Barb and Bob Werner don’t even need a full tank of gas to get to their vacation destination. The trip–from their Arlington Heights home to the Paul Wolff Campgrounds in Elgin–is only 24 miles.
Jeanne and Richard Rayner, who live in Elgin, also camp at the Elgin site. It is less than two miles from their home.
Many folks don’t have to travel far to reach their hot summer vacation destination. Even though they haven’t really left the suburbs, these local campers say the sites provide them with all they need, from electrical and water hookups to nature hikes and stocked fishing ponds.
Paul Wolff Campgrounds is just one of the many quality campsites in the northwest suburbs and McHenry. With amenities from swimming and fishing to hiking and barbecuing, these suburban sites provide something for everyone just moments away from the hectic Chicago area.
“It feels different than being in the suburbs,” said Barb Werner, 54. “It’s like the other side of the world.”
Just one day after publicly owned campgrounds began their season May 1, the Werners parked themselves and their motor home for a quiet four-day getaway, even though Bob commuted to and from work.
“In my heart, I’m on vacation,” said Bob, 59. “We primarily go close by because it’s very convenient, especially with the price of gasoline.”
The Werners aren’t the only suburbanites to camp minutes away from their doorstep. Take the Rayners. They’ve camped in the suburbs for many years.
“It’s a nice escape,” said Jeanne, 54. “We just go to work from there and do whatever else we have to do.”
“We do have a few that live real close,” said campground manager Mike Perkins, who works as a full-time ranger at Paul Wolff Campgrounds. “It’s a place away from home.”
Since many of the campers live in cities, they enjoy the serenity the natural surroundings of the campsites provide, said Dave Perfect, operation supervisor for the Kane County Forest Preserve District.
“I think it has to do with the enjoyment of nature, to be able to walk around and enjoy no neighbors,” he said. “When you come out on these campgrounds, you have that.”
Although there are no public camping sites in northwest Cook County, Kane County several, and the McHenry County Conservation District runs five camping areas.
At one of those, Paul Wolff, campers can enjoy a wooded area with 12 miles of trails for hiking and biking. Besides the 48 vehicle sites, the campground has 19 wooded, primitive sites for those who want to camp in tents.
“I would say that 95 percent of campers use vehicles and the other 5 percent use tents,” Perfect said. “They don’t want the phone, but they want everything else: the TV, the microwave, the air conditioner.”
About 60 percent of campers in the Kane County Forest Preserve District are residents of the county, Perfect said. The district does not advertise its sites (and doesn’t take reservations), but the sites fill to maximum capacity on holiday weekends, he said.
Still, camping in the suburbs is not a well-known option. “Every now and then, we’ll have a person who comes here and they say, `I never knew this was here,’ ” Perkins said.
Buffalo Park in Algonquin, run by the Kane County Forest Preserve District, is another campground within the suburbs yet somehow removed from the busyness of society. The 36-acre campground sits right on the Fox River and has 50 campsites, a swimming pool, fishing and access to the Fox River Bike Trail. Both Paul Wolff and Buffalo Park have electric and water hookups and waste dump stations for self-contained camper units.
Through the years, Perfect said he has seen a steady increase in the number of campers who use the parks. “Last year, at all three of our campgrounds, we had approximately 15,000 campers,” he said, up 4,000 from the year before.
Senior citizens Olive and Bob Westley of Batavia enjoy the change in atmosphere a campground provides. “Every time you look around, there’s another subdivision,” said Olive. Camping is an opportunity to “be out and relax.”
For those who want to “rough it,” there are several locations that offer tent sites.
Thomas Woods, a campground within the 245-acre Marengo Ridge Conservation Area near Marengo, offers 27 individual campsites, 17 of which are open to recreational vehicles that do not require water or electrical hookups and 10 that are strictly for campers who use tents. Each site has its own fire ring for cooking.
Thomas Woods is a good choice for the camper who decides at the last moment to plan a weekend getaway in a wooded area. Because the sites at Thomas Woods don’t require a permit, “somebody could decide they want to camp tomorrow night and they could call to get a site,” said Maureen Grimes, administrative secretary for the McHenry County Conservation District in Ringwood.
“Individuals can go there anytime during the week and pick up a campsite,” Grimes said. “They can also reserve a site through the district office.”
Thomas Woods offers quiet natural surroundings with four to six miles of hiking trails and an open area for games such as volleyball.
All of the McHenry County public camping areas, most of which are primitive sites accommodating large groups, require a permit from the McHenry County Conservation District.
One large group campground is the Hollows Conservation Area, located between Crystal Lake and Cary. It has 343 acres of camping and can host up to 200 people at one time.
