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Horseshoe Lake State Park

Horseshoe Lake Campground (Alexander County, Illinois) Sept 27 2025

Island Trail at Horseshoe Lake in Illinois January 23, 2021

On September 27, 2025, we decided to drive the 20 minutes for an overnight camp at Horseshoe Lake. We were surprised by this awesome show of grackles in the masses! They went on with their performance a good 30 minutes or more. The video does not do the experience justice. The fog was kind of cool too. I am reminded that if we do not get out and just go, we will never know what surprises we miss. Yes, I love being at home, but I also love getting outdoors. When away from home, the to-do’s are not in your face begging to be done. I spent some time writing. Sometimes we talk together about what we see or hear or feel, and then we get quiet while I write it up, and then I read it to him. It is a peaceful activity. I am getting quite a few in my journal that I hope to share some day if I could ever find time. We also took a short walk along the campground and drove to check out the other campground for another quick overnight some day.

Horseshoe Lake is in Alexander County, Illinois and is not too far of a drive for those living in Cape Girardeau. We enjoy visiting Horseshoe Lake. In January 2021 I was able to photograph my first eagles ever here. What a grand day!

Horseshoe Lake Biking Trail, Southern Illinois; May 31, 2021

We went back to ride our bikes around the trail. The trail needs a little maintaining, but could be a great trail if it does get a little maintenance.

Horseshoe Lake August 12, 2018

This was my first time visiting Horseshoe Lake and goodness can you have fun with the camera here.

Photos

September 27, 2005

I took this screen show to show where the campground is located. I have always thought Horseshoe Lake is near Olive Branch, Illinois, because that is what we go through to get to the state park, but apparently Miller City is the actual closest city. We stayed at the west campground.

I took this screenshot while we were discussing how close the Mississippi River is to the state park and we took note of how the river twists and turns and winds around.

I enjoyed the fog and how the sun rose over edge of the lake peaking through the trees.

If you watch the above video, across the field was a ton of grackles!

It was a whole different view to the west with how the morning sun played with the colors.

As the sun rose, there were long light runs across the ground.

I love how the rising sun penetrates the fog.

You cannot see it, but we could hear it, as thousands of grackle birds were squawking in this field.

I just like taking photos of our new camper.

This is the highlight of the camping area and it is not really a favorite view of mine.

I did like that the boardwalk was newer and safer than others in the park, but I never have liked this murky water of the lake.

I always like the knobs of trees.

I am fairly confident there are a lot of snakes out in that water! Maybe beyond the trees there is some less murky water.

We took a stroll from one end of the campground to the other and it was a beautiful day.

We were driving to find the other east campground when we drove over a bridge by the dam. There was a nice pavilion here too.

We stopped at the Horseshoe Lake Bar and Grill and had a meal. We sat outside and enjoyed the view of the lake. There is a small campground here, but it is owned by the owners of the restaurant and not part of the state park.

Not too far down the road from the restaurant is the entrance to the east campground. I believe this one is more popular and I could see why because the view of the lake was better. However, more popular also means more crowded.

Here are the first campgrounds on the east campground with the lake to the left of the photo.

I could have been at this campsite looking at the sun set! I almost stayed another and parked.

I put these photos last as this was really weird. A man and one or more women came and parked next to us late at night in a U-haul. The man said to us that everyone finds it odd, but he found that renting a U-haul was cheaper than renting a car to go camping. He said he did not sleep in the U-haul because it was too hot, and set up a tent. It sure appeared to me that his U-haul was much bigger than the space needed for any gear that he had. The whole thing screamed human trafficking to me and I wondered what my responsibility was in this situation and what others would have done. We talked to him several times, but other than that, just watched from high in our tent.

It continued to be very odd in that the truck left and came back many times in the dark of night. I believe a few times he drove down to the shower house. We saw later that the shower house has it posted that it closes overnight. He also left completely for maybe an hour at a time and came back in the middle of the night and some again early in the morning. Where was he going? He certainly was not just camping.

I thought he had just set up the big tent, but when he left in the early morning hours, I could see he also had a smaller tent. I only saw one other women, so why did he need so much space?

I took a photo of the truck during the daylight to share with a friend how odd it was that he rented such a large tent for so little camping supplies.

Later when we took our walk down the length of the campground, we spied that he had moved from the spot next to us down to the other end, and set up the tent again. I could tell there were people inside, but it was otherwise quiet. I guess he did not like that we were watching so he left to where it was more private. What would you have done? I still think about it and wonder if I should have walked up to visit him closer and talk to him face to face, or if I should have reported the odd behavior to law enforcement. I suppose it could not have hurt, but is it right to report something that is not obviously a crime?

January 23, 2021