Illinois Beach State Park - Mid-September Camping Trip (75/57 F)

Day 1 - Chicago to Zion (IL) 

This first trip was supposed to be a two night camping trip at the Illinois Beach State Park, which is conveniently near the commuter rail line. We trecked a mile to the train station from work on Friday evening and then another 1.7 miles to the campground once we got to Zion, IL. Sadly, the trail near the commuter rail stop was flooded and smelled of sewage, so we walked through the outskirts of town to the park. You know you’re in the burbs when the sidewalks abruptly end and you have to march through parking lots instead. When we arrived some guys were asking if they should send their Uber on and walk into the grounds, which made me feel less weird about walking to a place most people take their SUVs.

We got lucky that the site we reserved wasn’t flooded. It had rained a bunch that week and earlier in the day, and half the campground was under a foot of water. One couple complained to a ranger that the site assigned wasn’t what they reserved. He told them if they had a tent that floats, they were welcome to their reserved spot. We headed to our plot and picked the least damp place to set up our tent, happy we didn’t have standing water like the sites across the road from us. We thought the campground was nice besides the flooding, with lots of shade trees and clean bathrooms.

By the time we started setting up, it was getting dark and we were glad we had headlamps; hands free light is the way to go. Our tent vestibule is tiny and we wished we had two doors, each with a vestibule for shoes and packs. Once inside, it felt equally tight for two. We were pretty tired from work and the commute up to the park, so we just crashed and read for a bit. 

When we went inside our sleeping bags, we discovered DH didn’t fit in his! If he laid flat with arms by his side, I could just barely zip him into the straitjacket. (He’s not a big guy, 5’ 9” and 190 lbs, in shape.) So he slept with his bag half-zipped and got a little cold wearing just boxers, low of 57 F. I wore a T-shirt and shorts and also got a little chilly but not too bad, especially once I awkwardly flipped some of my fabric over DH and shared body heat. I liked the room in my BA bag, but didn’t like that I couldn’t carry the top of the bag with me as I moved because it was stuck to the pad attachment. I was very surprised at how comfortable the sleeping pads were though. I thought they were better than an air mattress. We brought pillowcases to shove clothes in for pillows and this was very uncomfortable. DH felt the insects and frogs were too loud, and I felt the full moon blaring into our tent was as bright as the city lights that flood our bedroom. I should have brought my eye mask and some ear plugs.

Day 2 - Food Struggles & Aborting the Trip

The next morning, we were excited for coffee and food, but we forgot to bring utensils. I suggested using a stick and our hands, but got shot down. CVS was only a 15 minute walk from the campground, so we decided to have coffee and then go get some spoons. Except when we tried to set up the stove we learned that our stove could not screw onto the 8 oz butane canister - it was too big. 

We walked to CVS for spoons and propane; they had neither. We considered grabbing spoons from McDonald's but knew we’d be tempted to buy breakfast. So we carried on to the Piggly Wiggly where we bought plastic silverware and, finding no propane, we broke down and bought donuts. Next stop, almost back to the commuter rail stop, was Ace Hardware where we found a 16 oz propane canister. We intentionally picked IL Beach State Park for its proximity to civilization as a potential out if needed, and, at this point, I was very grateful for its location. 

Back at the campground we finally made coffee even if the Starbucks Via packets were super bitter. I warned DH that reviews said to use less water than what the instructions said for the dehydrated breakfast skillet. He reasoned we should follow the instructions the first time and then adjust if needed, so we ended up with soggy egg goo for breakfast. Good thing I already had a donut. (DH points out the donuts were his idea.)

Finally, we made it to the beach which was very pretty. I love Lake Michigan because it makes me feel like I’m ocean side. It was a rocky beach, but the rocks were cool. We had fun sitting and looking for interesting ones. In the afternoon, we tried the nature trails, except they run next to a marsh that was flooded. We didn’t get very far into the muddy trail before it disappeared under a foot of water that merged out with the marsh. We ended up backtracking and then trudged through some gross water on a different trail to make it up to the dry beach. We took in the views again and walked along the beach back to camp.

Dinner went smoothly now that we had the correct propane for our stove, and the dehydrated chicken dumplings were not half bad. (We used 1/4 cup less water than that in the instructions.) But we were still a little hungry afterwards and ate some more of our snacks. 

Sadly, around 6:30 pm ish our neighbors asked if we had seen the weather for that night. DH replied scattered showers, since that was the prediction when we checked on Friday. Nope. 90% chance thunderstorms, 4-6 inches of rain, and flash flood warnings. They were packing up after dinner. We hemmed and hawed a bit, but decided it was best to cut our losses and not risk waking up surrounded by 6 inches of water, especially given how flooded the rest of the campground already was. Around 7 pm we started packing up in the dark and headed back to the commuter rail. We stopped at Culver’s for frozen custard as a consolation prize and then waited until the next train...at 10:30 pm. Going to bed at 12 am at home was disappointing but dry. 

Clearly we had some learning curves to overcome. But we still had fun and so it was full steam ahead for our next short backpacking trip.