A Trip To McHenry Dam in Moraine Hills State Park

With all of the rain we've been receiving this spring, we finally had a day or two of sunny weather.  So, I decided to take a drive out to Moraine Hills State Park.  Even though I figured the hiking trails would be muddy and a mess from the rain, it was too nice of a day to not get away from the big city for awhile and shoots some photos with my new 360 camera.

McHenry Dam is on the Fox River which runs through Moraine Hills State Park.  The Park is located in Northeast Illinois in McHenry County.  It's only about a 2 hour drive from home, so it makes for a nice day trip.  For more details, check out the Moraine Hills State Park website.  Just north of Moraine Hills is also Chain-o-Lakes State Park.  That whole area in northeast Illinois has several lakes which is known as the Chain-o-Lakes, since they all interconnect with one another.  Back in days when my older brother and I were kids, my dad use to take us fishing out there fairly often.

Since it was a weekday, the traffic wasn't too bad so it was a nice leisurely trek driving out to the park.  As I approach the bridge crossing over the Fox River, I could see how high the water level was due to all of the rain, not to mention how muddy the river looked.  I would have like to have taken some photos from the bridge, but there wasn't any convenient place to park without the chance of getting run over. LOL

Unfortunately, the trails were to wet and muddy, so there weren't too many good photo opportunities that day.  Although, I did get some nice shots of the area where some folks were fishing.  With the river being so high, you could barely see the water flowing over the dam.  Some of the trees further down stream were partially under water too.

The following video and photos were all taken on a Insta360 One X camera.

A couple of cool "Tiny Planet" views which can only be taken with a 360 degree camera.

Bait & Tackle Shop located in the park.

The river is so high that part of the dock is underwater.

Down stream, some trees are partially underwater too.

Below is an interactive 360 photo, so you can use your mouse/trackpad to move around within the photo.  I'm currently using VeeR to host some of my 360/180 VR photos and videos.

Hopefully, the next time I'm out that way, the river will be back to its normal level and the hiking trails will be walkable again.