We got back yesterday after a great two night stay in a heated cabin here. I took my teenage son…read moreand three of his friends. We camp a lot and were looking for a winter adventure over break. Bullfrog was 45 minutes away and definitely did not disappoint. First of all, the area is gorgeous. I have never been to Willow Springs and was amazed by the landscape. Hills, woods, lakes, the Des Plaines River, huge Cook County Forest Preserve areas, with ample shopping and restaurants nearby of needed make this an ideal camping destination. The campground has a welcome station with after hours gated access. We were the only campers in the cabins and our first night there were a couple other groups using tents. It was amazing basically having this place to ourselves for about $100 a night. The cabin is accessible for those with special needs so it has a roll in shower and ADA accessible routes and features, for those seeking those amenities. It had 4 bunk beds in the main sleeping area, a separate bedroom with two beds, and the aforementioned bathroom. There is a wall unit for AC and heat in both sleeping areas so our comfort was at peak level. Those babies put out the heat and fast! This was especially great after we took an 8 mile hike which included a trip to the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. The cabin and surroundings were immaculate. There are also a couple heated bath houses, dining pavilions, and docks for fishing or enjoying the beautiful views. In addition to the large cabins they also offer smaller ones without heat for warmer trips. Boat rentals are available when warmer out, as well. I saw canoes and other manual craft behind a fence by the welcome station. Inside the station they sold ice cream bars and much needed firewood bundles for $5. I would guess in the summer they offer more treats. The cabin featured a large fire pit with a swing out cooking grate, which was much appreciated. We cooked many a thing on it! A picnic table is also provided at each cabin. The staff were super friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this place for your next camping and hiking adventure. We look forward to returning this summer!

Nice park with great views. Some 30/50 amp sites. Check the…read morewebsite for specs. No water during winter months. That means no water at the dump site as well during this time.

We spent the last 2 summers at Fox Bluff as seasonals. Here is my honest review…read more The Good: Mon-Fri morning are great. Quiet, very little activity, access to pool and hot tub good. Nice group of full time rvers. Management is trying to put together weekly events for everyone enjoyment. Proximity to Chicago and the Fox River access is great. The bad: dusty roads, failed electrical and water mutliple times. Sewage system really bad, we went three days without being to dump because system was overwhelmed and over flowing and the only employee could so anything was at another campground. Very little maintenance activity on bathrooms, dumpsters (always overflowing after weekend, just need one extra dump on Saturday) or common areas. The Ugly: The deal is this, rules are published and agreed to but there is zero enforcement activities by the management. Come Friday night the seasonal weekenders show up and it gets really crazy. Golf carts speeding, some music blaring, around well into the night (at times 2:30 in the morning) being driven by not only adults, some intoxicated, but also by underage drivers (same ones over and over). The common areas as well as pool and hot tub are overrun by adults, drinking, smoking and swearing. In fact passing out jello shots and some drunk guy in the hot tub talking about how big his privates are. Not a safe or desirable place for children. More then once, high schoolers making out in the pool, children in the pool area unsupervised, and constant food in the pool area. It basically is a party place on the weekend. Can no longer recommend as suitable place to camp.

Ashley, Sharon, and TJ.... THANKYOU!!!!! We are here until January and I did NOT like the spot we…read morewere assigned and they went above and beyond to accommodate me!

I stay at a lot of Campgrounds & this is one of my favorites. It feels homey with the owner happy…read moreto help and give you local hiking advice. No frills but full hook up & level with a beautiful grassy lawn & lovely trees. Location is excellent next to the state parks. We'll be back!!

I recently stayed at Cozy Corners Campground and felt it was in need of a review as it doesn't seem…read moreto have one at all on the internet. Cosy Corners is a small, family owned campground, quite literally in the couples backyard! Barbara and Dave, the owners were fantastic and absolutely went above and beyond to ensure we had a great experience with them. For example, I needed ice from the store and was given a ride in their golf cart. At one point it rained pretty heavily and as soon as it stopped, they came out to offer us all towels. the couple have a vast knowledge of the area and spent a good while talking with us about the things we could do 'off the beaten path'. Did I mention that this campground is at the entrance to Matthiessen State Park and only a mile south of Starved Rock!! Perfect placement. Also, you don't have to worry about the alcohol bans in the state parks if you stay here. The campsite was dog friendly provided the pups stay on leash. The only thing I could say that may put you off would be that there is no shower facility! This didn't bother us, we are experienced campers and had no issue showering under a hose. there are a couple of hoses around so you can access running water. Oh, anther thing! The cleanest camping porta johns I have ever used. They smelled clean and were also lit at night! OK, I could go on all day. I had a fantastic experience and every one of the 10 people in my group on the Saturday night swore they would return. The service provided by Barbara and Dave is second to none! I can't wait to go back!

