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

Sac Canyon

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

Sac Canyon sits along the Illinois River Road at an elevation of 518 feet. The terrain drops 69 feet within 600 meters of the overlook. Starved Rock is visible to the east-northeast, 0.4 miles away, rising to 578 feet. The nearest towns are Oswego, 41.8 miles northeast; Aurora, 46.5 miles northeast; and Batavia, 51.0 miles northeast. Sunrise and sunset times vary by season, with sunrise at 5:24 and sunset at 20:33 on the June solstice, and sunrise at 7:19 and sunset at 16:30 on the December solstice. This overlook falls between Aurora Canyon and Kickapoo Canyon along the byway.

Access
0.6 mi detour
Elevation
518 ft
Relief
69 ft drop
In view
1 named features
Photos · Real imagery only
Illinois River
Lotzman Katzman · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
View from Starved Rock
Lotzman Katzman · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
French Canyon
Bohao Zhao · CC BY 3.0 · source
French Canyon
hakkun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
French Canyon - Starved Rock
hakkun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
North end of Plum Island in the Illinois River viewed from the Starved Rock overlook
Visviva · CC0 · 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.

  • Starved Rock578 fteast-northeast · 0.4 mi
When to look · Sun at this latitude

Light

DateSunriseSunsetGolden hour
March equinox07:0019:0818:32
June solstice05:2420:3319:52
September equinox06:4418:5518:19
December solstice07:1916:3015:46

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

Getting there · Position and access

Where it is

  • Oswego41.8 mi northeast
  • Aurora46.5 mi northeast
  • Batavia51.0 mi northeast
← Before it: Aurora CanyonAfter it: Kickapoo Canyon →
Loading map…
Private beta · Free to join

Take the scenic way to Sac 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 Sac Canyon?

Sac Canyon sits at about 518 feet (158 m).

What can you see from Sac Canyon?

From Sac Canyon: Starved Rock (ENE, 0.4 mi).

What is the nearest town to Sac Canyon?

Oswego, 42 miles NE of Sac Canyon.

What is the next lookout after Sac Canyon?

Kickapoo Canyon is the next surfaced lookout along the same route after Sac Canyon.

Drive to Sac 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.

Sac 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