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Boo Castle Park
Anytime we hike at nearby Giant City State Park, we make a stop at Boo Memorial Castle Park near Carbondale. The park was created in memory of a boy who loved Dungeons & Dragons. This privately owned park is free and open to the public to visit. Donations are encouraged to help maintain the park. The park features beautiful gardens, statues, and a huge castle playground. We are always completely blown away at how nicely maintained and well made this…
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Follow the Steps of the Giants on the Giant City Nature Trail
Giant City State Park is one of the best state parks in all of Illinois. While there are many trails to explore at this popular park, the Giant City Nature Trail is a great choice for all ages. The trail is named for that fact that the towering rock walls look like a street made for giants. This one mile loop packs in the scenery as you walk the rugged streets of the giants.
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Salt Lick Point and Water Reserve Hike – 8/19/17
We started out early on a Saturday morning with hopes of beating the heat and pointed the nose of The Mighty Merc down Bluff Road: As we pulled into the parking lot, the hopes of beating the heat were quickly dashed as it was warm and humid already: But we loaded the kids on our backs and pressed on heading up the Salt Lick Trail which winds its way up to the top of the bluff: It wasn’t long before…
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Belle Smith Springs – 6/1/16
We wandered down to Belle Smith Springs to hike a couple of trails before they got to overgrown. We wound up not quite heading the way we meant to on the trails but ended up back at one of the best spots at Devil’s Backbone. Running the backroads: In the mini-minivan adventure mobile: Rather picturesque parking area: With all the rains recently, the creek was up quite a bit which made some of the crossings interesting: We eventually ran into…