We always have a wonderful time spending a weekend here every year. We are return campers with a…read moregroup of ours. The large bunk house has plenty of room for all of us to be able to mingle and sleep. Staff members have always been helpful and friendly. Looking forward to our next visit in a few short months.

These people are wonderful! Our truck blew its turbo and we had to get it replaced. We were stuck…read morehere for a week and they made our stay very enjoyable. For one thing once we parked the camper we had no way to move it. Lisa the manager and all the campers came together to hook us up to their one water source (later on that) to help us fill up our tank. We came in not knowing what was going to happen and they bent over backwards to make it all work (we were there for 7 days with no reservations). The hiking around them was great. I was able to take my very active cattle dog for a 5-6 miles hike everyday. They also provide firewood, we love campfires. The campgrounds are beautiful and green. They also offer tent sites and cabins. I would loved to have given them a five star but they need a few improvements to give the RV'ers better access to water. Putting water at each RV site would be great and a few along the tent area. A sanitation dump would also be great since they don't have sewer available at the sites. I complained of the showers being cold and they said they had put in a work order, took six days. Not acceptable! Thanks Lisa and Brittany for everything!

I grew up at this place I missed it horribly we lived on creekside and I mean it made me who I am…read moretoday it was awesome.we all knew each other had cookouts every weekend we camped there from Chicago.i recently went back remember I used to go every weekend from 85-94 in summers best place ever now it looked to be honest I wouldn't care but definitely rough around edges kind of people for I'd still camp here!!

Soooo, I've been camping a lot. Usually attached to canoeing in Southern Missouri. Pretty much…read moreevery year since I can remember. And there's different types of campgrounds. This is a party camp. For partying. "Locals" run all over the place in golf carts, there's beer by the case 15 minutes drive in any direction, and lights out is loosely enforced if at all. I say "locals" because these are largely Chicagoans who own RV's and 5th wheels and leave them at the campsite all season, visiting every weekend. Or townies who just hang out because they like to party; I didn't ask a lot of questions. The only time it's quiet is between 4am and 8am when everyone is passed out. There was a Grateful Dead cover band at the pavilion the first night we were there, and a DJ spinning the best of blue collar rock the second night (with requisite 4th of July fireworks). The bathrooms were impeccable, for a campsite. The staff was friendly, though definitely moved at "rural speed". The sites themselves were decently kept grass, with easy soil for driving tent spikes. There were plenty of sticks lying about for kindling, and wood for reasonably priced purchase at the office. There was a little bit of broken glass about, but I've seen worse. We tubed for an hour on the Fox River for $5, though the launch and take out were not marked at all. The launch especially was difficult to find, and utilize. Other than that the float was awesome. Overall I had a wonderful time, and so did our group. I'd very much recommend this place, as long as you know what to expect: A Party Atmosphere.

Great park located around Yorkville with a few big lakes. It has lots of hiking trails. Silver…read moreSprings State Park gets its name from the pool of bubbling water. Of course, there's tons of other things to see around it. The popular activities include boating, fishing, and picnicking. Bigger park with a lot of history. It's an area that was purchased by the state in 1969 and turned into a park. The park was originally 1,250 acres, and added a prairie restoration project in 1980 among expansions since. Kind of what the land was like before settlers took it. There's a path that goes through it where visitors can check out animals, grass, and wildflowers. A few man made lakes are highlights. Loon Lake is the biggest one, popular for fishing or getting photos. A refreshment stand is located by it. The spring is the biggest attraction of the park though. Amazingly the water in it never freezes. There's amazing plantlife around it including watercress. Also fun when it's colder. There's a toboggan hill that's fairly steep. Among the kinds of trails are equestrian. There's also plenty for basic hiking. Has lots to look at here for hours and you can even stay overnight by camping. It's got an area that's available for youth groups. This area is only reachable through backpacking so it's far away from loud noises or vehicles.

