On June 17, 1999, at approximately 4:00 in the afternoon, an 8 year old girl (Lacy A. Zefo of Alexis, Illinois) fell about 100 feet to her death at Wildcat Canyon in Starved Rock State Park. This is the second time this year that someone has fallen to their death. Both times these fatalities occurred at Wildcat Canyon.

Wildcat is not necessarily a dangerous place in the park. (The first, which occurred on April 28, was an alcohol related death so it don't really count). There are other canyons much more dangerous than Wildcat. Wildcat is the only canyon in the entire park with a wooden fence around the top of it to keep people from climbing down into the falls. Not that this fence is necessary (common sense should dictate that) but it is there because of the location of the trail right across the top of the falls at Wildcat.

The mother of this child and her boyfriend actually crossed the protection fence taking these children with them into a very dangerous place. They did this in order to 'get a better look into the canyon'. There is one of those new wooden trails and stairs going all the way down into Wildcat. There are also TWO observation decks, one on each side of the canyon (see the page on Wildcat Canyon) that affords one the best views of the canyon. Not only did these people go over the fence to a very precarious place, but they took three small children with them. It is in my opinion a VERY irresponsible thing to do.

This is the kind of thing that spoils the natural beauty of the park for all the rest of the responsible people that visit the park. There are fences and barricades going up all over the park in an attempt to protect the irresponsible. There are few injuries in the park considering the very large number of people that visit there every year. Now, one cannot get unobstructed views of the natural wonders in the park. This is the very sort of thing that occurred at Tonti Canyon. Tonti is one of the steepest and most beautiful canyons in the park. It used to have a beautiful stone bridge over the top of the falls (see the page on Tonti Canyon) and one of the most scenic trails connecting to LaSalle Canyon and other parts of the park. Because there were a higher number of fatalities in that area of the park, the bridge has been blown up and the trails seldom used anymore. A wonderful area of the park that most people will miss out on seeing now.

The same situation has occurred at Eagle Cliff. Last year, it was one of the most awesome places to go to see the river and along the shoreline of the east part of the park. Yesterday we went there to see the 'damage' they did by building a very large, expensive, wooden deck/porch combination over the entire rock called Eagle Cliff. The actual rock is barely visible anymore and the view is quite obstructed by wooden fences and what looks like large play areas on top of the cliff. Eagle cliff is no more. Eagle playland has replaced it. Next, the carvings and graffitti will adorn the wooden porch covering what used to be Eagle Cliff making it even more scenic.

Those of you who are actually interested enough to read this page are probably also responsible enough to go hiking safely, even with children. To the handful of others, you need to learn about low friction surfaces and gravity (a bad combination) BEFORE you hike at Starved Rock. Failure to do so can result in ruining your whole day and eventually spoiling it for all the rest of us.

This is the top of Wildcat Canyon and the wooden fence that (supposedly) discourages mortals from climbing down the first level of the falls. The observation deck on the east side of the canyon can be seen in the background.

A view of the top of the falls of Wildcat Canyon from the east observation deck. The fence can be seen in the background. As you can see, the 'parent' of this child took her quite a distant beyond the fence for her to fall over the edge. There is quite a ways between the fence and the big waterfall that goes all the way to the bottom of the canyon.