Garden of the Gods

[gobblergetter]

Anyone go to Garden of the Gods in Souther Ill.? I've been once and had a blast. Looking to take a campin trip there memorial day weekend. Last time we found a place to cliff jump, rope swing, rock climb, and cave near Burden Falls. Any other suggestions?

[corndogggy]

I've been multiple times, really neat place, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in southern Illinois. There are tons of cool places like that but they are harder to get to. As for other suggestions in the area, you might as well go to Millstone Bluff, it's on the way there, depending on which way you go, as is Dixon Springs State Park. Both of those are really interesting and really easy to get to. Giant City is real nice too.

If you want to see the coolest collection of animal mounts ever, go visit Cedar Lake... there are some real nice rock formations if you hike a little, plus in Alto Pass there is a place called The Root Beer Saloon, which is a bar that only serves microbrewed root beer. The kicker though, is that the entire place has an animal mounted every 12", I mean there are seemingly hundreds of mounts, mostly ducks, but also deer, bear, mountain goat, snakes, etc. It's crazy.

There are several vineyards in the area that are real nice to visit, most all have very nice decks and music on the weekends, overlooking a vineyard. It's a nice way to spend a lazy afternoon. One I recommend is called a Chateau Red from Von Jakobs, it's a sweet but dark red wine.

If you don't mind driving down a bad gravel road then hiking uphill for a mile or two, I would recommend One Horse Gap, which is very close as well. This isn't a tourist attraction so you'll be out there by yourself, but it's really neato. Here's a couple pics of One Horse Gap, it's really cool in the fall because you can get above the tree line.

http://www.metropolislakeoutfitters.com/bike/gap.jpg

http://www.metropolislakeoutfitters.com/bike/overlook2.jpg