With its breathtaking natural beauty and unlimited opportunities for outdoor recreation, a trip to Giant City State Park near Carbondale is sure to delight visitors of all ages. From camping and horseback riding to fishing and rappelling, it’s an outdoor lover’s paradise. Giant City State Park is located at 235 Giant City Road in Makanda Illinois. For more information, click here.

Visitors will marvel at the many hiking trails. Especially popular is the Giant City Nature Trail, home of the “Giant City Streets” – huge bluffs of sandstone formed 12,000 years ago.

The Giant City Nature Trail is one of the best not only at Giant City State Park but also within the entire Midwest. This 1 mile hike is the essence of the word short but sweet!

While the trail is only a mile in length, you will still spend a fair amount of time on the trail. It took me nearly two hours to complete. There is just so much to see and explore, you could spend hours climbing around.

The Giant City Nature Trail is one of my favorite trails I have hiked however it can be dangerous as well. Be careful-steep cliffs are dangerous and sandstone can be slippery. Please stay on designated trails. Poison ivy exists on this trail. Copperhead snakes (venomous) hibernate in the sandstone bluffs.

The trail has some amazing features including: caves, balanced rock, towering bluffs, huge trees, and countless rock formations! The highlight of the trail is no doubt the Giant City Streets. Traversing through these streets is an adventure all its own.

As you walk through the rich Oak-Hickory woodland, try to imagine the daunting task that the pioneers had to make the
massive timber disappear. Some of the larger trees that once stood here had girths of up to eight feet and stood to heights of 150 feet. Clearing the land to till the soil was hard work, especially because only a few of the smaller trees were needed to build the log cabins and split rail fences. Most of the smaller trees were piled up and burned because of this. The trees around you are less than 150 years old, and mere saplings when compared to the older virgin trees of an uncut forest.

At the end of the long wooden walkway you will catch your first glimpse of the park’s namesake. You have reached the “giant city streets.” Notice how the height of the bluff walls and trees on top force the trees in the valley to grow above them to reach sunlight and branch out. Also, notice the temperature changes in the deeper narrow “streets.” This huge hill of sandstone rests on Drury shale, which breaks easily and is slippery. Past earth movements and the melt water of glaciers some 12,000 years ago have aided the sliding of sandstone on the slippery shale to leave narrow canyons between the bluffs. Some geologists also suggest that slightly acidic rainwater is eroding the sandstone walls and is the cause of these passageways. A Visitor’s Center display explores these theories in more depth.

Pioneers had not seen skyscrapers, so these sheer bluffs seemed like the “streets of a giant city” to them. Imagine a walk through here when black bears and mountain lions hunted these hillsides (black bears disappeared from Illinois in 1822 and mountain lions disappeared later in the century). Many weary travelers must have enjoyed the protection of these walls from the wind and weather.

Weather its for the historical significance, the natural beauty, or just spending time in nature. Do yourself a favor a hike this trail, this is an experience you won’t soon forget and you will be hard pressed to find a better trail system.

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Big Spring was one of Missouri’s first state parks. It was a state park from 1924 until 1969 when the people of Missouri donated it, along with Alley and Round Spring State Parks to the National Park Service to become a part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. A gift from Missouri to America.  Big Spring is located four miles south of Van Buren at the end of State Route 103. For more information, click here.

The Big Spring area contains the Big Spring of course, but also a campground, a picnic area, a dining lodge, trails and housekeeping cabins. The park is also loaded with caves, rocky bluffs and numerous scenic sites!

The Big Spring is sometimes called America’s biggest spring. In reality there are three contenders for that title: Big Spring, Idaho’s Snake River Spring Complex and Florida’s Silver Spring. Since the flow from springs varies with local rainfall, any of these three might be biggest on any given day depending on the weather in Missouri, Idaho and Florida! The truth is they are all about the same size.

In any case, at an average daily flow of 286 million gallons of water, Big Spring is an awesome sight and a geologic wonder. Underground passages carry water from as far as 45 miles away to emerge at the spring. Studies have shown that the water is carrying a load of dissolved limestone equivalent to 70 tons a day! This dissolved rock gives the spring its color and is also carving out a huge conduit underground. Should the spring ever go dry, a huge cave will be the result.

The spring can be seen from the parking area, and a wheelchair accessible walkway leads right to it. The accessible Slough Trail is nearby, along with several other trails that are not suitable for wheelchairs.

Big Spring Campground has sites for tents as well as RVs. Some have electric hook-ups and some do not. There are no water or sewer hook-ups, but a dump station is located nearby. During the warmer months reservations are recommended for electric sites. www.recreation.gov. Rangers present campfire programs on weekend evenings in the campground amphitheater during the summer. Various special events are held near the spring as well. Check out our calendar page for details on special events.

