Jonesboro, Illinois

Joy Falls (aka "Mandy Falls") is a great cascade and shelf that falls of about 10 feet await along the roadway a few miles from Mantle Rock Nature Preserve. Glades and barrens also provide for rare wildlife and countless wildflowers in the spring and summer. Spend an hour or five minutes enjoyin...

Just as its name implies, the centerpiece of The Nature Conservancy's Mantle Rock Nature Preserve is a 30-foot natural sandstone bridge spanning 188 feet and embellished by bluffs, shelters, honeycomb formations, fluorite deposits, and a rock-lined stream. The nature preserve also contains extrao...

Columbus-Belmont State Park is a stop along the Great River Road National Scenic Byway that combines pivotal Civil War history with dramatic cliffs overlooking the Mississippi River. The park is also a stop along the Trail of Tears National Historical Trail and the Civil War Heritage Trail.  The ...

In the southernmost part of Illinois, Shawnee National Forest is a wonderful natural area that transports you far from the flat agricultural landscape typical of so much of the Midwest. Located in the central area of the forest, Garden of the Gods is a 3,318-acre wilderness area characterized by ...

Garden of the Gods Trail is an out-and-back trail where you can see beautiful wildflowers located near Equality, Illinois.

Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site is a nationally significant Native-American archaeological treasure. From about 800 AD to 1500 AD it was the ‘capital' of a chiefdom that stretched from Brookport to Hamletsburg along the Ohio River. Large flat-topped mounds were erected on which the houses and ...

Hundreds of people will drive past this trail and arch on the weekends and never know they just drove past one of the best sights within the Garden of Gods Wilderness of the Shawnee National Forest. It is a few hundred feet off the road on the way to the more popular Garden of the Gods Observatio...