Forks State Park, West Fork Illinois River

The turnoff is signed on the west side of Highway 199, a few hundred yards south of the highway bridge over the East Fork of the Illinois River. A frontage road leads to Illinois River Forks State Park, a day-use park set where the East and West forks join. Rogue Riverkeeper describes large shade trees beside a long, calm section of the river. Near the water are picnic tables, a gazebo, and a vault toilet, with a short walking trail by the picnic area and a nine-hole disc golf course beyond. The picnic shelter holds up to 50 people and can be reserved from May through September. Pets are allowed on a leash.

The water at Heritage Landing

At Heritage Landing a loaner station holds life jackets in various sizes. Oregon State Parks posts a warning there about swift currents and hidden obstructions beneath the surface. Riders are sent elsewhere: the park’s notes direct horseback riders to the West Forks Trail system, 3 miles outside Kerby.

The West Fork at the park is a monitored swim site. Rogue Riverkeeper began sampling it in 2024 at the urging of the park’s volunteer steward. Samples are taken every other week from July 16 to September 6 and tested for E. coli, the measure Oregon uses for water contact. A sample passes at 406 MPN per 100 milliliters or less. As of the sample taken September 8, 2026, the site had passed at least 95 percent of the time.

The country around the water is old. A 2003 Bureau of Land Management assessment of the West Fork watershed dates the start of tectonic uplift to about 14 million years ago. Erosion and deposition then shaped the mountains and laid down a relatively broad valley floor downstream from O’Brien. Oregon State Parks calls the Illinois Valley a geologic area with many rare plants. The state’s administrative history, Oregon’s Highway Park System: 1921-1989, describes the park’s river frontage as backed by high forested ridge country. The ridges were logged in the past, and fine old Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, incense cedar, and madrone still stand there.

Gold, a BLM lease, and Margaret McGee

The river takes its name from the Althouse brothers of Illinois. According to the state, they found gold in it after coming to Oregon in 1849.

The park began in 1961, when the state bought the original tracts. The administrative history records its early name as Illinois River State Park. An 80-acre lease from the Bureau of Land Management followed in 1962. The rest came from one donor, Margaret McGee, and the sources give two accounts of her gift. The administrative history counts 190 acres given in 1976 and 1977, which brought the park to 368 acres. Her obituary says that in 1976 she donated 200 acres of her Oregon land “to triple the size” of the park.

McGee was born in Casper on September 26, 1925. Her family moved to Eugene when she was twelve. Her father, John, was a chemist for Standard Oil, and her mother, Louise, taught home economics and nutrition. Her grandfather John W. Lacey was the defense attorney for Tom Horn, and her great-uncle Willis Van Devanter sat as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She took a journalism degree at the University of Oregon and studied Spanish in Mexico City. She then served in the U.S. Foreign Service in Peru and later in Yugoslavia, before coming home to study law in Oregon and at the University of Washington. She practiced in Oregon and Wyoming. She lived in Cave Junction until her parents died and moved to Lander in the early 1980s.

Her obituary records that she loved geology and natural history, the mountains in general and the Wind Rivers in particular. She hunted antelope and deer and at least one elk, and she was “the sworn enemy of any dandelion that raised its head on her lawn.” She died in Lander on November 1, 2015.

A reopening and a park host

At some point the park closed. The state credits “a tremendous community effort to re-open and renovate” it. That effort ended in 2012 with an Adopt-a-Park agreement among community partners, volunteers, the Illinois Valley Community Development Organization (IVCanDO), and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. IVCanDO says it has since worked on recreation, accessibility, safety, and upkeep at the park.

In February 2017 an advisory committee met at the Kerry Building in Cave Junction to begin a city parks plan. Its members reported that homeless people had been sleeping and gathering at Forks Park, and that their presence there “greatly diminished” after a park host was appointed. The committee’s notes say the park “has improved dramatically,” and they mention its public Frisbee golf course.

The Forks Park Fire

At 4:36 p.m. on Sunday, August 9, 2026, a fire was reported in the park, and a large plume of smoke rose south of Cave Junction. Kamron Ismaili, assistant chief of operations for the Illinois Valley Fire District, said it started near the river and ran south through buckbrush and manzanita toward structures. “Tickbrush and manzanita are like gasoline,” Ismaili said. “It’s a very fast-moving fuel once you get it going.” Fire District Chief John Holmes upgraded the call to three alarms when he saw the column of smoke.

Helicopters dropped water while ground crews held the perimeter. “Because of the terrain and dense vegetation, most of this was an airshow,” Ismaili said. Crews from across the Rogue Valley, the U.S. Forest Service, and Grayback Forestry joined the district and the Oregon Department of Forestry. About two hours in, the main body of the fire was knocked down. Pacific Power cut power to roughly 4,000 customers in Cave Junction to protect the firefighters, and Ray’s Shop Smart fed the crews.

By Monday evening the fire stood at 11 acres and 60 percent contained. The southern portion of the park stayed closed for mop-up, and the cause was under investigation. The Illinois Valley News reported that most of the park was open again, including the main pavilion area and the swimming holes.