Visiting Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch In Rantoul, Illinois

Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch in Rantoul, Illinois was a two hour drive from where we were staying in Litchfield, but it was worth it.

We’d originally planned on staying in Champaign while on our 5 year, 50 state road trip, a city 20 minutes to the south of Rantoul. We ended up extending our time in Springfield instead, but the prospect of a giant corn maze and getting to meet reindeer up close enticed us into making the long drive from Litchfield.

We visited on September 9, 2018, less than a week after Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch opened on Labor Day for the fall and winter season. The weather hadn’t been great that week, so we were lucky enough for it to not be busy that day.

As we arrived, the incredibly sweet Flapjack came to greet us. He was super-friendly and seemed to enjoy the attention we gave him.

Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch is run by Mark and Julie Hardy. Mark wasn’t sure how accessible the corn maze would be due to all the rain in the preceding days, but we had our hiking boots with us and so were happy to give it a try.

In addition to the corn maze and reindeer tours, they also offer hay rides, pedal race carts and paintball. We’d had to leave our dog Truffles back at our hotel, so knew we couldn’t spend too long at the ranch due to the four hour round trip.

We therefore decided to only do the reindeer tour and corn maze, so that cost us a total of $24.

Mark showed us a map of this year’s corn maze. Illinois is celebrating its bicentennial in 2018, so their corn maze design touches on that with Abraham Lincoln and a Native American coming out of the steam of a steamboat.

I’d assumed that the corn maze is created by going through the 10 acre cornfield and flattening out a path. Mark explained that’s not the case though – the field is actually planted like that, with the gaps already there as it grows.

He went on to show us photos of some past corn maze designs including a dragon, reindeer and a basketball player.

Before heading into the maze, Mark gave us a punch card to take in with us. At eight random locations around the maze, there are posts with a hole punch to mark your card. The challenge is to see if you can find all eight – this is harder than it seems as you’ve no idea where they’re located within the maze.

So off to the maze we went. There’s a raised platform just outside the maze, so we walked up to take a selfie.

Not knowing how muddy the maze was going to get, we decided to take some before and after photos of our hiking boots.

And with that, into the maze we went.

Shae and I have been in a corn maze before, but not one as condensed as this, nor one with corn growing so high.

When I was a kid, I learned a trick that guarantees you’ll always find your way through a maze, even if it’s not the most efficient route. When entering a maze, turn left and follow the left wall the entire way around. Alternatively, turn right and follow the right wall the length of the maze. You’ll eventually come out the other side.

We made most of our way around doing this, but hit a snag. There were some pretty deep puddles about 3/4 of the way along.

We’d already been sinking into the mud leading up to that section, so decided not to go further in case we got stuck.

That put paid to our plan of following the left wall around the maze. We’d already made most of our way around though, so soon enough we found ourselves back at the entrance/exit.

The route we’d taken only had two of the hidden punch card stops, so we headed back in to see if we could find the others. The good thing about the mud and being the only ones in the maze is that we could see where we’d already walked. That helped us find four more punch card stops, but gave up with two to go.

By the end, our boots were fairly muddy so I was glad not to have worn flip-flops. If you visit Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch, it shouldn’t be that muddy if the weather has been good. It’s worth bringing along boots though just in case it’s been raining.

After leaving the maze, we had a quick look around the ranch. There’s a banquet hall called Klondike Cafe that can be used by larger groups. Mark mentioned they were due to have two busloads of visitors the following day who’d be making use of the hall.

There are also hay rides…

…and a pedal cart race track. I can imagine this being a lot of fun if there’s a group of you visiting Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch.

It was then time for our reindeer tour, so Mark took us into their enclosure.

You have to be careful of their antlers, but we were able to feed and pet a couple of the reindeer.

Even better, we got to have reindeer kisses! Mark gave each of us a graham cracker; putting one end in our mouth, we had one of the friendlier reindeer come and take it from us.

After our fleeting romance, we said goodbye to the reindeer and made our way back to Litchfield.

Final Thoughts

Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch is a fun place to visit in eastern Illinois with all kinds of other family-friendly activities. We had a great time there and it was definitely worth the drive. Their giant corn maze is impressive and getting to feed – and kiss – reindeer made our day.

Address

Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch, 1356 County Rd 2900 N, Rantoul, IL 61866