Moraine Hills State Park

About Moraine Hills State Park

Moraine Hills State Park offers a variety of recreational activities, from hiking and camping to viewing rare plants and watching migratory waterfowl. The park is located on the western border of the Fox River, north of St. Paul, Minnesota. About half of the 2,200 hectares are wetlands and lakes, and the McHenry Dam and Fox River are located on the western boundary of the park.

The 48-hectare lake in the centre of the park was formed when a lot of ice broke off from the main glacier and melted. The moraine mountains take their name from a geological formation called moraines, which consist of boulders, rocks and other debris deposited by glaciers. When the glacier ice melted here during the Wisconsin Ice Age, it left behind a gravel-rich deposit called Kames, which makes up the wooded hills and ridges of this park.

The lake is one of the few glacial lakes in Illinois that has remained largely undeveloped and in an almost natural state. Lake Defiance has gradually been replenished with peat from its unstable shore, but it is still a great place for hiking and fishing.

It is home to many rare plants, including the cattail, which grows inland, as well as a variety of wildflowers, shrubs and grasses.

Known as the Leatherleaf Bog, this 120 hectare region is an excellent example of moraine topography. The Pike Swamp is also home to one of the largest known colonies of pitcher plants that attract and catch insects. Geologically, a cauldron is a depression that occurs in the earth's crust at a depth of at least 1,000 meters above sea level.

The Leathermoor is a protected area and consists of a floating mat of grassland surrounded by a moat. The Pike Swamp, one of the largest and most diverse ecosystems in the state, has taken root here.

Moraine hills offer three examples of the improvement of wetlands in the form of the pike swamp, the leather bog and the Peabody swamp as a whole.

The moraine hills are one of the best examples of what can be achieved with little or no human help.
The park is used extensively in summer - as a source of food for birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds of prey. There are over 100 bird species in the park, including the yellow and white-tailed boar, and more than 100 bird species have been identified. In addition to 100 bird species, these wetlands are home to over 1,000 mammals and over 500 birds, as well as over a hundred fish species and hundreds of other birds.

The artefacts found on the park's grounds suggest that humans have lived in the area for at least 5,000 years, possibly as long as 2,500 years ago.

The seasonal settlement of the park dates back to around 4000 BC, and part of the stone foundations of a hut still stand on the Park Road. Indian tribes that occupied and crossed the area were the Chippewa, Ojibwe, Chisholm, Mohawk, Lakota, Sioux, Kootenay and Chukchi. Horace Long was the first known settler in this park area and lived in what is now the southeast corner. He and other settlers from what is now Canada claimed the land for themselves and a number of others.

In 1907, the original McHenry Dam was built and a manually operated lock was built, and in 1924 the facility was donated to the people of Illinois. In 1934, construction of a new concrete block dam began and in 1907 the manual lock was rebuilt.

In 1953, the state of Illinois acquired 15 hectares of land for McHenry Dam State Park, located on the eastern bank of the Fox River. In the early 1960s, land was made available to the lock, which is managed by the Water Management Office.

In 1971, the acquisition of the Lake Defiance area began, and in the spring of 1975 the park was built. The present-day Moraine Hills were opened in October 1976 as Moraine Hills State Park, the first national park in Illinois.

The park features a number of conveniently located concession stands, picnic areas and other amenities, as well as a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, biking, camping, fishing, picnicking, canoeing, kayaking, hiking and fishing.

The McHenry Dam Concession is open 7 days a week from April to October, and Lake Defiance Concessions are open on weekends and holidays when weather permits.

Choose a shaded table or outdoor table when visiting Moraine Hills and choose shaded tables over outdoor tables. Private boats are not allowed and cannot be taken into the river as trailers are prohibited in the park. Electric motors can be used, but rental boats must be on the base that is served first. Information is available by calling 815 - 385 - 5921 or by email.

These areas offer parking, drinking water and rustic toilets, but there is no flushing in Moraine Hills State Park or other parks.

The three paved paths, paved with limestone, offer an exceptional view of the landscape and the animals. The picnic accommodations offer a variety of picnic areas, such as picnic tables, tables and chairs, and a picnic table.

To keep up to date, the paths are marked in colour and can only be travelled in one direction. The fourth trail, River Road Trail, is asphalted and 1.9 km long, and you can enjoy the scenic views of the river and forest.