Reviews of White Pines Forest State Park (Park)

Sandra Vandervalk

Great place to relax and enjoy nature. Hiking trails, cabins, restaurant and bonfires. Fun!

Marco Nardi

Nice green park

Anne Scharnett

We go to White Pines every year at least once a year and it is always a memorable experience. There are several trails that give you the opportunity to enjoy nature, but none of the trails are longer than a mile or so, which gives you an opportunity to walk several trails and experience multiple parts of the park in one day. It is especially pretty in the fall and they also have and lol wren very food restaurant on site.

Roger M

Very nice park! Love eating at the restaurant on the weekends, with the all you can eat breakfast and lunch buffet. Alot of very nice trails to hike, the scenery is very pretty, alot of nice places for photography. Fishing is not the best, but still nice to relax on the creek bank with friends and family. I recommend spending a day enjoying the outdoors here. Campsites look nice, but I don't camp here, there are no elec. Hookups for campers. Just primitive tent camping.

Beany Dahlin

Excellent restaurant, amazing food, cozy atmosphere :)

Harriet Washburn

Beautiful environment

Serb

Great park and great camping close to Chicago.

Corey Langner

Great breakfast

Thomas Pozdol

Beautiful area. Only it is not well maintained by the State. Grass has not been cut in some areas, and weed growth has not taken care of along the creek. The State politicians should be ashamed for not providing for adequate care of this Illinois gem.

EagleScoutPB

Great food at the restaurant

Joe Devine

It is gorgeous here and there are extensive trails running throughout the park

Carly Siriann

Lovely park with lots of tall white pines. There is an area of labeled trees so you can learn your trees. Ironically the ash and elm trees which are dying all over the nation are dead here too. There are bridges that you drive over that also have water flowing over them.

Cameo Dixon

This park is absolutely stunning all the way around! My cousin got married here, I've camped here on several occasions, and I love to take photos here. Only thing that bothers me is that the park staff are often hard to get ahold of for reservations.

Patrick Huff

A beautiful place to visit, you can rent cabins for the night, a good friend of mine's daughter got married there, they have a beautiful Chapel who married at outside

Heather Donahue

This is a good destination for a day trip. You can hike all of the trails in one day or spread them out over a weekend. The Sleepy Hollow trail is the best. The park is beautiful and charming, but the camping earned it three stars. The rangers do not seem to enforce quiet time or the number of people allowed on a site. The last time I was there, there were a few noisy overcrowded sites and someone bug bombed the entire campground with something that looked like a leaf blower. A bug spray fog drifted across and I was breathing in bug spray at the other end of the campground. The campsites are just okay. The train horns at night are a bummer. That being said, we haven't found anything better this close to Chicagoland so we still occasionally camp here for the weekend. I don't feel so bad about the camping when I consider how cheap the sites are, but I hate knowing a bad neighbor could ruin our trip.

Jeff Reber

Very nice

Mary Nevins

Went to a dinner theater there. Food and entertainment were excellent. Scenery was beautiful also!

Amy Knizner

We love to camp and were excited to try out White Pines Forest State Park as we saw a ton of good reviews online. I have to say this was the worst camping trip we have every had. First off the campsites were small, wide open and stacked on top of each other. We are used to "private", wooded sites (Apple River Canyon and Chain O' Lakes State Park). I could have gotten past that had the campground been quiet. There was a very large party that rented 5 or 6 sites and kept coming and going until about 11 pm at night. Opening and closing car doors, turning on lights, shouting and blowing up air mattresses (they acted like they were the only ones there). Every other camp ground we have been to has a strict 10 pm quiet time with enforcement. No one from the campground was to be found. We packed up and left. Safe to say we will not be returning. On the plus side, there is canoeing (White Pelican) in nearby Oregon that is wonderful and the John Deere Historic site that made our trip out this way worth it.

Jim MacMurdo

Outstanding Friday fish fry. Ask for Brenda or Janelle, both are excellent.

Ralph Scherer

An amazing place to go to see and hike through nature

Tracey Morgan

Beautiful park. Nice country drive

Judy Zimmerman

Great place for people of all ages to enjoy nature ,hike ,picnics, overnight stays in cabins food souvenirs and shows.Our group came up on a bus,had wonderful food from the buffet and saw a musical show. Always a great time there!!!

