Skip to content
Byway
Illinois River RoadAll lookouts
Lookout · Illinois River Road

Ottawa Canyon

OpenStreetMap
Ottawa Canyon — direction of view not recorded. Terrain and imagery at true elevation.
Overview · Assembled from verified data

Ottawa Canyon is an overlook on the Illinois River Road at an elevation of 513 feet, with the land dropping 54 feet within 600 meters of the viewpoint. Buffalo Rock is visible to the northeast, 1.5 miles away, at 543 feet elevation. The nearest towns are Yorkville, 34.7 miles northeast, followed by Oswego at 40.3 miles and Aurora at 45.1 miles, both also to the northeast. On the March equinox, the sun rises at 07:00 and sets at 19:08; at the June solstice, sunrise is at 05:24 and sunset at 20:33; at the September equinox, sunrise is at 06:44 and sunset at 18:55; and at the December solstice, sunrise is at 07:19 and sunset at 16:30. Along the byway, this lookout falls between Kaskaskia Canyon and Hennepin Canyon.

Access
On the byway
Elevation
513 ft
Relief
54 ft drop
In view
1 named features
Photos · Real imagery only
Ottawa Canyon
Bohao Zhao · CC BY 3.0 · source
Old Kaskaskia Village, located on the north bank of the Illinois River east of North Utica, Illinois. The road at left is Dee Bennett Road. The river is out of the frame to the right, about 1,000 feet (300 m) south of the road. The building with three rows of windows to the right of the road is the
Ammodramus · CC0 · source
Spring Valley House-Sulfur Springs Hotel in Utica Township, IL (c. 1853). It is also known as the Half-Way House for its position roughly halfway between Chicago and Peoria. A building known as the Sulfur Springs Hotel has been here from at least 1838, though it is uncertain at what point the curren
Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
Kaskaskia Canyon Falls - Starved Rock State Park
hakkun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Kaskaskia Canyon Falls - Starved Rock State Park
hakkun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Lasalles Canyon Falls - Starved Rock State Park
hakkun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
In view · Named features

What you’re looking at

Named terrain around this overlook, nearest first. No view direction is recorded, so every bearing is listed.

  • Buffalo Rock543 ftnortheast · 1.5 mi
When to look · Sun at this latitude

Light

DateSunriseSunsetGolden hour
March equinox07:0019:0818:32
June solstice05:2420:3319:51
September equinox06:4418:5518:18
December solstice07:1916:3015:46

Local time (America/Chicago). Computed for this exact position.

Getting there · Position and access

Where it is

  • Yorkville34.7 mi northeast
  • Oswego40.3 mi northeast
  • Aurora45.1 mi northeast
← Before it: Kaskaskia CanyonAfter it: Hennepin Canyon →
Loading map…
Private beta · Free to join

Take the scenic way to Ottawa Canyon.

Byway plans around your taste, verified places, real weather and opening hours — then opens every leg in Google Maps with one tap.

Private beta · Free to join · No card · Invite when a spot opens

Common questions

How high is Ottawa Canyon?

Ottawa Canyon sits at about 513 feet (156 m).

What can you see from Ottawa Canyon?

From Ottawa Canyon: Buffalo Rock (NE, 1.5 mi).

What is the nearest town to Ottawa Canyon?

Yorkville, 35 miles NE of Ottawa Canyon.

What is the next lookout after Ottawa Canyon?

Hennepin Canyon is the next surfaced lookout along the same route after Ottawa Canyon.

Drive to Ottawa Canyon with Byway

Byway plans the scenic way there — real places along Illinois River Road, real weather, zero hallucinations — and hands the turns to the navigation you already use.

Plan a drive to this lookout →Plan this with Byway AI
On these byways · Drive past it

Byways with this lookout

Day trips start here

Community · From people who stood here

Locals make it Verified.

Ottawa Canyon — confirmed, rated, and photographed by people who actually pulled over. A local confirmation is what upgrades a lookout from Discovered to Verified. Zero hallucinations.

Confirmed by locals

No local confirmations yet. Stood here? Yours is the one that upgrades this lookout to Verified.

Ratings

No ratings yet. Stood at this lookout? Be the first to rate it.

No written reviews yet.

Field notes

No field notes yet. Know the gate hours or the best pull-in? Leave the note you wish you'd had.

Photos

No photos yet.

Sign in to confirm this lookout, rate it, add photos, and leave field notes.

Nearby · Same byway

More lookouts on Illinois River Road

Nearby · The Atlas

Named places near this lookout