Pere Marquette State Park

Pere Marquette State Park is an 8050 acre nature-lover's paradise, encompassing forests, wooded ravines, bluffs, and scenic trails alongside the Illinois River. I have a nice hike mapped out using several intersecting trails, total distance around 5.2 miles. The trail is primarily a woodland path, shaded for most of its length. There are numerous hills and ravines, with occasional rocky outcrops and ridges. It will take about 2.5 hours to cover 5 miles as we'll take a few short breaks after some of the uphill stretches. I'd recommend trekking poles if you use them. For most of our regular hikers I would rate this hike as Moderate.
We'll meet in the parking lot in front of the Visitors Center, (nice bathrooms there).
Another option is to stay in the Pere Marquette area overnight on Friday and avoid the early morning drive on Saturday. The Lodge at Pere Marquette has a variety of rooms and cabins, located just one minute from the trailhead. Nearby Grafton has several lodging options as well.

Apres Hike: Grafton Oyster Bar (don't worry, they have a regular menu...and amazing food!)- There will be a separate Meetup Event signup for the Apres.