John Barton

Great place for early season fly swishing season

Janet Kroll

Beautiful and in the middle of farmland

Jason Long

Beautiful park, great for famlies

Bonez Mills

Love the atmosphere very peaceful and relaxing. Had a excellent waitress she was very attentive . Compliments to the chef for an excellent meal.

Mitch Miller

A nice forest preserve not all that large and it can be very crowded in the summer months. There is a river and a series of bridges that allow access to hills on both sides of the park It would be a great place to take the family on a summer cookout. A fairly large campground is also located on one side of the park and a restaurant is located in top of the wooded hills.

Jon Marx

Love the atmosphere and the food!!

Matthew Beck

Beautiful water in river

milkson playz

A lot of mosquitos and will recommend using the bigger bath rooms but the park it olay

William Barr

This is a place to go to get back to the land.

Kerry Hans

Still beautiful but under water & couldn't drive through the rushing water drive...

Jonathon Stinson

Its a beautiful place to go and hike and take stunning photos

Mrs. American Dream Maker

This is one of our favorite places - it has it all! Perfect for hiking, picnics, taking photographs and even doing a little fishing. In the winter they have a Christmas tree forest and visits with Santa that the kids love. And the food at the restaurant is homecooked deliciousness! We'll be coming back for years. ❤

Mami T Phillips! lol.

Great trails of different levels. Beautiful creek with great bridges to cross over providing wonderful photo opps All Over this Amazing state park! Then the wade in part if the creek is refreshing and beautiful!

Josh Smith

Great place. They took care of everything and worked with us on last minute things. Definitely recommend if you're planning a wedding.

Tonya Berkowski

Great place for a short hike! Beautiful scenery and well marked trails! Pick up a trail map at the gift shop. The only downside for me personally is we had to make our our route utilizing 4 or 5 different trails to achieve a 3.5 mile hike. But still worth the beauty!

Chris McCaffrey

It has been our go to many times for Easter. The breakfast buffet is pretty good. I love that it's in the park. We walk the trails after the meal.

John Simmons

Awesome staff Anna Point

Eric Ardis

Best park in the area

Trudy Coit

Great trials

Connie Jones

Love going to Sunday brunch here - sooo good!!

Melissa Nicholson

White Pines Forest State Park is one of my favorite places to go. For my entire life I have enjoyed this park, especially driving through the fords, hiking the trails, and having picnics with family and friends. Don't forget about the lodge where they have great food, fun souvenirs to purchase, awesome shows, and comfortable cabins. They also have nice campsites. If I were you I would check out White Pines Forest State Park today!

Michelle Cooper

Beautiful! Nice place to spend the day, evening or night!

S. S.

Nice park, kids love it too, nice space to run thete energy out.

Ben Jacobson

Enjoyed a fall hike with Susan. Great views.

Virginia Munson Smith

Very efficient staff and great food

INsaNIty280

Awesome hike through the woods.

Patience Corfield

Beautiful hiking

Victor Murrie

The trail scenery was beautiful. They could have been better marked, but that is a small criticism. This park is worth a visit.

Tyler Neale

Place is a dump now. They have apparently stopped taking care of the park. Parking lot is over grown and dirty. Creek crossings have washed away. Trails are in dismay it is such a shame to see such a great place go without any care. Makes you wonder where the state funding ends up.

Kathy Jungels

Wonderful place!

Casey Duerr

Amazing

Elizabeth Jerdee

Beautiful. We go for the Mothers Day Brunch.

Patrick McDougall

Great hiking trails and camp grounds

Janice Smyk

Great place for a wedding

Lori Ward

Love this park! Just wish the state would actually take care of it. Tons of places not mowed and hiking trails are becoming overgrown

Babette Suter

My husband and I were here for our anniversary and thoroughly enjoyed the accommodations. The service of the restaurant was wonderful to along with very friendly people. I would highly recommend going here

Sharon Bowers

Relaxing and good buffet.

Mark Scianna

A beautiful state park with plenty to do, such as camping, hiking and all around great fun.

Kathy Roberg

Great show , great buffet great service

Tom Z

Very nice campground. Good value. The price is very reasonable. They have a nice bathroom / shower area. The campsites are usually hilly so check the site before booking. There are no parking pads, so you have to park on the grass. If you don't like trains, you may not like the place. The trains can be very loud. But, I don't mind it. There are plenty of hiking trails in the forest area. Bicycling: You would need to ride on busy roads to get here. Bicycle parking, it's a campground so nothing to really lock the bike up. I will continue to return here.