Picnic Areas are located throughout the area, with tables and grills. There are two picnic shelters, Big Spring Shelter, located near the Spring and Peavine Shelter, located near the campground, that can be reserved.

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One of the most significant natural features in Missouri, Greer Spring, is the second largest spring in the state with a mean daily discharge of approximately 210 million gallons/day. The trailhead is located 18 miles south of Winona and 8 miles north of Alton on MIssouri Highway 19 about 1.5 miles south of the Highway 19 bridge that crosses the Eleven Point River and just north of the tiny town of Greer.

The United States National Forest Service maintains the trail to the spring. A parking area on the side of Highway 19 provides parking for the trail. Visitors to the spring are common despite a mile-long hike. The trail is well marked and easy to follow, there is an elevation change to reach the spring however the hike is fairly easy.

Greer Spring also has the longest spring branch of all the first magnitude springs in the state, flowing just over a mile before entering the Eleven Point River. This is a state and nationally significant geologic feature of a phreatic spring.

In addition to the geologic significance of Greer Spring, it is a significant aquatic natural community supporting a diverse assemblage of native fish species and aquatic invertebrates, including some species of conservation concern such as the cold-water crayfish.

The flora of the spring branch and associated Ozark fens is diverse as well. Greer Spring is critically important to the hydrology of the Eleven Point River, a National Wild and Scenic River.

This is a fun hike and the trip down to the spring and back took just about 90 minutes. The trail is very well maintained and the spring and area surrounding it are gorgeous! Other nearby attractions include Big Springs and Grand Gulf State Park.

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This incredible Natural Area is a hidden gem of the Ozark’s region, and a treasure trove of amazing curiosities! The Hall’s Creek Canyon Natural Area is literally packed with natural beauty, and is located in the town of Ravenden Springs, Arkansas!

From healing springs, a school cave, a bottomless swimming hole, and a rippling creek this natural area is just packed full of adventure. That doesn’t include the fossil laden creek bed or the towering bluffs that line the creek. This natural area truly is special.

Hall’s Creek Canyon Natural Area has 3 different healing springs located with-in its 33 acre boundaries! There are also numerous caves, I spotted at least four on my visit.

Ravenden Springs is one of the oldest settlements in Arkansas, and much of the town was formed as around the waters healing properties.

I have even read stories that the first school in Arkansas was located with-in a cave in Hall’s Creek Canyon. This school dates back all the way to the 1800’s.

Hiking thru the canyon is a thrilling experience, the trail is rugged in some spots but its worth struggle. Topography like this is extremely rare in this part of the Ozarks. This area is more known for its rolling hills. So to see towering bluffs, and caves, and all the unique rock formations is a real treat!

No trip to Hall’s Creek Canyon is complete without a visit to the spring fed pool just 100 feet from the parking lot. On hot summer days this is a perfect place to cool of in the chilling spring water. Stories in the area claim that the spring is bottomless and cliff divers have long attempted to reach the bottom with no luck.

After a long hike exploring the canyon, I decided to climb to the top of one of the cliffs near the spring and after working up some courage managed to jump into the cool water below. This was a thrilling experience, and there are even a couple small caves you can swim into. Remember always use extreme caution before jumping into unknown water and be sure to test the depth if you decide to jump.

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Sodalis Nature Preserve is a 200-acre park property that was given to the city to preserve endangered bats. It is now Hannibal’s second-largest park. Sodalis Nature Preserve is located at 819 Ely St in Hannibal, Missouri. For more information, click here.

Access to the Nature Preserve is available off Ely Street, south of the Dempsey Dog Park and Bear Creek, 819 Ely St. A trailhead and parking lot are there, connecting it to the Bear Creek Trail ending at Ely Street.

Only non-motorized recreational activity is allowed, such as hiking, running and biking. The almost 2-mile loop trail is fully paved. See map below for the Pirate Ridge Trail that is unpaved. Other rustic trails will be developed over time.

The Conservation Fund, a non-profit group that protects properties for wildlife, recreation and/or historic significance, purchased the land through mitigation funds from the Canadian company Enbridge Inc.

More than 211,000 federally endangered Indiana bats hibernate in a former limestone mine that closed a half-century ago and in the cave network nearby.  The bats that hibernate in Hannibal make up about one-third of all known Indiana bats (their scientific name is Myotis sodalis, hence the preserve name.)

Specially-constructed gates have been built and set in place at each of the 33 mine entrances that allow the bats to come in and out of the mine, but keep people out.  The Fish and Wildlife Service will monitor and manage the bat population in the mine and on surrounding property.

According to Shauna Marquardt, Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the highest concentration will be in October during the fall swarm, and is viewable from the amphitheater.  There is a nightly emergence each night during the spring and summer, starting roughly mid-April, ending in September, but the best time to view bats in the summer is probably June through mid-August.

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