IL: Shawnee National Forest - Garden of the Gods

 Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois represents the eastern-most extent of the Upper South region of the Ozarks. I wanted to scout the area to learn more about its prehistory, geology, and long distance River to River Trail. Each day I tried to hike 10 miles and spread my hiking out across several state park and USFS sites. I camped on a bluff over the Ohio River just a few miles from Metropolis, IL, Home of Superman (but a great walking and hiking area in its own right). Had it not been for getting sick and deciding to come home after one week of my two planned in the Shawnee Forest, I would have covered more ground but will plan to return and finish my explorations as well as hike the R2R. So here goes...

The Ohio River at the base of the bluff where I camped.

Top of the bluff base camp

I base camped on a lovely bluff overlooking the broad Ohio River on land owned by a local farmer. The Shawnee National Forest covers a lot of ground in Southern Illinois, but from this spot I was able to get to all the places on my list (for week one, anyway) in under an hour's drive. There are several great state park campgrounds that I could have stayed at either in the forest itself or aligned with it but I wanted to try out Hip Camp and loved the fact I was the only one at this beautiful bluff with use of the facilities at the house and barn down the farm lane. I was truly alone but had lots of non-human company including a pack of vocal Coyotes, a loud pair of nest Red-Shouldered Hawks, hooting Great Horned and whooing Barred Owls, screeching Great Crested Flycatchers, barking Tree Frogs, bellowing Bullfrogs, trilling American Toads, squawking Pileated Woodpeckers, and lots of curious White-Tailed Deer. It was, at times, louder than a crowded campground - all night long. Nevermind the almost sub-sonic thrumming of the triple diesel engine pushboats that plied the river night and day. 

Ohio River from the bottom of the bluff - lots of pushboats and barges all hours night & day

Eastern Fence Lizard in breeding colors

I spent a full day hiking the beautiful bluffs and rock formations of Garden of the Gods. At this site the trails intersect and become the River to River Trail for several miles of the R2R's 160 miles to the Mississippi. From the base of the bluffs I could imagine the ancient seas and wind-driven sands. Stark walls of sandstone showed layers of crossbedding, signs of moving water deposition or dune action. On top of the bluffs, water and wind have formed fantastic boulder gardens, slot canyons, and high cliffs. The bluff-top trail system was built by CCC boys in the 1930s, laid as pavements of sandstone slabs and rock-lined paths. 

Ancient Pennsylvania sandstone

Heavily block-jointed stacks

Liesegang Rings - concentric bands of iron oxide.

Sea-stack formations

My first steps on the R2R

Complex erosional histories go crazy here. 

The landscape in and around the Shawnee National Forest has never experienced the effects of glaciation, but it did feel the cold coming from the ice sheets to the north making for lush savanna rich with game animals that would later attract wandering bands of nomadic people.  As the climate warmed and seas formed, these hills faced a huge interior sea. Prior to the ice, continents shifted, faults popped and land masses dropped or rose. Oceans closed, new oceans opened, and seas disappeared from the interior of the what is now the Mid-West. The Ohio River established a braided path through the lowlands while interior streams poured through uplifted plateaus. Ice dams broke, canyons were carved in massive flooding. Savanna turned to forest. People moved from nomadic camps to settlements, some the size of modern cities. You get the sense that nothing is completely lost here. Everything is recorded in the rock and earth and streams. Big history, indeed. 

Trail junction

Woodland hoodoos

Anvil Rock

The trails I chose were either the R2R or wilderness trails that helped me form a loop to return to the bluffs where I parked. All were multi-use trails with high equestrian use. I had to step aside numerous times for trail riding groups and glop through muddy holes where no trail existed save for calf-deep mud. I came across two USFS field biologists who were doing salamander surveys of various sites. They admitted that trail conditions are poor in the Garden of the Gods area after heavy rains or snowmelt and that most local hikers stay clear of the place because of equestrian over-use. On the positive side, however, trails riders do keep trails open and maintained, especially where there are horse camps nearby or parking areas for trailers and trailer-camps. 

Forest HQ is about fifteen miles north of the forest on the edge of town. It was closed. 

Woodland Sunflower

The biologists suggested that I take a drive north to the USFS Shawnee National Forest headquarters for maps and brochures that could help me chose trails that were not as degraded as those in the Garden of the Gods area - or wait till things dry out a bit and come back. I decided to head to town after my hike but found HQ closed, like many federal agency buildings this COVID year. But I did get to meet a recent R2R thru-hiker who gave me excellent advice the best times of year to hike. As we stood in front of a well-stocked informational kiosk just outside the locked building she took a look at my plans for the week and thought I'd do fine for ten-mile-a-day hikes at the sites I chose. "The worst is behind you!" 

Notes:

Guide to the Geology of the Garden of the Gods (Illinois University) https://library.isgs.illinois.edu/Pubs/pdfs/ftgb/ftgb2009B-gardenofthegods.pdf

USFS Shawnee National Forest https://www.fs.usda.gov/shawnee/