Heleena

This location has beautiful trails. The lookout peak isn't as amazing as I thought it would be, and even though it was supposed to be a difficult trail it wasn't that bad at all. But overall nice scenery and wide variety of trails to choose from.

Martin Malagon

Awesome place, the phone reception was spotty but that was ok who need it when bonding in the woods, the problem was my grandfather trying to locate us and he couldn't get ahold of us. Also we had 4 sites all next to each other and our tents were on a slope. We kept sliding throughout the night. Other that that it was clean, quite, and nice

Nancy Bleile

Absolutely loved our visit. Very friendly greeting from the time we walked in the door. Lunch was superb! We will be back very soon! Just a lovely rustic dining experience reminiscent of the supper club Ishnala in Wisconsin’s Dells area on Mirror Lake.

Robert Isaacs

Cool park!

Norb Pinkawa

Great state park for hiking.

Fitness con Blanca Blanca Camacho Vazquez

My bf took me for my bday get away. I loved it.

Mickal Weems

Food was mediocre, buffet table was positioned right where you enter building so when it's busy you have no room to go past other people, one side was too close to the wall, architecture was wonderful, seating was adequate but crowded together, overall not a bad place but the buffet needs to be in the center of a room of it's own. They would of gotten 4 stars then.

Michael Gomez

The settings are lovely but the night time noises of hourly freight trains disturbed are camping experience greatly.

David Glowacki

Fun park to visit. Nice wall cliffs. Much smaller then starved Rock, but less people.

aaron hall

Love this park. Out of the way. Never crowded. Variety of trails to choose from. They even have cabins and a nice little restaurant.

Bill Rowe

Wonderful old world ambiance . Nice quite peaceful. The all the employees are awesome. The cabins are better than any high dollar hotel in the city. Every thing is fantastic here.

Pearl Kwan

Beautiful state park with clean, rustic cabins, theater, and a restaurant on the premises. The assorted hiking trails are fun for families. We came when our children were young, now we come with the grandchildren.

Martha Matty Elliott

Perfect day to enjoy the park. Fishing, hiking, picnic and visit the gift shop. Next time we said we want to camp.

Daniel Jewell

Nice quiet and ckesn.

Denisse Clark

A real log cabin experience. Great for family trips and themed weddings. A great getaway to escape the city mayhem, only 90 mins from the big city. A nice retreat but not in the middle of nowhere. There is phone reception, haha!

Carol Spickler

Needs mowing..needs mowing

Ed Stastny

A beautiful Park/Forrest Preserve to spend time at. The water is high. So I couldn't get all the way in the back. The Fall Colors are coming out. My favorite time of year.

Gumaro Esparza

Love This Park! Me and my girlfriend drive here for a good hike with our dogs. I think it's worth the trip, especially when the fall colors are showing.

Arman Stover

Just reasonably priced food!

Jessica Jenkins

Sleepy hollow trail was awesome. Also suggest dinning at the restaurant.

Thomas Rose

Always a fun place to hang out.

Dawn E Pfluger

Great views.

Mike Griffith

Great park. Spent a winter's night in a log cabin. Great time!

George ZAWACKI

A neat park in North Central Illinois.

Sherri Anthony

Went to the playhouse and saw Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones. Meal was good and the show was great. Very helpful and attentive staff!

Derek Such

Great place to visit! Lots to do here, from Hiking the handful of trails (Sleepy Hollow being my favorite), to driving your car though the water on the fords, to visiting the restaurant, going to the theater for dinner and a show, visiting the camp store, staying in a cabin, or good old fashion camping, there is a lot to do here. Beautiful views of craved rock walls and nice hikes through the forest there is a lot to like about this place. My family has day tripped here to enjoy the nature and have a picnic, we have also stayed in the cabins twice. The cabins are nice, we have stayed in the one room with an attached bathroom. They are very comfortable and a great place to stay if camping is not your thing.

Aimee Elliott

Wonderful place to go. Just beautiful. Great place to take the family. Camping & cabins available. Call first.if your looking CV or a bea6get away this is it.

Jacob Conderman

Fun place to fish and fun to explore

Chris Carroll

Really need to fix the Chief.

Nicolas Stafford

Beautiful park with great hiking trails.

Judy Argraves

Excellent food and entertainment.

