White Pines Forest State Park
Check pricesDrive through Pine Creek on the park's low-water fords and hike under the southernmost stand of native white pines in Illinois.

Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
See Lorado Taft's 50-foot concrete Black Hawk statue gazing over the Rock River from its bluff, then hike, camp and picnic on the old art colony grounds.
1411 North River Road, Oregon, IL 61061 · Oregon, IL
Lowden State Park sits on the bluffs above the Rock River just north of Oregon, on land that was the Eagle's Nest Art Colony founded by sculptor Lorado Taft in 1898. Taft's Eternal Indian, known as the Black Hawk Statue, was dedicated in 1911 and stands about 50 feet tall in reinforced concrete, high above the river. The 207-acre park has about four miles of moderately hard trails, picnic areas, campsites and a boat ramp about a mile downstream. Park staff say the clearest view of the statue is from Illinois Route 2 across the river, especially near sunset.
The closest stops to Lowden State Park, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
Drive through Pine Creek on the park's low-water fords and hike under the southernmost stand of native white pines in Illinois.
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