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 Corn Belt, Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest we ...

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 so ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. 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 donat ...

, northwest of

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...

. 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 (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, 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 tend ...

, 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 The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

fishing destination for many northern and central area Illinois residents. Twice per year, the Illinois DNR stocks

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

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

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is in ...

Other streams

The U.S.

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

(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