Matthiessen State Park wasn’t even on my radar when we took a camping trip to Illinois. In fact, our trip up there was based around a totally different state park: Starved Rock State Park. To be honest, we found Starved Rock to be disappointing, but we kept passing one of those little brown signs that said Matthiessen State Park and, finally, one morning, after a much-needed coffee stop, we decided to just plug it into Google Maps and give it a go. We saw that there were two different sections of hiking, and decided that seeing dells and waterfalls was the way to go!
Quick Info About the Upper Dells Trail At Matthiessen State Park
THERE’S AN “UPPER LOOP” AND “LOWER LOOP” SECTION TO THIS TRAIL: This can be done as one larger trail or you can divide it and choose one based upon how much time you have or how much of a challenge you want. We only did the Upper Loop because our kiddos were ready for a nap after the upper loop. The Upper Dells has the iconic waterfall that cascades below the bridge that you see when you google this park.
TRAIL LENGTH: We clocked the trail at 1.57 miles for the Upper Dells with the waterfall spur to the two smaller falls. We saw that the total loop is approximately 3.5 miles long.
TRAIL DIFFICULTY: I would say it’s moderately easy. It isn’t necessarily strenuous, but I would say a good amount of balance is required as there are a lot of sections that require hopping from stone to stone or shoes you don’t mind getting wet.
BE PREPARED FOR YOUR FEET TO POTENTIALLY GET WET: The other alternative to hopping from stone to stone is just to ford the river. Plus, it’s pretty easy to slip and get at least one foot in the water. So, be sure to wear footwear that’s right for this hike. I wore my Merrell hiking boots, and they were perfect. If it was summer, my Tevas would’ve done the trick too, but I also think the water would be so much lower in the summer.
IS THIS TRAIL KID FRIENDLY? I would say yes, but with assistance. Our 3-year-old did it out of a carrier. We did have to carry her across a couple of spots, but the trail is a little bit adventurous and she loved that. I carried Liam in our Deuter Kid Comfort and it was very doable, for those of you carrying kids, I’d put this trail at the easy end of moderate because of the adventurous nature of the trail.
Our Experience on the Upper Dells Trail
The parking area of the Dells Trail area has a fair amount of parking spaces and a really nice bathroom facility – a definite perk before or after a hike in my personal opinion. And there’s one way to the Dells Trail and it spurs off from there. There’s a path that descends down to a bridge that when you cross it the trail comes to a T. Taking a left would take you down to the Lower Dells, but we took a right to the Upper Dells.
Pretty much immediately, like a quarter mile in, you get a taste of what a large part of the trail is going to feel like, because you have to get down to the creek, do one fairly easy crossing before going upstream a bit and doing a much sketchier crossing. That said, Matt and I both did it safely while carrying kids. There are concrete stepping stones in the water, but not all were above water and people made it much more complicated by trying not to get wet. As long as you have a decent sense of balance, this should be a breeze.
The trail continues through several small box canyons, over dell areas and even with some little bluff line caves. It’s a really adventurous little trail. We definitely got our feet wet a handful of times when we lost balance, but having proper hiking boots (womens / mens) meant that my feet stayed dry – Matt wore tennis shoes and wished he had his boots on. There are a few different waterfalls to see along the way, and I highly recommend taking the little spur to be able to see them all.
Near the end of the trail is the most wobbly and probably most highly trafficked part because you can take a trail around this section and come down just for the two biggest waterfalls, but even then, it wasn’t overly crowded. These waterfalls are so stunning, especially the last that cascades from the lake down under a bridge and continues through where the dells were carved below.
Charleigh killed it on this hike. She loved that she got to crawl up things, cross things and jump around. She also really loved seeing all the waterfalls! But the thing that didn’t go so well was the fact that she told us she needed to pee and Matt picked her up to get her to a space away from the stream to pee and she instantly just let it go and peed her pants… and Matt’s pants since she was resting on his hip. We were halfway through the trail at that point, so it was just as easy to finish the hike as to go against traffic back to the car. So, every person she passed she said, “Hi, I’m Charleigh who peed her pants!” It was so stinking cute and funny and Matt was quite the trooper considering he got peed on.
By far, the highlights of this trail for me were the waterfalls and just the seemingly ever-changing trail terrain. From standard forest paths to stream crossings, to boardwalks and stairs and even rock faces of bluffs. And because of the moisture, it just was all mossy and ferny and green. It was just a really peaceful, earthy place.
When we were there, it was also significantly less-trafficked than Starved Rock State Park which is always a plus, too. I love when trails aren’t overcrowded and overrun in general, but especially when we’re letting one or both of the kiddos roam free, it’s nice to be able to go at whatever pace we go at and not cause traffic jams or worry about them popping out in front of people.
We fell really hard for this park and this trail. We cannot wait to go back again someday and do even more hiking here, obviously including the Lower Dells as well! Looking for more unexpected stops in Illinois? Check out this post!
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