Hiking the Little Grand Canyon of Illinois

Shawnee National Forest | Hiking the Little Grand Canyon Loop Trail | Bald Knob | January 2024

Ever since our first Iowa to North Carolina drive in November 2022, Shawnee National Forest has been a favorite spot to break up the drive. We’ve camped in two different campgrounds and hiked a couple of the trails here, but all to the East and along the Ohio River. This time we were a bit further West, and had more than enough planned to fill a day in this area.

We were camping in the Turkey Bayou campground, which is a free site a few miles off of IL-3 down a gravel road and right on the Big Muddy River. The trail we wanted to hike today was actually right across the river…but with no bridge to cross here, it was a 30 minute drive to the trailhead. (The trail was also much higher up on a bluff, so kayaking across wasn’t an option!) After breakfast and our morning chores, we made our way over and prepared for our hike.

The trail here is a 3.5 mile loop, which takes you through the woods to the edge of the bluff, down into the “canyon” and along a creek, then back up another draw. We decided to go clockwise since we weren’t sure if Charlotte would be able to hike the whole loop, and there was a lookout on that side just over a mile away. The trail was wide, partially paved, and in good condition, and the weather was perfect for an early January hike. As we walked to to the lookout, we had a few small peeks through the trees of the river.

After we made it to the lookout, we enjoyed the view of the bluffs to the North, and the hills to the West. We were also able to see down across the river to where we had camped the night before. We debated whether we should return the way we came or continue on the loop, and ultimately Charlotte made the decision for us by leading us on the contour trail heading down into the ‘canyon.’ The trail became a bit more narrow, but at first it was still easy enough for Charlotte to walk.

Then we came to the tricky part — the draw became narrow with several ledges and slick rock. The stream and leaves made everything a bit slippery and there were several dead falls. But we figured we had made it this far, it was worth continuing. We lead Charlotte through the worst of it and carried her down the larger ledges. It was rather cool and reminded us some of places we had hiked in Starved Rock and Matthiesen State Parks.

Once at the base of the draw we followed the flatter trail up the main stream at the base of even more bluffs and high walls. We made good time on this part and had great conversation while walking. Eventually, the trail turned up another draw that was much easier to navigate, and Charlotte seemed much more comfortable going uphill on the slick rock than she was going downhill. Soon we were back on top of the bluffs walking through open woods. Curtis was able to find a letterbox, and once back at the car we enjoyed a picnic lunch. If you’re interested, you can see our AllTrails recording for this hike here.

By this point, it was early afternoon. We had originally planned on making it further South to near Cairo, but decided instead to return back to Turkey Bayou and stay the night there again so that we could enjoy this area a little more. Before driving back to the campground, we made a slight detour to one of the higher hills in the area: Bald Knob. Being a bald hill, it promised some good views, as well as an enormous cross on top. It was free to visit and the views were pretty good. We found the story of the cross and the original fundraising efforts for it in the 1930’s somewhat comical; but we’re glad it’s still accessible.

Finished here, we returned back to the campsite where we found out that our spring schedule had changed, so we spent most of the night re-booking hotels and dreaming of more adventures to come.