Garden of the Gods Recreation Area

The sandstone here was laid down hundreds of millions of years ago, when this region lay near the edge of an ancient sea and rivers deposited layer upon layer of sand. Over immense stretches of time those sands hardened into rock, were lifted up, and then began to weather, and the fantastic shapes you see today are the slow work of wind, rain, and frost eating unevenly at the stone.

The formations show off the strange sculptures that result. Camel Rock, the most famous, really does resemble a resting camel, and around it stand other weathered outcrops, along with the honeycomb patterns and iron-stained bands that mineral-rich water has drawn across the sandstone. It is a natural gallery of rock carved by the elements.

Garden of the Gods lies in the Shawnee Hills, the band of rugged upland across the southern tip of Illinois that stands apart from the flat, glacier-smoothed prairie to the north. The great ice sheets that flattened most of the state never reached this far south, so the land here keeps its ridges, bluffs, and hollows, closer in feel to the Ozarks or Appalachia than to the cornfields most people picture.

This is the ancestral homeland of Native nations of the region, including the Shawnee and the peoples of the Illinois Confederacy, whose descendants today are enrolled in the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. The high, rocky ridges of the Shawnee country have long been landmarks in this land, and Garden of the Gods is among the most dramatic of them.

The signature walk is the Observation Trail, a short loop of paved path and stone steps that threads among the main formations to a series of overlooks. It is not long, but it crosses uneven, open rock with real drop-offs at the cliff edges, so sure footing and care matter, especially with children.

The overlooks are the payoff, opening onto a wide panorama of forested ridges rolling away into the distance. The light is finest at sunrise and sunset, when it rakes low across the sandstone and sets it glowing gold and orange. Longer trails lead out from the recreation area into the surrounding wilderness for those who want to go deeper into the Shawnee.

Garden of the Gods is the highlight of a whole region worth exploring. The surrounding Shawnee National Forest holds wilderness areas, bluffs, and rivers, and nearby lie other wonders like the riverside cavern at Cave-in-Rock on the Ohio and the vineyards of the Shawnee Hills wine trail.

The area is remote and uncrowded compared with the state's better-known attractions, which is part of its appeal. A visit rewards travelers willing to drive the winding rural roads into the hills, offering a side of Illinois, wild, rocky, and forested, that few expect to find.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.