Camping in the (90 Degree Heat of) Shawnee National Forest

Thursday morning we said our goodbye to Lake Mattoon and Billy's family. It's always hard to leave, especially with picture perfect weather that morning! We were excited to get the next part of our trip underway, but were definitely tearing ourselves away from the lake.

Our next stop was the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. It was exactly halfway between Nashville and Lake Mattoon, so we decided it would be a fun stopping point to check out. It was described as Southern Illinois "hidden gem" on TripAdvisor which turned out to be absolutely true.

I was shocked to see rolling hills and lush forests...certainly not what you think you will find in the Midwest! The drive out was very beautiful and went through some very scenic country. HUGE farms with fields of grain and corn that were gorgeous to look at. It's always nice to see that that kind of country still exists when you're used to the urban sprawl around DC. 

We set up camp at the Garden of the Gods, which is apparently a very well known park in Colorado as well. The entire area is created from an ancient sea, so the rock formations are really something to look at.

Another personal victory for me was learning how to set up the tent. Billy is a much more experienced camper, so during our first camping trip I left the set up to him. He was insistent that I learn how to do it on my own and as always was a great teacher. So I set up my first tent! I still left the fire to Billy this time though...

We braved the 90 degree heat to do some hiking through Garden of the Gods. Like I said, it was very impressive. The pictures don't really do it justice but we took a bunch anyways! Sadly, Hansel was left behind in the car accidentally (bad parenting on our part).

 

The hike was gorgeous, but at this point the high humidity and 90 plus degree heat was getting to us. We decided to drive a short way to Pounds Hollow Lake, which had another trail nearby we were planning on hiking. The lake has a beach where you can go swimming, so that was an obvious detour to cool off.

This area was no hidden gem. There were (understandably) a TON of people there. It was the perfect way to cool off..and get some spectacular people watching done. We felt 100% better after floating around for a while, so we set off to do another short hike at Rim Rock.

Please note that I did not pee my pants. I decided to keep my swimsuit on to try to stay cool. As the pictures progress, it looks like I increasingly lost control of my bladder, which I did not realize at the time.

This trail was even better than Garden of the Gods. It had a bunch of high bluffs and drop offs in very thick forests. The highlight, though, was the Ox-lot Cave you could walk down into.

We had worked up an appetite at this point and headed back to our campsite at Garden of the Gods, where I had possibly the most refreshing and satisfying beer ever. Billy says this is a common occurrence when you've just hiked your butt off all afternoon :)

We solicited a random fellow camper for this picture. Worth it.

After roasting up some turkey dogs and s'mores, we were ready to pass out. Mother Nature had other plans, since at 9:00 it still felt like 93 degrees outside. Billy was nice enough to throw out the disclaimer that if it got to the point I couldn't take it anymore, we could go find some random motel no matter what time it was. He's a saint.

But we stuck it out! We laid as far apart from each other as possible and sweat profusely, but it eventually cooled off and we made it through the night! Thank god for portable shower wipes the next morning.

We broke camp bright and early to get on the road to Nashville, where we had schedule a tour for 10:30 am. It was TOTALLY WORTH the 5:30 am wake up call! More details to follow on Nashville...

So despite the heat, Shawnee was amazing. It totally surpassed our expectations for hiking and scenery, plus I set up a tent!!