Expert: Tom Newman - 3/25/2005

Question
Hi Tom,

I've just moved to Chicago and would like to find a nice place to hike and camp. I wouldn't mind driving 4-5 hrs from Chicago to enjoy a peaceful and quiet weekend with nature. Appreciate your advice. Thanks.

Cheers,
WT

Answer
I live in Northeast Indiana (Fort Wayne) and usually hike this area or the AT.  We will be hiking the AT this summer but that is probably about 10 hours drive for you.

Here are some trails in ILL that you might want to check out....

http://www.trailmonkey.com/ilhike1.htm

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/il/rvr2rvr.htm

http://www.illinois-chat.com/hiking/hiking.html

I have not hiked any of these trails so I cannot personally recommend them.  I do have a friend who hiked the Shawnee National Forest and said that was really neat.



One of the best trails in Indiana is Turkey Run State Park.  I have personally hiked it twice and found it a lot of fun...

http://www.turkeyrunstatepark.com/hiking_trails/index.htm



Here is a site for Wisconsin...

http://www.slackpacker.com/map_wi.html


There are many sites with hiking trails on them.  I found these by searching on the terms "hiking" and the state name.