Birthday Trip!

Here we go again!  My wonderful husband knowing that I love to get out of town informed me on my birthday that in addition to the camera he bought me he would like to take me camping.  He asked me to take a day of vacation so that we could get a four day weekend.  He suggested Southern Illinois, only about two hours from St. Louis.  Hooray!  I now had two days to plan our itinerary.

I checked my atlas then I visited several web sites to pick out the activities that we would enjoy.   The Southern Illinois tourism website, Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, Unofficial Shawnee Forest Page, Cache River Area, Tunnel Hill Trail and Illinois State Park were all helpful sites.  With the information collected my husband and I got our gear ready and loaded up the car.  We weren't sure exactly where we were starting but we looked like we were going to have fun.




Day One

We decided to head straight to Harrisburg to visit the Shawnee Forest Service Office and pick up some maps.  The workers there were very helpful and helped us decide on our first destination, Garden of the Gods. When we arrived there we headed right to the Observation trail because it is the highlight of the area.  We climbed on the rock formations and took pictures.We were eating lunch at the car and getting ready to hike the trail that leads to Anvil and Mushroom Rocks when we met a ranger who was full of advice.  He helped us decide where to go next and where to camp while we were visiting the forest.  Our next stop, Rim Rock.

Rim Rock was a place were Native Americans used to live.  You can see the remains of a stone wall they built there.  We hiked the trail and went down the stone stairs into the canyon.  There we found a trail to Pounds Hollow that we took.  It led to the pond which had a beach and a restroom that we took advantage of.  Pounds Hollow has some nice camp sights, but it was still light out so we decided to drive further.

Our final stop of the night was Cave-In-Rock State Park where we set up camp in a non-electric site for $10.  The camp hosts were very friendly and we spent some time talking to them.  After showering we headed in to the town of  Cave-In-Rock and ate dinner at Rose's Kountry Kitchen.  A chicken dinner with three sides for $6.95!  Then we headed back to camp, had a fire in the pit and stayed up and talked until the rain moved in.

Day Two

After making a hearty breakfast we headed out to see the cave that is the namesake of the park.  We arrived at the cave just in time to watch children on a field trip playing and climbing in this shallow cave, they were sure having fun.  We checked out the cave and walked down to the ferry.  We decided it was time to move on so we headed back to pack up camp.  We took a short drive to Tower Rock.  The campsites there were overgrown and there were several "Rainbow People" staying there in tents and vans.  We chose not to check out Tower Rock.  We then set our sights on Lake Glendale.

We arrived at Lake Glendale after a brief lunch stop at Dixon Springs State Park where we had a picnic and fed the fish.  This park has a pool and is probably used in the summer months, but when we went the picnic tables were all stacked up for the season.  Lake Glendale had beautiful primitive campsites surrounded by pine trees.  We picked a site and put our $12 in the envelope and dropped in in the pay station.  They also sold wood (3.00) and ice (4.50) there on the honor system.  We scrounged up our own wood and we had plenty of ice so we did not partake.  After setting up camp we kayaked on the lake among the lily-pads.  It was still early enough when we were done, so we took a bike ride on the surrounding roads.  Another quick shower and we headed to Golconda to eat dinner at the Dari-Bar. We had something called a Chuckwagon with three sides for $4.50!  We had enough money left to get some pie for dessert.  Then it was back to camp and wine by the fire until the rain came along again.

Day Three

After cooking and eating breakfast in the rain, alleluia, the sun made an appearance.  We dried our gear as best we could and packed it away.  On the agenda today, kayaking the Lower Cache River.  We headed to the Lower Cache access point and put in our kayak.  Here they have a canoe trail with signs that stick up from the swamp-water to point the way.   We kayaked to see the oldest cypress tree,  and then followed the trail through the swamp.  We cleaned our gear and ourselves at the water spigot near the boat ramp. 

Next stop the Von Jakob winery in Alto Pass.  We changed clothes in the car and headed to the winery.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed an antipasti tray with our bottle of wine while listening to the band.  We then headed to Kaolin Pond to camp.  There is one unmaintained site here and we were in the middle of the woods all by ourselves except for the three cars with teenagers that drove up the road during the night.  I am guessing they weren't expecting us there in their make-out spot.  We were having a great time all by ourselves until the rain started again and drove us to bed.

Day Four


It stormed all Saturday night and was still raining we we awoke Sunday morning.  Our plans to bike the Tunnel Hill Trail were washed away.  Instead we made the drive home and cleaned up our wet gear.  I guess the Tunnel Hill will have to wait for another day.