The National Natural Landmarks program was established in 1962 to recognize and encourage the conservation of outstanding examples of the United States’ natural history. The Secretary of the Interior designates the landmarks, and to date fewer than 600 sites have been designated. Of those 600, eight are located within or very near the Shawnee National Forest.

The Little Grand Canyon Area was designated as a National Natural Landmark in February of 1980. It consists of a series of steep valleys and a single main canyon.

The canyon was carved by a tributary of the Big Muddy River, which runs parallel with the landmark and it's canyons.

A well marked trail winds 3.5 miles through the canyon and along the cliffs that tower overhead and offers some spectacular views of numerous waterfalls, sandstone rock formations, and breathtaking vistas - one of which gives you a view of Fountain Bluff, the Big Muddy River, and even the Mississippi River on a very clear day.

While in the area, be sure to check out the Pomona Natural Bridge, located just outside of Pomona, Ill. Fountain Bluff is also a worth-while drive and can be reached within 20 minutes of leaving the Little Grand Canyon parking lot.

Little Grand Canyon, located in Jackson County, drive south from Murphysboro to Etherton Road then go west.

This area holds the largest remaining and northernmost tupelo-cypress swamp in Illinois. The state natural area in which it lies was carved out by glacial floodwaters that left behind the meandering Cache River. The Upper Cache feeds into Heron Pond, supporting ancient cypress trees and wildly diverse animal life. The area is best accessed on foot, as fallen trees and bank erosion make canoeing next to impossible.

Heron Pond, in Johnson County, south of Vienna and west of US Hwy. 45.

LaRue-Pine Hills Ecological Area is well known amongst herpetologists as the site of the biannual snake migration. It is also considered “one of the finest assemblages of diverse vegetation in the Midwest,” by the National Park Service. Steep bluffs, dry and mesic forests, prairies, swamps and ponds all meet within a roughly three-square mile area.

LaRue Pine Hills, in Alexander County east of Highway 3, seven miles south of the city of Grand Tower.

Bell Smith Springs’ eight miles of interconnected trails take hikers past sharply dissected sandstone formations with fanciful names like “Devil’s Backbone.” The longest natural bridge within the Shawnee National Forest is found within Bell Smith Springs, spanning 125 feet.

Sentry Bluff looms over a quiet pool. A walk along the Bay Creek Trail at Bell Smith Springs brings hikers to the ship rocks. Bay Creek flows with spring melt waters.

Burden Falls, is in the Burden Falls Wilderness and is located just outside of Bell Smith Springs. It is the largest continuous waterfall in Illinois, falling just over 100 feet.

Bell Smith Springs, in Pope County, is south of Harrisburg. Take Illinois 145 to Delwood, then west on the gravel road past Burden Falls.

Just east of Eddyville, Ill., is Lusk Creek Canyon. Many rare plants thrive within the canyon’s cool depths, including 13 species of orchids. Ten endangered or threatened Illinois plant species are also found within the canyon, which was carved out of lower Pennsylvanian sandstone by erosive processes like mass wasting and undercutting.

Lusk Creek Canyon, in Pope County, south of Harrisburg. Take Illinois 145 to Eddyville, then left to Indian Kitchen Road, then left again for two miles.

The Lower Cache River Swamp is also known as Bottomland Swamp. The swamp is fed by the Lower Cache and, in contrast to Heron Pond, features wide-open expanses of deep water spread across a broad floodplain between the towns of Karnak and Ullin. There are a few stands of ancient cypress trees dotted through the swamp, and tupelo and buttonbush thickets occur in shallow areas. Six miles of canoe trails wind through this area, and paddlers will pass by the state champion bald cypress tree.

The Lower Cache River is located East of Illinois Hwy. 37, north of Karnak.

Giant City Ecological Area is named for its unusual sandstone formations, which allegedly resembled streets and buildings to early settlers. Hiking and equestrian trails thread through the park, but traffic through the “city” is limited to pedestrians.

Giant City is located south of Carbondale on US Hwy. 51, then east at Makanda.

Horseshoe Lake Nature Preserve is one of a cluster of National Natural Landmarks designated in Illinois during 1972. The area is first and foremost a sanctuary for Canada geese. Approximately 150,000 geese winter at the site, up from 1,000 in 1928 when the park first opened. Bald cypress lines the edges of the lake, a cutoff meander loop of the Mississippi River.

Horseshoe Lake is located at the southernmost tip of Illinois, just east of Illinois Hwy. 3, seven miles north of the city of Cairo.

Most people think of Illinois, they usually associate our state with rolling corn fields. Most wouldn't believe that much of southern Illinois is far more topographically a part of the Ozark highlands of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

During the United State's last glacial period, around 20,000 years ago, a massive glacier known as the Laurentide Ice Sheet continually moved up and down, expanding and retracting, through what would become the State of Illinois.

The grinding effects of the glacier left most of the Midwest, including nearly all of Illinois, as flat a a pancake. The glacier stretched as far south as St. Louis, MO, leaving everything to the north flat, while everything to the south remained untouched and geologically intact.

All of that water that melted off of the glacier during its periods of expansion and recession carved some remarkable geological features in the sandstone bedrock, leaving behind enormous canyons, cliff faces, and bizarre rock formations, many of which have been designated as National Natural Landmarks. ____________________________________________________________________
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