Danefx....yeah not sure about camping close to the city. Kinda pointless imo, we like to escape that. Panther state park is very cool. Starved rock is even better. There are TONS of places to camp in IL. And the dells right over the border.
Indeed, I've lived near Chicago all my life - I was just curious if there was camping closer than Woodstock, Rockford or closer than as far southwest as Starved Rock is that I wasn't aware of :beer: