Garden of the Gods, Illinois, United States
5.0 (409 reviews) Spent Ranking #1 in Harrisburg Nature & Wildlife Areas
Stupidity at its Best
The park itself is beautiful and well worth the visit. We didn’t get there until 10:15 due to the number of hours we had to travel and it was already packed with cars circling around looking for a parking space. The trails are mostly paved with flat stones and the view once on the trail is spectacular. The stupid part starts with the number of people climbing the rocks and taking unnecessary chances. One kid about 7-years-old jumped off of a high cliff and I thought he was a goner but luckily jumped down to a ledge a few feet down. He was on a cliff hundreds of feet high when he made the decision to do this. The signs warn of people falling off the cliffs and falling to their death.
Address
50 Highway 145 S Shawnee National Forest, Harrisburg, IL 62946-5232
Mobile
Website
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04
Current local date and time now
Friday, May 10, 2024, 2:46
User Ratings
5.0 based on (409 reviews)
Reviews
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5Taylor B 5:00 PM Apr 23, 2021
Is this wilderness area really in Illinois?
As a native Chicagoan, I have always found it very hard to believe that a beautiful patch of land known as the Garden of the Gods Wilderness really exists in the state of Illinois, which is famous for growing corn and soybeans and is normally as flat as a football field. But here it is, along I-24, southeast of Carbondale, en route to Paducah, Kentucky, and the long bridge that spans the Ohio River, Garden of the Gods Wilderness, all 3,381 acres of it, located within the Shawnee National Forest in Hardin, Pope, Saline and Gallatin counties. The nearest town of any size is Equality, made famous because that's where legendary basketball coach Dolph Stanley started his career and built a high school powerhouse in the 1930s. How's that for trivia? I'll bet Stanley appreciated the wilderness, even before Shawnee National Forest was created in 1939. Garden of the Gods, a roadless parcel of land within the national forest, was set aside in 1990. It features beautiful rock formations, magnificent scenery, hiking trails, campgrounds and overlooks and observation points such as Buzzards Point, Anvil Rock, Camel Rock and Table Rock. Historically, this plateau south of Harrisburg was never covered by glaciers. In fact, the furthest advance of ice sheets during the Illinoian glaciation stopped just north of Garden of the Gods, leaving a thick bed of gray sandstone in what is now southern Illinois. Today, Garden of the Gods is the most visited wilderness area in Illinois and most visitors view the sunsets and climb the rock formations by negotiating the popular River to River (Ohio to Mississippi) Trail.
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5HonestMa 5:00 PM Jun 8, 2020
Spectacular
Not a strenuous walk at all. Completely paved walkway. Only about 1/4 mile around with several paths to walk out onto rocks. Gorgeous views. Don't recommend going in rain or wet conditions as rocks could be dangerous/slippery.
