Hiking the trails in search of icefalls at Starved Rock State Park outside Oglesby, IL
On January 23rd, I decided to venture back to Starved Rock State Park near Oglesby, IL. I was tipped off that the icefalls were quote "Amazing!" earlier in the week so I decided to make the hour drive to the park and do some hiking. I arrived shortly after 8:00am and unpacked my gear. Of course, I was prepared for the ice with snow-grippers on my shoes in preparation for hours of hiking through the trails. Snow-grippers are a must when hiking icy trails otherwise you may end up on your behind with one bad step. It was actually a mild day for January with temperatures around 37°F which made the conditions very tolerable. Cloudy skies throughout most of the day cleared in the afternoon which allowed for some filtered sunshine near the end of my hike. I ended up checking out St. Louis canyon, Wildcat canyon, LaSalle canyon, Kaskaskia canyon, and Ottawa canyon before calling it a day. The icefalls were amazing and quite impressive to say the least! I also spotted some bald eagles and shot a few photos of them as well during the afternoon. After a long day consisting of about 6-hours of hiking I headed back home and took in some relaxation. I've added photos I shot of the icefalls with my Canon 5D Mark III during my hike in the park below:
One of the many spectacular icefalls on this day!
St. Louis canyon!
Posing for a quick portrait at St. Louis canyon!
The picture above converted to black n' white...
Above-freezing temperatures allowing for a January thaw to take place!
A bald eagle!
Some humor, "Tonight's forecast: A freeze is coming!" --Mr. Freeze
Mr. Freeze has been quite busy!
Another "winter" selfie...
Once again converted to black n' white!
A lot of melting going-on...
A winter landscape I'd say!
An ice boulder next to another icefall...
Ottawa canyon!
I love this shot from behind the icefall!
And another...
A wide-angle shot!
Pretty cool stuff!
Another icefall at Kaskaskia canyon!
LaSalle canyon!
A bald eagle perched in this tree along the Illinois River!
An amazing view!
Another pleasing bald eagle shot...
Quite an icefall!
"Frozen in time"
"Raining ice"
Another photogenic bald eagle!
A wide-angle side-view of LaSalle canyon!
"January thaw"
A low-angle of LaSalle canyon!
Spectacular!
One of the tallest icefalls in the entire park at Wildcat canyon!
More bald eagles...
Beautiful!
My favorite!
Another favorite!
Another bald eagle "hanging out"...
The icy Illinois River at Lacon, IL
It was a challenging day, but rewarding for photography as I ended up with some spectacular shots of the icefalls and even some wildlife as well. I'll update once again when I find some more time for photography.
