The American park system, Part 1

In Peru, Illinois for a wedding this weekend, I decided to kill some time at Starved Rock State Park. Legend has it some Indians starved up there while another Indian tribe seiged them from below. Anyway, the point is that our park system has gone crazy.

The park ranger, an intern from ISU (whatever that is) told me we couldn't take a step off the trail. This is a little bizarre to begin with. What are you doing at a park if you don't want to get off the beaten path? Then, while walking around their marked paths, I discovered that they're all paved with gravel, stone or wood. So, I basically went to a state park and wasn't allowed to walk on any dirt. This, they told me, would lead to soil erosion, which apparently is more of a problem than me enjoying my time in the park.

We then took a guided tour of the "Starved Rock" which is a miniture version of Enchanted Rock overlooking the Illinois river. Again, we walked up stairs to the top. Some sort of trail was right out. The whole top was off limits except for the wooden walkway that encircled the top of the bluff. What's wrong with this picture?