For the group camp areas, Grimes suggests that people apply four weeks in advance to secure a site.
“If you want to go this weekend, it’s not going to happen,” she said. “These fill up with scout groups, church groups and other organizations.”
People primarily use tents on the site, which has four miles of hiking trails and trout fishing at nearby Lake Atwood.
“It’s a good site for a large group because you have fishing and canoeing available,” said 44-year-old Jim Chesler of McHenry, assistant scoutmaster of McHenry Boy Scout Troop No. 131. “There’s a huge pavilion, and it accommodates quite a lot of people on picnic benches.”
Chesler camps every year with the 57 boys in the scout troop, and they have tried every public site within the county. One of his favorite places is Glacial Park in Ringwood, which has a large group camping area, because the site has a restored prairie.
“It’s gorgeous as far as hiking trails,” he said. “You get to see part of northern Illinois in its original pristine state. I think everybody can appreciate the natural beauty that this land once held.”
Chesler said one of the benefits to camping in the suburbs is that everything is nearby. “In 20 minutes to a half-hour, we can be at a different campsite,” he said.
In Harvard, the Rush Creek Conservation Area has group camping on a 400-acre site with 3.5 miles of hiking trails and a small pond for fishing. Harrison Benwell, a small site offering 80 wooded acres in Wonder Lake, also offers large group camping. It has two miles of hiking trails and a small stream.
Even though the sites are in the suburbs, campers say you don’t know you’re near civilization. “You can get in far enough where you don’t hear the traffic noise,” Chesler said. “It takes you away from the household mundane. You’re not far from home, but it takes you back into the woods.”
There are also state-managed parks in the northwest suburbs that offer residents a chance to enjoy group activities and holidays.
The Chain O’ Lakes State Park, managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, borders Lake and McHenry Counties near Fox Lake. The 6,063-acre park has Class A sites (with showers, electricity and vehicular access), Class B sites (with showers and vehicular access but no electricity), and a large youth group site accommodating up to 150 people.
“The park itself is absolutely gorgeous,” Chesler said. “It has rolling hills, wetlands and lots of trails.”
Amenities include fishing, hiking, canoeing, biking, boating, concessions, handicapped accessible bathrooms, a sanitary dump station, horse rental and horse trails.
Campers can also try a private facility such as Holiday Acres Jellystone Park in Garden Prairie. Holiday Acres, which has 90 acres of wooded area and is situated on the Kishwaukee River, is open year-round.
“We get a lot of families who are coming here who want to be able to camp and also have activities to go along with it,” said owner Elliot Harris, who lives on the property. “I’d say about 25 percent of the people are seasonal campers from the local area. The balance come from the northwest Chicago area.”
The park features children’s activities such as hayrides, swimming, miniature golf and game rooms. In addition, the park has special family activities every weekend. “We have Christmas in July and `Kids Are People, Too’ weekends,” Harris said.
Through the years, Harris has seen a trend in campers who like the luxuries of motor homes and travel trailers. “Eighty-five percent of them are taking (sites with) water and electricity,” he said. “We take that to mean they want to get back to roughing it but they don’t want to go all the way back. They want to have some amenities available.”
As president of the Illinois Campground Association, Harris said more people are turning to camping because it is an inexpensive vacation option. “When gas prices do go up, people don’t travel as far,” he said. But at campgrounds, “people can get away from the confines of the city.”
Betty Van Keuren and her husband, Ken Sr., of Elgin have a 26-foot self-contained trailer, and the effect it has on their mileage impacts where they go to camp.”We average about 3 to 4 miles to a gallon, so it is economical to go close by,” she said. “We just live about 2 or 3 miles from the (Paul Wolff) campground. We’ve been camping now for about 35 years.”
The word “camping” can mean different things to different people. For Chesler, living off the land is how to get the full camping experience. “For me, camping in a teepee is the ultimate way to go,” he said. “I want to get back to nature, wildlife, and the indigenous things in the county.”
At Paul Wolff, Barb Werner is watching television while simmering the red cabbage she and her husband will have for dinner.
Inside her top-of-the-line motor home, she has everything she needs to prepare meals–a microwave oven, sink, refrigerator, stove, oven, coffeemaker and a toaster.
“I do more cooking when I’m camping than I do when I’m at home,” Werner said as she lifts the lid on the pot to check on the cabbage. “As you can see, I have all the comforts of home.”
But no matter the camping style, campers have many options right here in the suburbs.
“The more conservation areas they can have, the better it will be for everybody,” Chesler said. “Whether it’s a popup tent or a motor home, we’re all getting in touch with the Earth.”
