chain 'o lakes state park

Chain of Lakes State Park is close to most everything you might like to be. It's only about a half hour from Lake Michigan so you could do a lot of things. The Chai has a concession stand at the boat ramp where you can buy bait and food. The boat ramp is for those who brought their own boats. The concession stand is where you could rent a boat

This is a very beautiful state park but the power trip dnr don't make it a pleasant place to visit. The rule list here is a mile long and just getting checked in alone was the beginning of the headache. We arrived early and our friends came later. Well all vehicles must be recorded even though they let you pass right through the gate. We reserved two spots but they would only give us one camping spot pass because the other party hadn't arrived even though they were both under our name. We started setting up camp on both sites early and dnr stopped and yelled at us twice because the one site didn't have the yellow ticket in place. Well they wouldn't give us the yellow ticket till the other party arrived. The dnr walks the whole park around quiet time. There is no warning they are coming they just barge right into your campsite in the dark. They proceeded to go through all of our coolers and belongings without asking anyone. The campsites themselves are great. They are really spread out and wooded so you feel like you have your own little spot. The bathroom shower houses are absolutely disgusting!!!!! There was fecal matter strewn across the floor all weekend. The toilets overflowed and well just all around repulsive. Another upsetting thing was the absence of soap in all bathrooms. Way to promote health state if Illinois. Overall we won't return to this park again. It's wasn't a pleasant relaxing experience...

when we arrive at their desk, a young lady was there just staring at us. No Hi or hello,as if she doesn't speak any language. When she decided to take take care of us, she was very rude. I dnt knw f wut was her problem dat day or she just ddnt like us. She needs to go to school for customer service to learn a few, a smile here & there should't hurt!

This is a great facility. Very well thought out and a good place to put you boat in with no cost. You come out right on grass lake by Blarney's island and can boat in either direction. Great spot to start you day and end your day.

What a disappointment! I had such high hopes for this park and our trip ended in a $120 fine. The park is gorgeous, but the park rangers (aka: Gestapo) are the most unfriendly and rude rangers I have ever met. I am not a novice camper either. I have been to many parks and never ran into a situation like this. I almost feel like we were flagged as "trouble makes" from day one because we are in our late 20s early 30s and they don't seem to care for Chicagoans. If you enjoy being stalked and spied on 24/7 then this is the park for you!When we first arrived to the park to register our car we were greeted by a rude ranger. I told him we had a reservation and his exact words were "so do you and all these other cars." He then tells me he needs my drivers license so I pull it out and he says "no you need to take it inside." Well sorry mister rangers sir. Why didn't you just say that from the start! We then set up camp and it starts to rain so I tie a tarp up to a couple of trees. 15 minutes later a ranger comes up to tell us we need to take it down. I totally understand they want to protect the trees and gladly comply. No big deal.... well the next day I am walking around the site and see at least 3 other sites with tarps up tied to trees, but I give the rangers the benefit of the doubt and figure they overlooked the other campers with tarps tied to trees. The first night we also noticed the ranger driving by our site every 15 minutes or so and slowing down as he would pass. At this point I started to feel uncomfortable. The next night my 3 friends and I were just chatting around the campfire at 10pm and we noticed 3 people with flashlights walking past our site every 5 minutes or so. I didn't think much of it until after their 5th or so pass they walked up to our site to tell us we were being too loud. Apparently talking around a campfire is not permitted, but I honestly think they used the "being too loud" line to get closer to our site and look for alcohol. Once they saw one empty bottle of beer sitting on the ground, they then went through our cooler and made us dump out the other 3 beers we had in the cooler. I have never been so humiliated in my life. They were pretty much treating us like children. I ended up getting a $120 citation. No warning at all. I am certain this is how the campground makes their money. These wannabe cops walk around the site spying on people with the intention of busting them for enjoying the great outdoors and a cold beer. Once this fiasco was over I was too upset to stay at the campground. I just felt we were targeted from the moment we arrived and weren't welcome. At this point it was almost midnight, so I just packed up our camp and booked it out of there as fast as possible. I wish I would have listened to the previous bad reviews and avoided this campground like the plague! I just assumed the people complaining were big partiers and deserved the citations. I didn't think my meek and very respectful friends would have to deal with such an issue, but I was completely wrong! Needless to say I will not be going back to Chain O Lakes State Park and tell fellow Chicagoans to find other campsites.

This park is ok if you need a place to hook up to or camp. But if you want a place that will make your soul charged...head over to Glacial State Park. It's amazing!

Wonderful time, lots of wild flowers, wonderful trails, and very helpful, friendly, and informative DNR staff people. I've stayed at Illinois state parks before, and these sites were bigger, and much better for tent campers. Other parks have all gravel for the trailers, and very uncomfortable for us tent campers. Enjoyed the choice of electricity or no electricity. We chose no electricity which meant when quiet time hit, it was quiet. Bath houses were maintained three times a day, so they were clean, clean, clean. It was nice to have a site where you are not on top of your next door neighbor, and have a minimum of 5 feet of bushes and trees between you and the next site.Looking forward to our next trip to Spring Grove Illinois.

