Buffalo Rock State Park

Buffalo rock state park is very beautiful and wonderfully hidden amongst the larger parks of the area (starved rock, mathiessen). There is a large shelter and baseball diamond located at the park as well and a great overview of the river.
However, my fiancé and I chose this location for our after-​wedding party and were disappointed. After a year of correspondence between myself and the contact person for the park I was assured that the date should be available for rental and not to worry– just to mail in my reservation application and fee by the first of the year. After all of this was done, we were denied as someone else turned in an application before us (really? How upsetting is it that my application just happened to be opened from the mail after theirs?) Normally i would be understanding of the situation but seeing as i was assured that i should have no problem with my reservation i am pretty upset. There was no sympathy from the park at all and we are now out of a wedding location. Since my wedding is in June and it is now January there are slim pickings for any new location. Since the park contact person knew this was such an important reservation I expected some sort of apology or assistance but nothing was given.

With Starved Rock and Matthiessen nearby, Buffalo Rock often gets overlooked, or worse, people come to gawk at the pair of buffalo and leave. This park has a lot more to offer than most realize.
Yes, we took thirty seconds to look at the buffalo. My son is 7 and wanted to see them. Moments later we were on the path. The gravel path at BR isn’t very extensive at maybe 2 – 3 miles worth. The bonus areas are accessed by the grass paths or better yet, no path at all. The effigy’s are moderately interesting and if you’re looking to add to your hike you should climb each. I don’t think the view from the top of each offers much, but sometimes it’s just about getting more path time. As scenery goes, there are several good vantage points of the river and on a good day you might see some wildlife back here like deer, a fox, coyote and eagles are frequent.
The best part of BR is the back (westernmost) end of the park where the rock formations are located. Beautiful sandstone cliffs shape the top of the bluff down to the river bank floor. It isn’t a large area by any stretch, but climbing and great scenery are plenty back here. The cliffs consist of an awesome array of colors and the rock formations are just as cool, if not better than any I’ve seen at Starved Rock or Matthiessen. If you do climb the area just a word of caution. the sandstone is loose and fragile, making those cliff edges a dangerous place to venture. If you hike around the north side of the rock formation the path will lead you down to the base of the rock cliffs. I highly recommend this as the views down there are stunning. If you visit the rock formations please respect them and don’t be the a-​hole who carves their initials in. This is one of the reasons I like BR more than Starved Rock, the graffiti is at a bare minimum back here.
Happy hiking and climbing!

After visiting Starved Rock State Park, I was on my way home when my aunt decided to stop by Buffalo Rock State Park to show me buffalos. I was a bit skeptical because it seemed too good to be true to see wild buffalos that isn’t from a zoo.
We drove up to the top and the park was pretty empty (granted, it was end of November and there was a little bit of snow). But I did get to see the 2 buffalos. They were just sitting facing away from me so I didn’t get a good picture.
I definitely want to come back in the spring/​summer and check out the hiking trails around there.