Waterfalls in Illinois

Illinois's waterfalls, from sandstone canyons to a southern wilderness

Glacial-age rivers cut Illinois's best-known waterfalls into St. Peter Sandstone along a stretch of the Illinois River, while a separate group drops off sandstone ridges near the Shawnee National Forest, far to the south. The state has 20 named waterfalls in all, 13 of them packed into one LaSalle County township, with the rest scattered one to a county across five more counties.

Where the waterfalls are

LaSalle County holds 13 of the 20 listings. Most sit in Deer Park Township, where Starved Rock State Park and neighboring Matthiessen State Park share a canyon system cut into St. Peter Sandstone; two more LaSalle County falls lie apart from that cluster, a low-head dam on the Illinois River at Marseilles and a fall near Ottawa. Johnson County has 3 listings, split between Ferne Clyffe State Park near Goreville and Borks Waterfall on Regent Creek. Pope County's single listing, Burden Falls, drops inside the Shawnee National Forest's Burden Falls Wilderness in the state's southern tip. Single falls round out Adams County in Quincy, DuPage County in Lemont and St. Clair County in Dupo.

Waterfalls worth the trip

• Burden Falls, 45 feet on Burden Creek, drops inside the Burden Falls Wilderness, the Shawnee National Forest wilderness area named for it.
• Borks Waterfall drops on Regent Creek near Goreville.
• Saint Louis Canyon Falls and Ottawa Canyon Falls, plus Chicago Falls in LaSalle Canyon, are three of the four Starved Rock canyons with the park's most reliable seasonal waterfalls; the fourth is French Canyon.
• Lake Falls opens Matthiessen State Park's Upper Dells, dropping from Matthiessen Lake into the canyon; its bridge and trail are closed to hiking in 2026.
• Giants Bathtub Falls carves potholes into the sandstone of Matthiessen's Lower Dells.
• Happy Hollow Falls and Cedar Falls, both fed only by runoff off Ferne Clyffe State Park's limestone bluffs near Goreville, run after rain and thin out in dry weather.

When to go

Ferne Clyffe's falls depend on that bluff runoff, so a dry spell leaves them with little to show. Matthiessen's Dells parking area fills on nice weekends from May through October, closing to further entry from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Closures and rules

Starved Rock's 2026 trail-improvement project may close or limit some trails through the year, though the visitor center, campground and lodge stay open. At Matthiessen, the Lake Falls bridge and trail are closed to hiking, and the restroom at the Dells parking lot is shut for repairs, with portable toilets in its place.

Safety

Matthiessen bans swimming in its waterfalls, creeks and the river, along with rock climbing and rappelling, and asks hikers to stay on marked trails rather than cut new ones through the canyon walls.