Robinson Park

This wild, undeveloped 680-acre park has several narrow, informal paths that lace the site, along with a substantial segment of the better-developed Pimiteoui Trail. The park offers access to Illinois River Bluff Trail, a linear 9-mile walking path through Detweiller Park, Robinson Park and Camp Wokanda.

For bird watchers, the most intriguing component of Robinson Park is its 151-acre nature preserve, which consists of glacial drift hill prairies, and oak woodlands along the ridges and valleys. The preserve sits on two long, narrow ridges and steep valley slopes drained by Moon Creek. Several small glacial drift hill prairies occur on the south-facing slopes. Some of the prairie wildflowers found here include scurf pea, pale purple coneflower, purple prairie clover, golden Alexanders, bird’s foot violets, and snow trillium, all strewn throughout little bluestem and side-oats grama grasses which dominate the prairie habitat. The woodland habitat includes white oak, red oak, chinquapin oak, shagbark hickory, witch hazel, hazelnut, basswood, maple, and pawpaw. The spring-blooming wildflower show along the forest floor of these woodlands is spectacular. An unusual array of woodpeckers and woodland warblers, owls and hawks, vireos and flycatchers, can all be seen and heard.