Kickapoo State Recreation Area is an Illinois state park on 2,842 acres (1,150 ha) in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. Located just outside of Danville, Illinois, this park is easily accessible through route I-74. It is 28 miles (45 km) away from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and 95 miles (153 km) from Indianapolis. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the name Kickapoo originated from the Kickapoo village that once existed near the junction of the Salt Fork and Middle Fork branches of the Vermilion River. After Europeans settled in the area and displaced the Native Americans, the Europeans began to dig wells to harvest salt from salt springs, called salines. In the early 20th century the land was then strip-mined for coal. Kickapoo State Park was the first park in the United States to be located on strip-mined land. The state of Illinois purchased the Kickapoo State Park Area in 1939 with donation money from Danville residents and the land has since recovered from the extraction of these resources.
Today, Kickapoo State Park has 221 acres (89 ha) of ponds and lakes with nearly 35 miles (56 km) of hiking trails for many types of recreational activities including camping, canoeing, horseback riding, hunting, mountain biking, and fishing. In the winter season, ice fishing and cross-country skiing are popular pastimes for visitors to the park. Campsites are available year-round with RV and electric hookups available. There are 22 deep water ponds which are accessible to electric motor boats, canoes, and kayaks. Visitors to the park may rent a canoe or kayak to paddle down the Vermilion River, which runs through the center Kickapoo State Park. Horseback riding and scuba diving are also allowed within the park.
Read more about Kickapoo State Recreation Area: Plant and Animal Species
Famous quotes containing the words state, recreation and/or area:
“If I place love above everything, it is because for me it is the most desperate, the most despairing state of affairs imaginable.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)
“Many women are reluctant to allow men to enter their domain. They don’t want men to acquire skills in what has traditionally been their area of competence and one of their main sources of self-esteem. So while they complain about the male’s unwillingness to share in domestic duties, they continually push the male out when he moves too confidently into what has previously been their exclusive world.”
—Bettina Arndt (20th century)