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Location
Ferne Clyffe State Park is located in Southern Illinois 12 miles south of Marion, Illinois. The park is full of geological features, ferns, and an unusual plant community. Several trails wind through the woods allowing visitors to view the awesome rock formations. Features include camping, picnicking, hunting, hiking, and fishing.
Ferne Clyffe State Park Camping
The campground offers both Class A Electric camping as well as Class C Tent camping. Deer Ridge campground is Class A sites with electricity, gravel pads, picnic tables, and grills. There is a dump station nearby and shower house with flush toilets. Turkey Ridge is the Class C Tent area and offers camp pads, picnic tables, grills, and showers. 36 of the Class A spots are available for reserve at https://camp.exploremoreil.com/location/216.
Ferne Clyffe Lake
The lake is 16 acres with a maximum depth of 22 feet. There is a hiking trail that follows its one mile of shoreline. Boats are prohibited from the lake but you can fish from it’s banks.
Ferne Clyffe State Park Trails
There are 18 trails within the park. Remeber that natural dangers that exist so keep to the trails and be aware of your surroundings. Vehicles and bicycles are prohibited on the trails and equestrian use is only allowed on those designated for it.
Check out other great campgrounds in Illinois!
This was our first stay at Ferne Clyffe. The campground was beautiful with lots of trees with a picnic table and fire pit at each. The dump station is by the campground host and is newer and you can also fill up your freshwater here. While there is a 16 acre lake on the site I think most people visit for the trails. There are large rock cliffs with canyons and several waterfalls if you visit the right time of year. Being the end of summer they were not flowing but we will try another trip during the spring to see if we can see them then. Surprisingly, T-Mobile worked great in the park. The bathrooms and showers were clean just a little dated and the asphalt drive around the camping area is in need of repair so we only gave it 4 stars.