Rock Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the

Kankakee River The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest wetlands in N ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. It empties into the Kankakee River in

Kankakee River State Park Kankakee River State Park is an Illinois state park on primarily in Kankakee and Will Counties, Illinois, United States. Originally, of land was donated by Ethel Sturges Dummer for the creation of the state park in 1938. Another was donated ...

, northwest of

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as an ...

. It starts in higher land and then drops into the Kankakee River Valley. Because of this, the river has cut through the rock, forming a

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

, most of which is in the state park. A trail in the park follows the creek. The Rock Creek waterfall is approximately upstream from the main entrance of the state park and is on land owned by Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see, a private youth camp. The cliffs reach as much as high in the area from the park entrance to the falls. The stream is a very popular smallmouth bass fishing destination for many northern and central area Illinois residents. Twice per year, the Illinois DNR stocks

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

in the creek as well, creating an opportunity for spin or

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

Other streams

The U.S.

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

(GNIS) shows 12 streams named Rock Creek in the state of Illinois.

References

*Kenneth J. Schoon, Calumet Beginnings, 2003 Rivers of Illinois Rivers of Kankakee County, Illinois {{Illinois-river-stub