Starved Rock in the Winter

We've been to this park once in the spring and once in the summer.  It was about time to get here in the winter.    

This first picture is the first canyon that you see from atop of the bridge before you get to the main lodge and the gift shop.  There is a honeycomb type of concrete work that helps in the erosion of the canyon below this, about 50-75 feet below the bridge.

The trails were easy to recognize for the most part, but the entrances to the canyons were any but familiar.  The stairs down to the normal starting trails were iced over which were a good suggestion that we were in need of our Yaktraks, which I put on after we were already down on the bottom by the Illinois river.  We were in search of some Eagles, which we heard had taken up residence along the river.

The spot along the river where the eagles were spotted.  

An adult Eagle in one of the trees.

 One of the Eagles flying above us.

 The trail down to the river.

 One of the leaves from a sycamore tree, one of the largest leaves we've ever seen.

The treacherous trail down the French Canyon.  It was entirely ice covered, to the point that you had to hang onto the rail to get down the stairs.  Scout (our 4 legged family member) slipped down these stairs and had to be helped by mom.

 This is how French Canyon looks in the spring...

This is how it looks in the Winter!!!

 The Trail down to the canyons...

 One of the treacherous trails from French Canyon to Pontiac Canyon that were entirely iced over!

Wildcat Canyon in the spring...

 Wildcat Canyon in the winter...

 A closeup of the Wildcat Canyon waterfall...

 Along the trail atop the Wildcat canyon...

After this hike, we trekked back to the Subaru and had a bite to eat or lunch.. Roast beef, ham, and deep fried turkey sandwiches with Colby-jack cheese and Western salad dressing!  A good meal that was well deserved.  After lunch, we drove to the Eastern part of the park and got out at the Counsel Overhang parking lot.

This is the Counsel Overhang.  It is absolutely huge!!!  Large enough to fit our meager house under it!!! 

 This is Kaskaskia Canyon.  after we ventured back there, we discovered that there were ice climbers in there scaling one of the frozen ice pillars.

 This is one of those men climbing the ice pillar.  It was fun to just sit there and watch.  They didn't seem to mind as long as you gave them some space.

After that, we took the other end of the forked trail to Ottawa Canyon.  This was the view at the end of that very long canyon.  The trail ended at 2 frozen waterfalls.

 Here's the girls, relaxing at the end of a long day hiking on ice.

 Of course, my beautiful wife loves the ice, and get's as close to it as she can!

 Here's a 20 second exposure of the ice waterfall that has water flowing in the middle of it.

 An other view of the waterfall at the end of the canyon.

This is a shot of one of the many overhangs that this canyon offers.  It is unique that this overhang has areas that the earth's water seeps through areas in the ceiling that aren't on the edge, but are in the center of the overhang roof.