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| Hiking | 16.08 Miles |
2,080 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.08 Miles | 7 Hrs 11 Mns | | 2.32 mph |
| 2,080 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | While in St. Louis for a conference, some locals suggested that if we had a car, the best hiking in the "area" is a place called Garden of the Gods in Southern Illinois in the Shawnee National Forest.
I've been to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, which is pretty cool, so I hoped this Garden would be similarly scenic. It was.
The drive to the TH took about 2.5 hours from St. Louis and is about equidistant from St. Louis, Nashville, and Lousville.
The Garden of the Gods itself is a recreation area within the national forest and consists of some impressive limestone outcroppings that have eroded into amazing shapes and jut out above the thick forest for some lovely views of the surrounding area. This area can be visited by a drive up parking area and walking a short-ish manicured loop from the parking area.
We decided to make it more interesting by starting at the more distant Hitching Post trailhead and making a 15+ mile lollipop loop hike out of it. A great choice.
The trail is well marked generally, so route finding issues were minimal. Everything is green and the forest thick and lush. Early on, we came across a turtle on the trail. We don't see these much in AZ, so we were fascinated by it. Cool coloring, with red eyes. Apple look up suggests it was a Common Box Turtle, so I guess not that unusual. But we treated it like a Gila Monster sighting anyway. 
Most of the "stick" part of the loop remained in thick forest with limited views. But there were 2-3 spots where outcroppings created ideal (and well used) backcountry camping spots with opportunities to enjoy views atop the forest canopy.
Once in Garden of the Gods, we veered off our planned itinerary for a couple mile sidetrip to Indian Point. Worth the trip for another set of limestone outcroppings.
Coming back to the loop, we finally walked through the "touristy" part of GoG, and there's a reason why this is the most popular section. The rock formations reflected some amazing geology and offered striking veiwpoints, including the most famous of which, called the "Camel."
We gawked and explored and then continued our loop, leaving the casual daytrippers behind.
Our return on the latter half of the lollipop loop took us along a lovely creek with several ideal campsites and more fun limestone cliffs.
A lovely, long hike, if you are in the area. And outside of the GoG itself, we enjoyed tons of solitude.
On the way back to St. Louis, we stopped for roadside BBQ in Benton. The food was probably a little overrated, but the conversation with the pitmaster (3rd generation) was pretty interesting .... |
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