Here we go! We started this Ozark thing in Illinois by zooming south down Hwy. 51 out of Springfield directly to the Shawnee National Forest and a campground near Creal Springs and Lake Egypt. After a day or two we turned east onto Scenic Byway 34.
We started the scenic tour at Mitchellville, then east on Karber Ridge Road over to the Garden of the Gods. This is one of those great erosion carved areas that is very similar to the formations way out west in places like Bryce Canyon, Utah or Chiricahua National Monument, Az. They even smell somewhat the same to me – old, really, really old sandstone! The Ozark Plateau is an average of 700 million years old; so see? One of those ancient inland sea beds which got laid down, lifted up, worn down and sculpted into mountains, valleys and weird formations. I love all of this!
Our next stop was a very interesting place called Cave In Rock on Hwy 1 at the very southeastern edge of Illinois. This was one beautiful cave that not only had a hole in its roof and unusual formations in its interior but it opened up to overlook the Ohio River too. It has obviously been a favorite place for many people for thousands of years. We read about the infamous river pirates during the 1800’s who hung out in the cave waiting for unsuspecting fur traders and trappers and then later preyed on barges and other boats.
This was a short but interesting introduction to the Ozark Plateau and Mountains plus the Ohio is a mighty impressive river. The little town of Cave in Rock was very picturesque and we wished we had maybe stayed a little longer, but it was a closed-up Sunday.
It was on to Hwy 146 and a dash straight west, across the entire southern tip of Illinois to the Trail of Tears State Park in Missouri on the Mississippi River.
We enjoyed Illinois and the beginning of the Ozarks but we then set our sites on visiting a whole group of springs and old mills in the Missouri part of this fascinating plateau and mountain country.
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