 blocks to the nearest bathroom, because he was going to start cleaning the restroom and was setting up his cleaning signs. Some of these workers are simply moronic with no people skills.
Do not bring any alcohol into the campgrounds. 1 time when I was there, there was a middle aged couple drinking 2 bottles of Mike's hard lemonade in their screened tent while playing cards around 11:30 pm while their kids were in the camper sleeping. An officer must have seen the drinks and called for backup and 5 overly enthusiastic officers raided their campsite. It was a humiliating scene and we originally thought they had a gun or something, but heard the whole story from the campers afterwards. They got $50.00 tickets and considering they only had 2 bottles of drinks (after coolers & refrigerators were inspected), the rangers (at their self declared "good graciousness") decided not to arrest this couple and made it a point to tell them that they were being lenient on them. One of the moronic officers even gave this couple unsolicited parenting advice that he doesn't think that it is a good idea for them to drink in front of their children. I think the real reason they didn't arrest this couple was because their 3 kids would have been left without parents for the night and the Lake County judge would have thrown the case out and they wouldn't have received any fines.
Don't even think of bringing canibis into the park - read some of the many arrests on their website. They know that an arrest for possession of alcohol will be laughed out of Lake County court, but possession of cannibas will be held up in court, so they love to arrest young adults smoking a joint.
These park officers are on power trips and do not look at us as customers, but rather as potential criminals - and if you don't believe me, just read the website below. Here is their website where they appear to compete against the other 4 regions in the state (they are located in Region 2) for issuing tickets and making arrests: http://dnr.state.il.us...
Here are some recent examples taken directly from their website from a "Region 2" arrest from July 20, 2009: "A CPO arrested a subject fishing along the Fox River for failure to immediately release a 13" largemouth bass (must be 14")". Here's another one from July 29, 2009: "CPOs arrested the operator of a watercraft for OUI on Grass Lake. The subject had a .096% BAC." Another one from June 29, 2009: "A CPO arrested a subject fishing along the Fox River for illegal possession of a 9 1/2" Largemouth Bass. The subject was very upset because the person who sold him his license did not explain all the fishing regulations to him." Did you notice the unnecessary and unprofessional commentary? These moronic, unprofessional officers get off on disrespecting park guests that make mistakes.
I am a family man and have never been arrested at the park, so I don't have a personal axe to grind. I just feel bad for young people who go here to camp or fish and get arrested because they don't know all the rules and that this place is run by Nazis who offer no leniency or warnings. This is not the place to go with your friends to party. If you want to go camping with friends and have a few beers, there are some good private campgrounds that are more tolerant.
My family has just learned to make fun of them and avoid them. A final example is they have a 30 year old motorhome that is parked outside near the boat launch that has hand applied decals saying: "Department of Natural Resources: COMMAND AND CONTROL CENTER" like it is something out of an Hollywood action flick. They might think they are Arnold or Stallone, but my children think they are a bunch of dorks.