Serene lake with a good 2-mile hike along lake, river, woods amd some prairie. It was a quiet…read moremid-day walk one snowy day... until I pass by a group of kids screaming and sledding along a slope, how fun :)

Just camped here for the first time. This is a great place to camp, especially if you have kids…read more The lake was great. It's separated into 3 sections by buoys...one shallow end for small kids, a deeper end for bigger kids, and a fishing area. Both swimming areas had lake toys for the kids to climb on, including 2 trampolines with slides and bounce pillow, log roll, a giant iceberg, and some other things. There are smaller lake toys in the kiddie area. The lake had no algae or fish smell like other reviews noted, so they must have solved that problem. There is plenty of lounge chairs and picnic tables around the lake area for parents. The pool was nice too, but the kids liked the lake the best. They also had activities during the day: bingo, a glow stick dance party at night, and a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt doubled as free campground cleanup for them because they had things like bottle caps, juice box straw wrappers, and cigarette butts on them! Please take the cigarette butts off that list!!! Nobody wants their kids picking those up!!! They had bean bag games, pedal cars, horse shoes, basketball and volleyball courts. The grounds were clean and well maintained. The sites are typical for a place like this...fairly close together but there were huge trees everywhere so we had shade and gave it a little more wooded feel (I hate camping in a big grass field). Cost: We paid $45 a night for water and electric (no sewer) which I think is reasonable because you're paying for all the facilities as well, not just the camping. They do nickle and dime you a bit...you gotta pay to use the pool, carts, and some activities. As long as you're OK just using the lake it's not too bad. Checkout time is non-negotiable. We wanted to stay an extra hour or 2 after checkout time so we had to pay for a whole extra night. Most places don't mind if you stay a little longer if the campground is emptied out. The kids really wanted a little extra time so I ended up paying for the extra night and we stayed until dusk so I could get my money's worth. One last note...the owner has a lot of rules and he enforces them. They are mostly to keep the kids safe and keep the camp family friendly. He was out multiple times during the day making sure the kids in the lake had their life jackets on and had parents watching them. If you're planning on partying loudly until 2 am, don't bother coming. He will kick you out if he has to. This has led to some bad reviews from scorned folks, but it's nice to see a campground enforce their rules for a change. Since I was there to enjoy family time it worked out well for us.

Great for family's. Lots to do. Halloween was best... Camp…read moresite are two small. Shower needs some help too

Nice trails that are fairly well maintained. Lots of wildlife throughout. Loved the Winnie the Pooh…read morethemed items throughout the trails. Definitely would recommend for anyone who likes novice-level hiking trails.

Lyman Woods is a natural center that is a partnership between the DuPage Forest Preserve District,…read moreVillage of Downers Grove and the Downers Grove Park District. Dogs are not allowed, there is an area with turtles and other animals. Great place to spend a day.

I came across this place searching for running trails nearby in the neighborhood. I was here in the…read moreevening and camp ground looks very empty although there were few runners/bikers along the trail. Most part of the trail is shaded. Part of the path is muddy and mostly laid of gravel(Could be limestone) and that portion feels bit slippery when running on lite shoes. There is a huge parking lot, picnic tables at the entrance of the trail. It shares the Desplaines river bikers trail, with markings all through the way which are really helpful not to get lost off track. Didn't notice much litter, not sure how often this place is cleaned. I didn't get to run the whole distance of the trail but but the markings state the trail distance somewhat close to 6 miles. The only trouble I had was when navigating o this place. I was going towards west on Algonquin(From Oakton) and the google maps shows the destination point in the middle of no where. If you drive a bit further you can find he entrance /parking lot on the right side. I might end up here more often for my short distance runs.

4 stars for being a natural haven in the neighborhood, though perhaps 3 stars if compared to other…read morenature sights. Probably even better in spring and summer. Trail is wide and parking is plentiful. Trail is cut short by roadways with pedestrian crosswalks, so not continuous. The sound of the cars nearby overtakes any wilderness sounds. It was a nice day, but no animal sightings.