2025-08-27 – Mississippi Palisades State Park, IL
Heading west from Camp Bullfrog Lake, we were on our way to the banks of the Mississippi River. The landscape quickly flattened out as we drove westward, turning from smaller, general farms to farms with much larger fields. The view from the roads was virtually all corn and soy beans.
The park’s name derives from the fact that this portion of the Mississippi is lined with tall limestone bluffs or palisades. The Mississippi, at this point, is very wide with the main channel threading through broad flats of marshes, pools and side channels.
Upon arrival we learned that some sections of this campground were not reservable but were available on a first-come-first-served basis. We switched to one of those sites because we liked it better than the one we’d reserved.
The park was a long, narrow one along the river. The camping area was near river level at the north end of the park. We drove a winding park road along the ridge to the top of the bluffs. Along that road stretched a series of beautiful, mowed meadows with picnic tables scattered about. It was truly a beautifully maintained area for people to picnic.
Multiple short trails lead to overlooks, all of which we checked out. The views of the river were wonderful and it was cool to watch as a freight train wound its way along the river.
Returning to our campsite, we put together a beef stir fry for dinner.
2025-08-28 – Mississippi Palisades State Park, IL
The park’s literature described a number of hiking trails and named rock formations in the southern section of the park which we’d yet to explore. We drove another ridge road through more lovely picnic meadows to one of the trailheads.
Driving the roads to the park’s ridges, we noticed that many of the guard rails were really beat up. It took us a bit to realize that the damage wasn’t due to driving accidents but rather from falling trees!
We started by walking the Prairie View trail but that didn’t exactly wow us. Then, when the next promised mostly mosquitoes and not much of a view, we ditched the hiking. Similarly, we were unable to really identify or even find the named rock formations so we set off on other pursuits.
We drove south most of the way to Savanna and crossed the main channel of the Mississippi to Sebula, a small community and Iowa’s only city located on an island. The island has a beach, a campground and a harbor with boat docks. There’s not really much else there but the view from the homes set along the river is great.
We were intrigued by the homes built with a tan colored stone that had the appearance of having been made from chunks of clay pressed together. We later learned that it is unique to the area and is called Geneva limestone.
It is, of course, sedimentary rock. But acids produced when decaying plant life filtered down through it etched channels through the rock. Those channels are what give it the distinctive appearance. As we drove around we noticed that many of the road cuts through stone had a similar appearance.
We made a little side trip to check out Mt Carroll, a bit to our east. The small town had a nice looking downtown but there didn’t seem to be much going on. On our way back to the campground we stopped at the Sippi-Side Pub in Savanna for drinks.
Then it was back to the camper for a simple dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
2025-08-29 – Mississippi Palisades State Park, IL
About thirty miles north of the park is the town of Galena that was said to be pretty interesting. It was!
To begin with, the main street downtown area is set on the side of a steep bluff along the Galena River. The main street is lined with beautifully maintained historic brick buildings that house an amazing array of shops and eateries. It was very busy with eager shoppers and husbands waiting patiently on sidewalk benches.
Second, that steep hillside had amazingly long, steep staircases to reach individual homes or just the next level street. The hillside was simply too steep to simply walk. Of course the hillside homes had great views, and that’s presumably why people built there.
Oh, and by the way, the town was also a home of Ulysses S. Grant, US President and Civil War general. We stopped in to tour the home of Grant and his wife, Julia Boggs Dent Grant. The home was gifted to Grant by a group of prominent Galena Republicans in 1865 to celebrate the return of the Civil War hero. It is historically accurate and filled with most of the actual furnishings used by Grant.
Back at the campground we put together a dinner of sautéed shrimp seasoned with Old Bay and a caprese salad.