Stonefort, Illinois

Rocky Bluff Trail in Southern Illinois is part of the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge near Carbondale. It's a relatively easy loop hike at 1.7 miles. This trail is not stroller or disability friendly. The parking lot is small and requires a $2.00 daily use tag you can obtain at the Crab Orchard Wild...

Mermet Lake Conservation is an old Cypress and Tupelo Swamp that has been turned into a shallow lake by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It was developed in 1949 as a waterfowl hunting destination. Each October the lake is closed and only accessible by hunters, but the Spring and Sum...

Located within Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge and along one of the most scenic lakes within the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois Little Grassy Lake Campground is a awesome place to camp for a night or a whole week. There are 14 full hook up campsites. 54 sites have water and electric acc...

For a great introduction to the Cache River Basin of Southern Illinois make your way to the Barkhausen Cache River Wetlands Center. Here you will find a spur trail to the Tunnel Hill Bicycle Trail, information and exhibits, and ranger information about area trails and paddle put in's. Just outsid...

Giant City is a popular weekend retreat because it provides for all levels of camping. There are 85 campsites in the Class A Campground which provides water, electricity, showers and restroom facilities for tent and trailer camping. Some facilities such as showers are closed for the winter. A sep...

This wandering intermittent creek inside of Giant City State Park only flows in periods of heavy rain or after snow melts. Prior to a confluence with Drury Creek, the path comes to a mid sized shelter bluff wall. What this shelter lacks in sheer size, it made up for in importance to Native Americ...

Like the rest of the park, the Giant City Lodge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930's. The lodge's architecture will remind someone of great lodges of the West with its hardwood timber and sandstone blend that has a two story fireplace and rotunda to enjoy one of the be...

Pioneers had not seen skyscrapers, so these sheer bluffs seemed like the “streets of a giant city” to them. Thus became the naming of a pinnacle state park in Illinois. Giant City State Park is a paradise for hikers, climbers, campers, and lovers of nature. Parts of the park reminds you of the Mi...

Devil's Standtable was once a large block of the bluff that cracked loose during earth movements. The wind and rain erosion of the surface removed the softer areas of sandstone in the mid-section of the pillar leaving the large base and iron embedded cap much larger, which creates the mushroom-li...

Devil's Standtable Trail is a loop trail where you may see great forest setting located near Makanda, Illinois.

The massive stone wall was at one time 285 feet long, six feet high, and nine feet thick. The appearance of a “stone fort” or stone wall here at Giant City is one of at least ten in Southern Illinois.  The trail begins at the parking lot and traverses a intermittent cascade waterfall that is amaz...

The long decorated history of Fort Massac dates back to 1757 during the French and Indian War when this French fort was constructed overlooking the Ohio River in Southernmost Illinois. The French left the fort behind at the conclusion of that war, then was rebuilt and used once more during the Re...

The natural area you are now entering is 110 acres of bluffs and forest designated as Fern Rocks Nature Preserve. The reasons this was designated a preserve were to protect not only the sandstone bluffs, but also two endangered plants. The white flowered mint, and the grove bluegrass. many other ...

Visit Paducah's thriving riverfront and take a self-guided tour of the Paducah Wall to Wall Murals along the concrete floodwall in downtown.  These works of art depict Paducah's  rich history in more than 50 life-sized panoramic murals by renowned artist Robert Dafford and the Dafford Murals Team...

The Clyde F. Boyles Greenway Trail is open to non-motorized traffic from dawn to dusk. Distance markers, shelters, and benches are located along the trail. The Greenway Trail links Perkins Creek Nature Preserve, Stuart Nelson Park, Noble Park, Schultz Park, and the Ohio River shoreline. The best ...

Fernlands Preserve Trail is a loop trail where you may see beautiful wildflowers located near Carbondale, Illinois.