We live less than five minutes from Rock Cut and wanted to test out our pop up camper. It's off season so the showers were not open yet but there were open toilets. Wasn't too many other campers so it was nice and quiet. Hiking trail is right next to the campground which was nice. You can hear the highway at night which kinda takes away from the nature vibes but overall I was very happy with our one night stay.
I spent most of 2020 here. Close to everything you’ll ever need while camping. Only negative are the same everywhere you bag go. Other campers not respecting the earth or other people. Love this place.
Just outside of the sprawling metropolitan area of Rockford, Illinois, the recreational oasis of Rock Cut State Park awaits. With miles of walking, hiking, biking, and even some intermediate mountain biking single track around a damned lake, there is plenty for every outdoor enthusiast to enjoy.
The campsites offer a spacious escape from the city, with the usual amenities of fire ring and picnic table, but most had long paved driveways and electrical hook-ups to boot. But our site had plenty of sun, so we were able to run on solar and not worry about the hookups.
The bathrooms appeared to have full-flush facilities with hot showers, however these were not open in November when we arrived. Instead, pit toilets (fairly clean) were available for use. The park and one loop of the campground remains open year-round, however the water and facilities with plumbing shut down at the end of October.
All of the trails double as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing areas as well, so don’t think of this as just a summer time getaway. We experienced one of the best late fall summers ever in November, 70 degrees during the day and cool at night. It was perfect, and while the place was full over the weekend, it never felt too crowded.
Just outside of the park boundary the suburban sprawl encroaches, so gas, ice, and groceries couldn’t be any more convenient. The winding park roads help slow things down and make it feel like you’ve wandered into a little slice of the wild on the edge of the prairie.
Love going here. It’s a beautiful campground that is kept up. Very clean.
I love this place it’s minutes from my home. Plenty of trails and fishing. Two places to buy forgot things and less than a mile from Shopping if needed.
Great state park for hiking. Decent campground. Canoes and paddle boats available in the summer for rent.
We stayed on tent-only site 009 which gave us a small view of the lake through the trees, a direct trail to the lake to sit with our morning coffee, and plenty of space between sites so we couldn't see or hear any neighbors. It's a short walk in to the site from the parking area in that section (maybe 50 ft total) and parking is easy and plentiful in the lot. We brought our own potty so I can't speak on the cleanliness of the facilities, but I can say they store their firewood indoors which was excellent for nice dry wood that was easy to start and burned hot.
Take a leisurely stroll, or fish in their stocked lake. Rock cut is a sweet park just outside Rockford. The sites are not private in the least, but I've met some really nice people!
We visited this spot last summer as a place to stay for 1 night on our way farther north.
We really enjoy tent camping and prefer walk-in/hike in sites so we can have some privacy away from other campers. The campsites were decently dispersed and the ground was nice and grassy so it was pretty comfortable.
We always want more space between campsites, but I think the privacy level was fine. The tent sites are right off the parking lot where the boat ramp is so maybe on a busy weekend it would be a little loud, but overall a nice night for us!
We left in the morning to continue our drive so we didn’t spend much time checking out the hiking trails.
We did however go checkout the beach which wasn’t much to write home about. If I remember correctly, we had to pay a fee to enter. Always happy to support a state park. We just figured since we were already paying to camp there, it wouldn’t cost extra. I’m pretty sure we paid an admission fee and didn’t stay for long. It was across the way and requires a drive instead of a hike to get there.
UPDATE: Came back in June 2021, better weather and so much more to see. The hiking/biking trails are many miles long. The fishing near t he dam is great and you can always find a spot near the edge of the lake. Bring bug spray.
Great park with a beautiful lake, snack shop, boat rentals, fishing piers and hiking trails. Several loops for spots some close to camp store and lake. Paved walking and bike riding trails. Great for bird watching.
We stayed in Hickory Loop at site 19. Almost none of the campsites have much privacy or distance from others.
On Saturday night, the local speedway had races so there was a solid two hours of droning car sounds.
The toilets were very dirty and lacking maintainance.
The rest of the park is lovely, I would highly recommend for day trips, but definitely not for camping.
