The area in southern Illinois between the Missouri and Ohio Rivers is known as Shawnee National Forest. This is the best place for outdoors in Illinois, with plenty of trails and over night camping. On the left is a flower along the Mississippi river, on the right is a view Shawnee National Forest, with the wilderness going back as far as you can see
A very impressive part of Shawnee Forest are the boat rocks that are found in Ferne Clyffe park. The forest here is densely covered with deciduous trees with giant moss boulders randomly scattered. Another scenic part of Shawnee is an area called Garden of the Gods, which also has some impressive rock formations and scenic views.
These two photos show some Cacti that I was surprised to find growing in southern Illinois as well as some mushroom growing off a tree in front of some strange type of rocks in Shawnee forest. I was definitely impressed with the outdoors of the southern part of the state.
This is a small but very cool swamp I saw next to the Mississippi river a few hours north of Shawnee. The entire swamp is covered with duckweeds, making it look like it is filled with green water. I saw several species of birds here such as a heron, gulls, and the wood ducks seen above.
The large rock formations in Shawnee Forest formed a large cliff, with the bottom of it washed out forming a low ceiling. On the left is a box turtle taking shelter under the cliff after a rainstorm. On the right is a slug seen on one of the large boat rocks. Since it had just rained, the whole forest was extremely humid, reminding me of the Amazon.
There was a lot of wildlife to been seen while I hiked in Shawnee. On the left is a terrible picture of a male buck, but something is better than nothing right? Also above is a hawk that was circling over a large lake.
