Rock Springs Nature Center - Decatur, Illinois

Kris B.

This place has multiple, beautiful trails both paved and dirt. You can do whatever you want. Want a short, 1.5 mile hike? They have it. Want a 3.8 mile hike with a little elevation here and there? The Sangamon River trail is my favorite.

It's beautiful, with occasional park benches to rest and relax. I have seen several deer along the way and tons of birds, insects, and beautiful environment.

Sanjay R.

Beautiful place. Lots of interesting birds.

However lots of insects. Keep your insect spray handy

Boo G.

Best place in decatur! Beautiful well maintained trails with a nice wide bike trail throughout. Go here to watch the sunset at least once a week

Stephanie V.

Really great trails, both paved for cycling and cleared for walking. The nature center is clean and full of information about the land and animals in the area. There are benches throughout the trailed areas for resting. Well kept park.

Caleb C.

Beautiful place. Paved and non paved trails. There's an abundance of wildlife. One of my favorite places in the area.

B A.

Amazing wildlife / conservation area in Macon County. The trails are well maintained and the bike path is just incredible as well as the Rock Springs Center.

L G.

If you have never visited Rock Springs Conservation Area you have got to go as soon as possible! It is located in Decatur about a hour from Shelbyville. Rock Springs Conservation has a beautiful Nature Center, hiking trails, bike trails, canoes, camps, fishing when it is warmer, cross-country ski and snowshoe rentals and so much more. Rock Springs looked like a winter wonderland covered in snow.
Yesterday Jean, Nancy and I went to Rock Springs to try XC skiing on the snow covered trails. Jean and I met Kelle at Shorelines this fall and she told us all about renting skis and snowshoes at Rock Springs. Kelle is a fellow bucket list lover like us! 😂 Who knew five months later we would have enough snow to try skiing. There needs to be four inches of snow to ski or snowshoe. It only cost $8 to rent skis or snowshoes! We could use them for two hours which is a very long time to ski! They measure you to see what size of poles you will need based on your height. They provide the ski boots in the $8 rental price. The boots are EU sized. All the employees and volunteers were so helpful in getting us fitted for our adventure. We overdressed not knowing what a hard workout we were getting ourselves involved in! Definitely wear layers if you go skiing. We met so many nice people on the trails. Pretty much everyone out there was trying it for the first time. Lots of spills and laughs on the trails. When you get done you will be starving. Skiing burns a lot of calories especially if you have no clue what you’re doing! It was a blast!
It was so much fun I decided to go the next day too! Stacy and Cade joined the Grabb family on a winter adventure. The Nature Center opened at 1pm today so we got there a little early to walk around and explore some of the trails. When we got back to the center there was a long line at the door waiting to get in to rent skis. The line moved pretty quickly so it didn’t take long for us to get our gear so that we could hit the trails. I decided to try snowshoes today since I skied yesterday. We ended up getting four miles in which was probably a mile too much! 😂 We had some falls, broken boots and a great day together. We all give Rock Springs Conservation Area a five star rating! We want to bring our dogs next time when there is less snow so they can hike easier.

Jodi Y.

I went there for the Fall Festival of 2021 and there was so much to see. Lots of activities for adults and children. I REALLY enjoyed watching the kids make bracelets at the Children Museum of Illinois booth.