After some time at home for a conference, we were back on the road again the second week of March. We headed down to southern Illinois for just under two weeks. Last year we started our full-time travelling in southern IL because we wanted to see spring ephemerals. We should have been there during the later half of peak bloom, but the phenology in the whole state last year was weird and everything bloomed 3-4 weeks early. We saw a few spring flowers, but missed the main show. This year, we caught the earliest flowers and it was fun watching new species start to bloom throughout the trip.
Monday March 10: Spring Flowers
For this trip we stayed at Giant City State Park, which we had visited in 2024 but hadn’t actually camped at. This was the perfect park for after work hikes. We started off with Trillium Trail, which is the trail most known for its spring wildflowers. We found some of the earliest ephemerals blooming: harbinger of spring, spring beauty, false rue anemone, and cut-leafed toothwort. This also just gave us a good baseline for where the phenelogy was at this year and what to look for in the coming weeks.
After Trillium Trail, we decided to also hike the Giant City Nature Trail. This is the most iconic and popular trail in the park and is the one with the famous Giant City streets. This afternoon reminded us about how one of our favorite parts of full-time RV life is that even though this is the kind of activity we did a lot before, now it’s so much more accessible and everywhere we stay we have new things to see and do.
Tuesday March 11: Devil’s Standtable and More
Tuesday we did more hiking in the park. We started off with Devil’s Standtable, which is a short trail but one we didn’t do in our 2024 visit and it has really cool geology. Then we tried to hike Stonefort Trail, but we couldn’t get to it because of road closures due to a prescribed burn. The road rerouting did work out, though, for us to end up in Makanda to see the monument to Boomer. Boomer was a 3-legged dog that died near this spot when we he was running along a train, trying to put out a fire on it by peeing on the flames, and ran into a wall.
Once we made it back into the park, we hiked the Arrow-wood Trail, which features QR codes on various trees to learn about their species.
Wednesday March 12: Even More Hiking
Wednesday we tried again to hike Stonefort Trail, but it was still closed for another burn. So instead we hiked the Post Oak Trail, which was very easy but had some nice views. Then we hiked Indian Creek Trail which had cool bluff shelters that were used by Indigenous people.
Thursday March 13: We did Nothing.
Thursday evening Josh had a meeting for work, so we didn’t do anything. We always end up mentioning it in these recaps, but in case you’re new- since we live full-time in the RV there’s always down days since this our real life and not just a vacation.
Friday March 14: Happy Pi Day
Our first activity of the day after work on Friday was to go into Carbondale for groceries, which including getting a pie for Pi Day. We made it back to camp before the storms rolled in, and then ended up spending a few hours of the night in the showerhouse during a tornado warning. The showerhouse was actually closed for the season while we were there, but the camphost had opened that afternoon just in case of storms. We ended up being the only ones who came up to it, which is always interesting to us. We’re safety-conscious, though, and have both have enough close calls with tornados to not take them lightly.
Saturday March 15: Tornado Weekend
While we try to do a hike or something small most days after work, weekends are where our real adventuring takes place. Our weekend activities actually aren’t that different from how we liked to spend weekends before, but now we have less other things to schedule around. The other big advantage of RV life for us is that we were starting the exhaust the list of places to visit in the 1-2 hour away bubble, but now every other weekend there’s somewhere new to explore.
Our first stop of the day was Pomona Natural Bridge in the Shawnee National Forest. This was a short hike, but a very cool geological feature.
Next, we headed to Murphysboro to visit the John A. Logan Museum. Logan was a Union general and the creator of Memorial Day, and was born in what’s now Murphysboro. Learning more about Logan was fascinating, early in his career he helped passed a law to prohibit all African Americans (even freedmen) from settling in Illinois, but by the end of his career he was a strong advocate for African Americans being entitled to all freedoms, including the right to vote. Especially in today’s political climate, it was so inspiring to see how someone’s views can be shaped and evolve over time.
After the Logan Museum, we headed across the street to the Jackson County Historical Society. They were open for extra hours this week because it was tornado weekend. March 18 was the 100th anniversary of the Tri-State Tornado, which was the deadliest tornado in US history and hit this part of the state hard. We have never seen so many people in a historical society before! Usually it’s just us and the volunteer. Funnily enough, we talked to the main volunteer and she was from northern Illinois too and also had been a chapter leader for the non-profit Josh works for.
After the museum, we revisited a restaurant we had eaten at in 2024- 17th Street Barbecue. They are the ones that put Murphysboro on the map as the officially designated Barbecue Capital of Illinois.
We continued tornado weekend at the local high school. All day there were talks about the history of the 1925 tornado and weather in general. It did sound interesting, but we were here for a short enough time that I didn’t think it was worth missing out on adventure time. We did check out the exhibits in the hall, though, and it was neat just to see the event.
We did a last quick stop in Murphysboro at the Jackson County Courthouse which has 6(!!!) different historic markers. What a dream.
In the afternoon we did a short hike on part of the Red Cedar Trail, which is accessible from within the campground.
Sunday March 16: Shawnee National Forest
Our Sunday adventure started out by visiting Trigg Observation Tower. This is the only remaining fire lookout tower in the Shawnee National Forest. I don’t do heights, but Josh climbed up and enjoyed the view.
Next, we went over to Millstone Bluff Archeological Area. This site was once used by both Woodland Mississippian people. There is an interpretive trail that shows where the villages would have been, and then leads to a series of petroglyphs on the bluff edge. This was very exciting for me because it was my first time seeing petroglyphs in person!