Bruce Biggers

Absolutely love this park. Great game lace to do anything outdoors. We hiked 5 miles on the trails and even had a picnic. It’s an hour away, but well worth it

Amy Adair

everything has been absolutely amazing so far the food is absolutely phenomenal the staff for absolutely disrespectful and decent and down-to-earth and very very very nice

Michael Caldwell

Awesome

Amber Bliss

We had a blast camping and walking trails. Staff here very friendly and accommodating. There is something for all outdoor enthusiasts. Will be making this trip again.

Brian Beyer

Always a great time. Been going for years and love it everytime. We'll be back.

Jeremy Nesemeier

There's a lot of big things happening around here. Great park for exploring, but also, awesome lodge, and cabin rentals. A good mix of quiet, isolated trails and parks with kids running around!

Troy Layne

One of those gems that continues to keep a special place in the hearts of many who frequent here. Year round, White Pines is a magical sort of sentimental place that seems stolen from another era. If that makes sense to you, then you know what I mean. If it doesn't, you'll just have to go and find that magic yourself.

Brock Cheshier

Had a very pleasurable family picnic there today.

Kevin Clairmont

Cool place to visit. We did not camp here tho. It appeared that all of the campsites were super close to the road wandering thru the park. We prefer hike in camping. Personal preference. You do get to drive thru the river in a couple of spots to get into the park. Pretty neat for the kids! There were a few reservable shelters available through the park. Plenty of creek/river fishing and what appeared to be hiking trails that crossed the river in a few spots. Definitely a good day trip to BBQ and picnic and spend time out doors. The main sign out front advertises theater and restaurant, we didn’t see these places. Have fun and go spend time in the woods!!!

Jill Beauchamp

Definitely a nice small park to drive threw water ways or get a cabin witch are very nice and well kept ! Nice restaurant in the park also a little pricey but good !

Roger Look

Beautiful place...everyone shoild visit

yegs YT

Awesome camping facilities. Enough rustic area for tents, facilities with plumbing and electric for the glampers. Room for large group outings. Pet friendly

Erik Malinowski

Very nice trails through a beautiful forest, pretty view of the rocks/cliff & river

Brenda S Smith

Saw the Gordy and Debbie musical show at their lunch time dinner theater. Food and wait staff were excellent. The show was fantastic. First one we've been to. We must go do it again.

Tammy Krist

Very Nice

CARMEN Sander

This park is gorgeous and has a great restaurant the trails are the best for hiking in this area

Adreanna Sommer

I love white pines! I have photos on my instagram @annaforeverwandering This place is great for hiking, picnics, views and family events!

Dave S

One of the nicest parks around with many nice walking trails, a stream, and of course majestic white pines. Good gift shop and restaurant too.

Michael Love

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES TO PARTY MET MANY REALLY COOL PEOPLE HERE IN MY YOUTH

Vonda Van Ostrand

Great place for eating at restaurant, and many hiking trails, picnicking, fishing, and cabins to stay the night. Also a wedding canyon.

Reema Gandhi

This enormous State Park, located in the town of Mt Morris, is a terrific place to be! Beautiful campsite for a weekend getaway. White Pine State Park allows nature lovers to Hike, Camp, Picnic, Hunt, and Fish. Need I say More? Multiple Trails having varied difficulty levels, welcome everyone to hike through the forest and cross over the Creek. The trails, we hiked through, were so peaceful that the only thing, we could hear, was the sound of water flowing through. Tall Pine Trees gazing the sky could be seen all around the park. My 4-year-old loved accumulating Acorns in her tiny backpack. PS- Some of these trails are accessible. Bikes, not allowed on the trails. #hiking #StatePark

Joette Ojeda

Outstanding food & entertainment

Andrew Patoska

One of the better state parks around

Tiffany Cox

This is a great place for hiking. There are a ton of trails. All are pretty easy to walk, but you can definitely walk for miles. I have ate their once and the food was delicious.

Bonnie Toms

Beautiful scenery. Creek through the whole park. Ford's u drive your car right through the water. Awesome trails. Stocked trout among other fishing. Love this park. Must see!!!

Brandon Severa

Great state park. The cabins are comfortable and rustic. Reservations are offered year-round. The hiking trails are well groomed and offer challenge from the novice to the expert hiker. Only downside is that cell reception here is spotty at best, with Verizon having the best reception.

Valerie J. Cadarr

Love, love, love this place! The food is wonderful and the entertainment really good.

Terry Zarbock

Easy to medium hiking trails. Camping cabins. Lodge with wonderful food. Family friendly.