My family and I just returned from an amazing 4th of July camping weekend at Chain 'O Lakes State Park. Before I go into all the wonderful attributes of the park, I will address the only two negatives we came across, both of which I consider minor. First, the mosquitos were crazy bad, but they are unavoidable this time of year and near water. Lots of bug spray, citronella tiki torches and candles, and long sleeves/pants helped keep bites to a minimum. Second, the pit toilets in the camping area are gross. I've experienced more than my fair share of pit toilets and these definitely rank at the bottom in terms of smelliness. The bath house, however, was very clean and not at all smelly. So we just used those instead. Now for the good parts....The park itself is absolutely gorgeous! There are several bike trails between 1-1.7 miles in length winding underneath tunnels of old oaks, across open spaces, and near the lake. Wildflowers were everywhere accompanied by lots of birds and butterflies. There is a ton of milkweed, probably making this a great place to see monarchs. At the lake there is a small store where you can stock up on more bug spray, get ice cream for the kids, or any other small camping sundries you might have forgotten. You can also rent canoes and paddle boats ($18/ 2 hours). If you bring your boat, you can launch here for free. There are also a couple of nice playground areas around the park that are convenient to the campgrounds. There was more than enough to do to keep our family busy for the three days that we were there. We stayed in the Prairie View camping area. Overall, the sites were spacious and wooded, providing privacy from the neighbors. During this very busy weekend, the campgrounds were nearly full, yet we still had privacy and all the nearby campers respected the quiet hours of 10pm to 7am. We will be returning to this park very soon to hit the bike trails again and recommend that you do the same!

I live near the park so am there quite often. We launch our boat there (free-but has time restrictions so ask). We hike there--beautiful trails (easy to moderate). We camp there--or used to. I do not like the fact that you have to reserve online now. They only have a couple of sites at each campground for 1st come. We are tenters and love the fact that most sites are relatively secluded. But, now we can never get a site, I do not like to reserve and pay ahead. As people have stated the raccoons are abundant, but if you camp regularly you know to never have food in your tent, nor keep anything out. Also do not provoke them by 'feeding' them just cause they are 'cute'. You can fall asleep to the sound of the coyotes and owls in the distance. The noise from Blarney's is not that bad, and the campground is relatively quite even when crowded. There is no alcohol allowed in campground so pack accordingly. They do walk around checking, especially on weekends. You can drink in picnic areas and out boating, but how? if you cannot have it with you at campground? Overall I love this park. It offers a lot for everyone--boat launch, horseback riding, hayrides (weekends), various trails. It is near towns (Fox Lake and Spring Grove) with lots to do. It is about an hour from Six Flags, and Alpine (for concerts)-however watch the times, as they 'lock' the front gate at night. There are some reasonably priced restaurants in the area. It is a nice place to get away to for a spell. There is no fee (at this time) to just go to the park. There is a fee for camping.

My wife and I spent the afternoon leisurely driving and walking around this very nice and well-kept state park. The park borders three natural lakes - Grass, Marie and Nippersink - and the Fox River that connects the other seven lakes (Bluff, Fox, Pistakee, Channel, Petite, Catherine and Redhead) that make up the Chain. In addition, the park contains a 44-acre lake within its boundaries. Chain O'Lakes has four trail systems. They also have a horse stable. There are plenty of things to do in this park.

Me and my family have been coming here for years and love coming here . Intill this last time raccoons where soooo bad this year the first night we left for the night cause they were fighting so bad it scared the kids. We camr back in the morning and gave it another try and we wake up with a hole in my tent and my air matters flat a raccoon clawed a hole in my tent that was it when we talk to employees they told me the raccoons were here first witch OK I no that but really can't u trap them our shot them something I won't go back now

I camped at the park last weekend with my family, my two sisters and their families and my father. My father had his motor home and the rest of us were in tents. The sites are nice, grassy and wooded. It was quite hot, so we spent a lot of time in the motor home, but the evenings were lovely. There's a nice little lake in the park and a playground which my toddler loved. There are also several trails, but because of the heat, we didn't use them. The only negatives, other than the heat or bugs, was that we could hear music from a local bar when we were trying to go to sleep. The bathrooms also shut down several times a day for cleaning, but were a bit worn down, lacked soap and not as clean as I would have liked. Overall we had a nice time and would go back.

This park is beautiful and a nice drive most any time of year. There are lots of activities available, such as, camping, fishing, hiking, biking, horseback riding stable and all sorts of bird and wildlife to view.

Trails are lovely. You can launch a boat into the chain of lakes. There are campsites. And wildlife abounds. A great family day out or a week of camping is all part of the fun!

This camp area has great fishing and camping. It does get very crowded so do make a reservation. Biking and hiking are excellent and there is a large open field at the entrance perfect for kite flying.