We took our new to us pop up camper to Rock Cut for a quick 2 night mid-week getaway. Loved the shaded, wooded sites of Staghorn loop and would only book that loop going forward as the others for small RVs are in a huge grassy open area with few trees. The loop was not even half occupied when we were there, and perhaps because of that, the bathrooms and pit toilets near us were great. We had electric only at the site, but water wasn't a far walk. Camping during a pandemic, we were frustrated that most campers didn't feel the need to wear a mask in the camp store/boat rental concessions area despite posted signs. We rented a paddleboat and a SUP board to go out on the lake, which is kind of murky and stinky. Beach was closed at the time due to Covid-19 restrictions, but I am not sure we would have wanted to get in the lake, despite the hot June temps!
We arrived during a downpour, but our site was on a hill and didn’t get too waterlogged. The camp host in the store was an incredibly friendly and welcoming woman. They have lots of gear and products you may need—firewood, ponchos, bug spray, etc, etc...even camping chairs! To escape the rain, we went to Pig Minds Brewing Co, about 5-10 minutes away. The site itself wasn’t too exposed, and the back had tall bushes insulating us completely from the other side. The shower house was a nice 10-min walk from site 24. Not dirty, though there were lots of tube-shaped creepy crawlers in the shower grout lines. Kinda cute. The hiking was decent, you can hike around the large lake.
We tent camped in the staghorn section, less packed that the other options. Nice place, bathroom and showers were decent. Lot of trails, rentals of kayak, great for dogs and kids. Meijer is also close by in case you forget anything.
We stayed in the hickory loop, site 40. On the map there are interior sites which are fairly open and level, not much separating the sites. But the sites on the edge, on the water often have some foliage separating the sites for some added privacy. There are sites near a small inlet, it’s water was a bit more swampy, not as aesthetically pleasing as some of the other shire sites, if that’s a concern. Site 20 is the best and it is almost always reserved, one of these years we’re gonna bag that one. The lake offers some nice fishing, there is a fishing platform near this loop, we got some bites, but the rain moved in and we didn’t land anything. Lots of folks brought kayaks, seemed like a great place for water activities. Hiking trails are nice, not tremendously long or rigorous. Water taste is pretty good, bathrooms are pit, decently clean. There are showers but we did not partake. There is a shopping center about a half mile outside of the entrance in case you forgot something or run out of smore supplies. Cell reception was fair/decent. They have a pay beach with a snack shop with fantastic local ice cream. I think as of the third week in July (2020) it was back open. They have a FB page and it has all the breaking news.
I would probably never stay here again. We stayed in the plum grove electric site because it was close to the lake. We brought our kayaks and were looking forward to this trip. This is a very busy campground and popular on the weekends. But we didn’t think we would have had so many issues. The site was overgrown and hadn’t been mowed in awhile. The fire pit had a huge hole in it and the hot coals kept dropping through to the ground. The bathhouse was dirty and it over flowed so the campground personal had to come out and fix the plumbing. Disgusting. The lake had a lot of green algae and smelled a bit but it’s a lake. There were a lot of boaters and the boat launch was very crowded. The campsite behind us partied all night drinking, smoking weed and playing music until 5am. The campground is in need of some TLC. The only positive remark I can say is that the lake is great for kayaking.
It’s relatively easy to get to as it is close to the interstate. The site for our 30 ft travel trailer was very roomy. (We’re very new to camping with a trailer and we backed it in on the first try) We came here with a friend and booked sites next to each other. There are trees in between! With small paths! My kids loved that part. The fire wood sold at the camp store was very green and had a hard time catching. Electric hookups only. No water except at taps around the grounds. There IS a dump station contrary to what the official site says. All in all, we had a good time. Plenty of hiking, biking, and a swimming area.
Rock cut is only about a 50 minute drive from the far burbs of Chicago. It’s situated a few miles outside of Rockford so if you’re into exploring old industrial river towns, this is a nice one.
The spots are average size. The bathrooms are pretty busted but for what it lacks in amenities it gains in acres to a cool giant stocked lake, bike paths, and being just far away to make a weekend gateway worth it.
The campground was very busy, booked basically full for the weekend. On Sunday afternoon the lake was full of boaters and people fishing. Sunday night a lot of people cleared out leaving us as one of 10 campers in our part of the campground for Monday. The lake is definitely warm enough to swim in during the summer but has a lot of lake weed floating around the edge making it pretty murky.