Nykky Rosenquest

Absolutely beautiful wedding canyon and lovely river-side hiking! There had been quite a bit of rain, so the river overflowed a couple paths. The staff at the lodge was friendly and helpful.

Ally Rose

I've been coming here since I was a baby my parents always take me here and I love everything here, the fun stepping Stones,all the different trails, camping is affordable and theirs so many things to do here, if you ever want to see something beautiful please come here.

Garrett Neuenkirchen

Great camp sites. Nice trails. Not over crowded.

Kandi Knowles

It was beautiful there. Loved it.

Michelle Henson

Very beautiful park with nice, family-friendly trails.

Michael Getzendaner

Nice lunch! Had the chicken pot pie. It was very good. It had a light flaky crust on top and a nice filling of vegetables, chicken and gravy like sauce. Very good!

Tara Cosgrove

Great park. Needs more maps and crossing stones at stream. Still a must visit.

Susan Korf

Always a great place. Grew up in the area and spent many weekends there in the 70's thru to today. Camping hiking and telling of the old back 3 Rd ford that flooded back in the 50's and a ice pond.

Roger Blum

Great place many visits.

Dave Christopherson

Very sad with the shape of the grass in some areas of the park. I am sure the weather and state budget cuts were part of the problems but foot tall grass and weeds do not work well for a picnic. Not usually the case but was recently.

David Mauer

Great place to fish and hang out.

Ben Bierdeman

An astoundingly good park with great paths to hike on and ample places to camp and have a cookout. The people around this park do not value this park high enough. It is wonderful.

Dean Gardner

Beautiful. Nice restaurant

Brent Noble

Always a great place to go walk the trails have a picnic always enjoy this state park

Desiree Heniff

Beautiful park! Great trails to hike and a great place for cooking out or getting together with family and friends.

Pastor John Stultz

First Ashby, Eddington, and Stultz family reunion! I’ve been going there all my growing up life and still love to go there! Looking forward to the next visit to the pines.

Carol Weeks

Food is great enjoyed the ride through the park

David Lofgren

BEAUTIFUL

Donna Cowley-Thompson

One of the more scenic parks in the Ogle County area great for family get-togethers, weddings, and hiking or camping. A very nice ride through the park will relax anyone

Lois McBride

Great place for famliy.

Aaron Nino

This place is absolutely beautiful! I highly recommend it. 3 hour drive from Chicago. And the drive is breath taking!

Ronald Coyle

Beautiful place for a family get-together nice camping facilities nice shelters

Randy Foege

What's better than walking around in the woods with someone you love? I can remember doing it with my dog and now I get to do it with my wife. Occasionally will drag the 10th and spend the night there and because the restaurant is so good, I don't bother to bring anything to cook with. We just pick out in the great restaurant.

stacey wasilevich

Nice place to hike. Get there early before everyone else does

MrMjm333

Wonderful place to escape the city, not that far from Chicago.

Linda Donmeyer

Brunch is fantastic.

Amanda McClintock

A lovely park not too far from Chicago. The resort is amazing too.

Jeremy Castle

Park is lacking activities, does have a nice restaurant with good food. Prices are high

Melissa Isbell

Beautiful area. Plenty of picnic areas. A few trails. We hiked the Sleepy Hollow trail which seems to be a favorite. The fords (where you drive thru the creek) seem to be a highlight of the park and even though they have foot bridges people are supposed to use there are always people walking thru the water where cars need to cross and hold up traffic in doing so as many of them are not paying attention while playing in the water. (Signs are posted about not crossing on foot/wading in the water) It is a smaller park, great for day trips, not overly crowded and for the most part very peaceful.

Kyle Murphy

Fun hiking adventures

Benjamin Seals

This place is beautiful has lots of nice camp sites has trail's all over and very good fishing. It also has a place to get married beautiful place

Tim

Wonderful clean silent park

Nina Garcia

Best park I've been to since a child we've been camping here and having family reunions weddings you name it. Awesome place to visit

Susan Evens

Nice small park with cabins and an on-site restaurant. Trails are not too difficult but are scenic. Our one disappointment was that we didn't realize they allowed bow hunting on the trails in October. We weren't comfortable hiking with that happening. I'll ask next time so I don't book a cabin when that is going on. They also allow some fishing at various times in the river that runs through the park.

Charles Jefferson

Beautiful scenery

Colleen Schor

Bountiful nature!! There are excellent hiking trails, running water over the roadways, and magnificent views!!! Beautiful Memories made here!!!