Trifter

There are two Garden of the Gods in the United States with the more famous one being in Colorado Springs, Colorado and the less famous one being in the Shawnee National Forest in southeastern Illinois near Harrisburg. I covered the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs in my last post and this article is about the Garden of the Gods in Illinois.

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Sometimes called the Garden of the Gods Wilderness this beautiful area full of unusual sandstone rock formations differs from most of Illinois in that it was never covered in glaciers. Over 300 million years ago a thick bed of sandstone was formed in the area and in the time since then the sandstone bed was uplifted. Water and wind erosion have worked their magic on the uplifted sandstone creating the cool looking hoodoos and other rock formations.

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Had glaciers reached down as far as the Garden of the Gods the area would look quite different today as the glaciers would have carved and crushed the rock in different ways. As it is the uplifted sandstone provides fantastic views of the surrounding countryside.

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Many of the uplifted and shaped rocks have been named for objects they resemble.

Camel Rock

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Turtle Rock

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Table Rock

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The Roses or Rock Flowers

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Shawnee National Forest was created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 and the Garden of the Gods was created as a Wilderness area by the Illinois Wilderness Act in 1990 as were six other land tracts in the Shawnee National Forest. By far the Garden of the Gods is the most popular and most visited of these Wilderness tracts.

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You can reach the Garden of the Gods Wilderness area in southern Illinois from Harrisburg by taking Route 34 south for about 15 miles and then turning left onto Karbers Ridge Road. After 3 miles look for County Road 10 and turn left and after a little over a mile look for Garden of the Gods Road on your left.

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The Observation Trail is a 1/4 mile stone hiking path that leads to many of the beautiful unusual rock formations and magnificent views found in the Garden of the Gods in Illinois.

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Not only does Illinois have the Garden of the Gods but the Land of Lincoln also has many Beautiful Waterfalls.