Tent sites are in hickory hills area. Easy walk to showers/toilets over across from site 100. Tent sites are much more shaded and private than electric sites. We were traveling with another family so had two sites. If you have two parties I'd recommend sites 27 and 31 which have a little private path and potentially 53 and 5 which also appeared to have a path between them. Our sites 47 and 53 were big and shaded but not very flat for sleeping. Boat launch very close if you bring your own kayaks or canoes. There are also some for rent at the other end of the park. Park and ice at concessions.
We booked a couple of days ahead of our stay, and ended up with one of the last 2 sites in the primitive tent area. The site was on the end of an inlet, and the water was full of algae– not a great view, but the lot was a decent size. Not as big as some state campgrounds that we’ve been to, but big enough for our single tent and it had a small fire ring with grate and a picnic table. (NOTE: There appears to be a shortage of picnic tables in this area, and we ended up snatching one from the neighboring site as the residents hadn’t arrived yet. It was an east/west facing lot, and had a couple of trees of the east side, so no afternoon shade. Tough luck on a weekend with temps hanging around 90 degrees! Luckily, I had taken a large tarp and managed to rig some shade with the help of the trees. The toilets in the primitive area are pit– there are 2 sets so no one has to walk far. The toilets closest to our lot were better than I had expected from a pit– no smell in the women’s, although I was told that the men’s was pretty foul. There were, as usual, plenty of flies and spiders, but the TP was always stocked. There were flush toilets and showers near the RV camp areas. I first, used the showers in the Plum Grove section– there were 3 showers with very old with rusty, crusty shower curtains. The way that they were laid out, the changing area for the first two showers were a walkway for the other showers. However, I later used the shower close to the Staghorn area, and it was a bit newer and nicer. No walkthrough problems, and there was a door between the changing area and the main section. Overall, the entire campground was nice and well kept. The general store was small, but carried quite a bit for its size. There was also another store at Pierce Lake where they rented kayaks and paddle boats, sold fishing gear, ice cream, etc. At this same location there’s a small concession area– the hot dogs were pretty good.“Quiet time” isn’t exactly enforced(unfortunately). We were lucky enough camp on a weekend when a group(maybe 10 tents) of wannabe musicians were camping. They played bongos and guitars and sang until 11:30 p.m. Add that to the families with kids and scooters that started tooling around the tents at 7:00 a.m.(yes, technically the end of quiet time, but really?), and it could have been quieter.
NOTE: I forgot to mention that the sites along the water's edge were covered in goose poo. We spent around 20 minutes clearing the site. Nature, whatcha gonna do?
The camp ground itself was decent. It was very small but was enough for a two night stay. I was disappointed in the lack of activities there were there. They have two lakes for fishing and a bike trail. Not much for hiking.
I stayed at a primitive site right on the lake and was able to keep my canoe at my site in the water. Easy booking and check-in/out. Large camping spots and nice trails
We’ve stayed at Rock Cut several times, always in the Stag Horn loop, and had great sites. This last time, the grass was so high, we couldn’t use our fire pit or picnic table. My husband came later and he brought our weed wacker so we could clear it out enough to set up our screened canopy. I like stag horn since they are level, close to the bathroom and camp store, as well as a mixture of wooded and not wooded sites. Some sites are a bit tight.
Some sites are more secluded than others. Down by the boat ramp is more privacy than the other tent area. There have been issues with poison ivy overrunning the paths in the past but I don’t think it’s been an issue lately. Rentals for water activities and supplies at the concessions or camping store if needed. Lots of hiking trails to explore.
I want to point out from the start that is has been an unusually wet spring in northern IL. The camp sites are very rustic and all the rain didn’t do many of them any favors. Several are completely unusable this weekend. We had to use 4 wheel drive to back the trailer in our spot. It is very soggy and the ground is pretty saturated. It a big campground near a big lake with fishing and a store. The loops have old pit toilets as well as central shower houses. the spaces range from small and private to small and wide open. It’s Saturday night and the local racetrack is running heats. About a mile away, and it’s loud. If I was in tent it would be awful.
Nice quiet place to get away. Large lake for boating and fishing. Sights are good sized for campers and pop-ups. Tent sites are a little sloped. Easy trails around the lake.
State park offers some good hiking and all season activities. Camp ground was quiet and clean.
The campground was very pretty, clean, and friendly staff. The bath houses were clean, the outhouses were not bad. Nice walking paths. Grills on the fire pits. I recommend not camping on the downside of the tent Hills. If there is rain you will be washed out.
This campground is very good. Water and Facilities are everywhere. Only one shower house.
