A Camping Weekend At Shawnee National Forest (March)

My family needed a weekend away! And now that it's March, the weather is finally starting to give us a bit of a break from the constantly freezing temperatures. Plus, we wanted to try our hand at car camping to see if it was something we'd be interested in and thought a trip only 4 hours from our house would be the perfect way to try it out.

So, here's how we spent our weekend:
My husband took a half day on Friday so that we could head down and get there before dark. At around noon, we loaded up the car and drove to Pharoah's Campground. There are only 12 campsites ($10/night) here and it's first come, first serve so we had to stop here first to see if there were any spots available. While the weather was starting to get warmer, it was still a little chilly, so we were hoping it wouldn't be too busy. We were able to secure ourselves a spot, unloaded a couple things, and then headed off for our first "hike".

Sunset hike around the Garden of the Gods Observation Trail:
This trail is technically only about 0.5 mile, but my son is a climber and it was definitely longer than that. We made sure to take our time and take in the beautiful sights you get at sunset. It was a great start to our trip and I highly recommend doing this "trail" if you're visiting the area. It's incredibly easy. Just be careful if you climb out on the rocks. It's about a half mile walk to get to the trailhead from the campsite.

For dinner, we made a fire and cooked some hot dogs. As a side, we made a pasta side on our stove. And of course, we had to have s'mores for dessert. Easy peasy!

We then cleaned everything up from dinner, inflated our car mattress, and got ourselves ready for bed.

Saturday morning, we made pancakes and sausage for breakfast with some coffee to give us that boost we would need for the many hikes we had planned for the day.

Then we headed out for our first hike. Or so we thought...

We had wanted to see Cave in Rock, but unfortunately, it was flooded.

So, we headed to Rim Rock after taking in the views of the Ohio River.

Rim Rock:
On AllTrails, it says it's 1.7 miles, but we didn't do the whole thing. Instead, we headed up the trail in the middle, took the steep downhill off to the left, and then took the stairs into the cavern. We explored there for a while (which is obviously the highlight of the trail) and then headed back up the stairs and continued the trail around back to the parking lot. In total, it was probably about a mile, but maybe more with our exploring. I highly recommend this trail! It was so much fun exploring. Overall, I would say it was fairly easy.

After we finished there, we headed back towards camp. We stopped at the Outpost to pick up some firewood. While we were there, we looked around and ended up buying a postcard and a coffee mug as souvenirs. There were also a few food options in case you forgot something and other souvenir options like t-shirts and sweatshirts and shot glasses. It's a cute little store that's worth a stop if you're in the area. Plus, I didn't feel like their prices were outrageous.

Across the street from the Outpost is the Shawnee Bigfoot so of course we had to stop for a picture! There are a couple parking spots just for this photo op, so you don't have to cross the busy street on foot.

Then, we headed back to camp to make some lunch (sandwiches, chips, and apples). It wasn't anything exciting. Just enough to fuel us up for our next hike.

On our way back out of the Garden of the Gods, we saw an area where you could pull off to the side. Across the street from there was a cool rock feature that you could climb inside of. So, we stopped. It was just a fun little 15 minute detour, but I feel like it's worth noting, just to say that you don't even have to go on a hike to see some of these beautiful rocks.

We then continued on our way to Stone Face.

Stone Face:
If you're using Google Maps to get you here, it only takes you most of the way. Continue until you see a sign for it. Then turn. There is a gravel road that takes you a couple miles to the tiniest little parking area. From there, take the trail. The trail itself isn't too long. I believe it actually keeps going past the actual Stone Face, but I wasn't expecting the trail to be as strenuous as it was, so we just turned back around after we got there and went back. This trail is listed as easy on AllTrails and it is NOT! Don't listen to the lies these people have told you. Read the reviews. It's rough. And at one point, we were literally climbing. But it's beautiful. And there are some pretty great views.

Needless to say, I was extremely tired after that hike, so we decided to forego any additional hikes that day and just head back to camp. We were done a little earlier than we had originally anticipated, so we filled our time by reading and playing cards.

For dinner, we made campfire dip, which we ate with fritos. It's cream cheese, shredded cheese, taco meat, and chili beans. It was so good. Plus, this day was National Oreo Day so we had brought a package along to indulge in for dessert.

The rest of our night was spent hanging out by the fire, just talking and laughing and enjoy each others company.

The next morning, we made scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and coffee for breakfast. This is honestly, our traditional Sunday breakfast anyway, so we decided not to break from tradition. Plus, this is a super easy breakfast and I'm all about those simple meals while camping.

We packed everything up and made sure we left our campsite cleaner than we left it. Then, we headed out to our first hike, Burden Falls.

Burden Falls:
Getting here was a bit of an adventure. We seriously traveled MILES on a gravel road. I don't know why I kept picking these "middle of nowhere" hikes. But that's where we were. The trail isn't overly marked (as some people have pointed out in reviews on AllTrails) but there were a couple ties on trees that led us to believe we were on the right path. We started by taking the path to the left. It led us through the forest, then down a very steep hill, and then along the stream until we reached the waterfall. Now, technically, I don't think the trail leads all the way up to the waterfall, but that didn't stop us! When you get close, you'll see a large rock (I mean, huge rock). Go to the left of it, and all of a sudden, it will open up to the bottom of the falls. We climbed all over the rocks to get fun pictures. On our way back, we didn't really know which way to go and we had just seen a couple descend from some rocks, so we took that way. I think it's more of an unofficial trail, but enough people had taken that way, that it was obviously a trail. We were literally climbing rocks, but we had so much fun! It was hard, but so worth it. Then, when you get to the top, you'll see the top set of falls, which are small, but beautiful in their own right. Overall, a great trail. Probably a moderate.

I felt invigorated after that trail, so we headed off for one more. This one was a little far if you're staying in the Garden of the Gods area, but it was on our way home. We went to Big Rocky Hollow Trail. Or at least that's what it's called on AllTrails. Although, if you let Google guide you, you will end up in the wrong area. Navigate to the Ferne Clyffe Waterfall Trail. This is a super popular trail, though, and we were lucky to find a parking space.

At this point, we were starting to get hungry for lunch, so we made ourselves some sandwiches and ate at a picnic table right by our car.

Then, we were off again.

Big Rocky Hollow Trail:
This trail is very short: less than 3/4 of a mile out and back. It's very wide, allowing for lots of people to travel on it. I would even say it's handicap accessible. But don't take my word for it. That's just how flat and easy this trail is. It does become even more scenic as you near the waterfall at the end. There are plenty of places to explore and (dare I say) go off trail. The waterfall at the end was only a mild trickle while we were there, but still a fun little hike nonetheless.

At this point, it was starting to get warm, we still had a 3 1/2 hour drive home, and we were all a little tired, so we loaded up the car, and made our way back. We had a great trip and I hope that our experience can help you plan your next trip to Southern Illinois to visit the Shawnee National Forest.