Pet Friendly Cabin in Starved Rock State Park

We had been looking to plan a trip to Starved Rock State Park for awhile. When Ryan’s Brother came to visit it seemed like the perfect reason to go as he shares our love of the outdoors. Starved Rock is fairly well known in that is it only 1.5-2 hours from Chicago and has such cool rock formations and waterfalls to explore. As per usual on our outdoor adventures, we wanted to bring our dog Memphis along. Luckily for us renting a pet friendly Cabin in Starved Rock State Park itself was available for when we wanted to stay.

Not all of their cabins are Pet friendly, only the one room, two queen beds, pioneer cabins are open to pet owners. Cabins are fairly rustic, which for us only adds to their charm but did mean mean we had a little mouse visitor on our first night. The cabins have bed and bathroom in line with your average hotel room. Please note they make the beds better then shown above, I just forgot to snap a photo until we were checking out. Our only complaint was the lack of fire or barbecue pits available. We would have looked to cook out.

Inside of the Starved Rock Lodge has restaurants and a small cafe store. We had a nice Dinner the first night and an even lovelier wine as recommended by our waiter. The cafe has cute touristy gifts and some tasty fudge. We also stopped for some breakfast sandwiches there on our last morning. In Between those is a lovely meeting space with comfy chairs and a big stone fireplace for the quintessential lodge experience.

I was also impressed by the pool offerings in the lodge, of which access is included for cabin renters in addition to those who stay in the lodge. They have a large pool, good size hot tub, kiddy pool. And by the locker rooms was also a sauna. Since we were there during the week we had the spaces all to ourselves each time we went which was an extra plus.

According to the Starved Rock State Park website, they are voted the #1 attraction in Illinois, and I can see why. We are in no way hiking aficionados but we do love to hike and check out new places. Starved rock has numerous scenic trails of mostly intermediate skill level. And of course their big claim to fame is the canyons and waterfalls. It was really convenient to stay right amongst it at Starved Rock State Park Lodge and in close proximity to Matthiessen State Park and some of the other local attractions noted in our post here. It’s a great weekend getaway for the outdoor lover and an added plus you can bring your pet.