Josh actually picked out next activity, and it ended up being a really good one! We hiked to Sand Cave, which has fascinating history, besides being just a cool cave. It’s the largest sandstone cave in the region, and maybe the country. The cave was first used by humans over 12,000 years ago and there’s still evidence in the cave. It was used again in the 1840’s as a place to hide people on the Underground Railroad. Besides the actual cave, the bluffs and rock walls here were really cool too.
Monday March 17: A Lazy Day.
Monday was a lazy day at camp. We hung around the site while dinner cooked in the Crockpot and worked on an escape room type game I had given Josh for Christmas.
Tuesday March 18: Finally, Stonefort Trail
Tuesday after work we finally made it to Stonefort Trail, which was the last trail in the park we hadn’t hiked yet. The highlight of this trail is the Indigenous Stonefort- a long wall made of rocks. In the 1930’s the CCC crews working to build the park rebuilt a section of the wall, so you can see how it would have looked.
Then we worked on some campground planning. This year we have a good number of events (both work and personal) where we have to be somewhere at a specific time, so we’re trying something new with planning out routes on our laminated map. So far, this has been working out really well! We got a few more sites booked this night.
Wednesday March 19: Errands, errands, errands
Wednesday was an errand day. I had needed some stuff from Amazon, so we went to Staples for Amazon pick up. This was our first time trying this method for Amazon and even though I had to wait in line, unlike a locker, it worked well. We also had to go to Walgreens to pick up a FedEx package because Josh’s dad had shipped us our mail-in ballots. This was slightly more of a hassle just because the employee working didn’t usually do that counter and wasn’t sure what they were doing, but we got our package and all was good.
Interested in learning more about how full-time RVers get mail on the road? Check out our post Mail & Packages on the Road: The Best Solutions for RV Life
Thursday March 20: Little Grassy Hatchery
On Thursday, Josh logged off work early so we could head over to Little Grassy Fish Hatchery before it closed for the day. This is an Illinois DNR hatchery that raises mostly catfish, but a few other species too. The fish are used to stock IDNR, local municipal, and federal ponds and lakes in the area. We were in the off-season for visiting, so there wasn’t much going on to see. Usually you can go outside and feed the fish too, but we still got a small tour from the staff member on duty and got to see a few of the different rooms of the facility.
Friday March 21: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Friday we took a short walk at Touch of Nature, which is an outdoor education center that’s part of Southern Illinois University. We’ve driven by Touch of Nature a bunch, but this was our first time actually stopping there.
After our hike, we headed back to Giant City and to the lodge for dinner. The Giant City Lodge is famous for its all you can eat chicken dinner, which has won a ton of fried chicken awards. We tried the dinner last year, but we were there during a slow time and the chicken had clearly been sitting a while. At first, we weren’t sure if maybe it just was always bad, but then we had a few fresh pieces and could really tell the difference. This time we visited during peak dinner time, so it was piping hot and fresh. Because it’s lent season we were also able to add some fried fish at no extra cost. The dinner is served family style with 5 different sides. For us, it’s too much food and we didn’t need a refill, but it would definitely be worth it if you actually come with a group.
Saturday March 22: Happy St. Patrick’s Day (belatedly)
Saturday we celebrated a belated St. Patrick’s Day in Murphysboro. They had St. Pat’s events going on all weekend throughout the town. We started with the parade, which was really fun. I got a lot of candy and Josh liked how many vintage cars there were. Then we had some time to kill, so just walked around town before heading back to the center of town. We had tickets for the Shamrock Beer and Spirits tasting. We each got a themed cup and then were able to sample different drinks from the bars and distributors that had tables set up, plus there was a snack table.
After Murphysboro, we headed to our next event- the Maple Sugar Festival at Touch of Nature. We grabbed some food, listened to live music, and checked out the vendors. Then we watched a maple demonstration, which was fun, but we’ve been part of maple tapping and boiling before at Josh’s old job so it was nothing too new. Then the SIU forestry club put on a demo of lumberjack games and we got to try some afterwards, which was really fun.
When we got back to camp, we did a last hike on Trillium Trail to see what new flowers had popped up. We found a handful of species that were blooming, but weren’t last time, so it was definitely worth re-visiting.
Sunday March 22: See ya Illinois!
Sunday we headed out of Illinois and on to Mississippi! We did the drive in one day and got to our new site right at dinner time, so we just chilled out the rest of the night.
More Southern Illinois
If you’re looking for more to do in southern Illinois, check out these posts from last year’s visit:
- Hiking Southern Illinois: 15 Iconic Trails You Can’t Miss
- Exploring the Wonders of Giant City State Park: Guide and Review
- The Complete Ferne Clyffe State Park Trail Guide
- A Nature Lover’s Paradise: The Ultimate Ferne Clyffe State Park Campground Guide
- Exploring the Rich Heritage of Prairie du Rocher, IL
- Popeye’s Playground: The Best Things to Do in Chester, Illinois
- The Complete World Shooting and Recreational Complex Camping Guide
- Our First Month on the Road: April 2024 Recap & Reflections
- Fort Kaskaskia and More: Historic Sites and Campground Guide
- Immerse Yourself in French Colonial Life at Fort de Chartres
- Fort Massac State Park Campground Guide & Review
- Meeting the Man of Steel in Metropolis, Illinois
- A City at a Confluence: Visiting Cairo, Illinois
- Visiting the Bucky Dome Home Museum: A Geodesic Wonder
- Quest Accepted: Discover the Magic of Boo Castle Park
