Giant City State Park: Devil's Standtable Nature Trail

After taking in the history and spectacular view from the Stonefort Nature Trail we piled back in the old family truckster and set our sights on the Devil's Standtable Nature Trail, which was to provide a bit more of a strenuous hike and a fantastic opportunity to get in a bit of boulder hopping and rock climbing fun for me. This was another short trail, winding another one-third of a mile into the beautiful forest, and the cherry on top, the Devil's Standtable itself, was well worth the short trek. However, if you find yourself wanting to take a seat at this table you may want to bring along a mighty large chair

The Trail!

The trail begins as gravel filled forms, which create a bit of a stair case, and quickly makes its way to a dirt surfaced trail that follows the bottom of its magnificent sandstone bluff borders. As you make your way along this trail you will find numerous spots that sections of the beautiful bluffs have shaken loose from their native homes, tumbling to the forest floor and as you near the Devil's Standtable itself, you will come across a large, partially collapsed sandstone shelter which is a stone hopper's paradise! I enjoyed leaping from boulder to boulder and even doing my best "Cliffhanger" impersonation from a few of them. When I wasn't hopping from place to place, I noticed that some of these boulders had names and dates carved upon their surface, unknown to me, this was to be a bit of a foreshadowing of our next hike through the Giant City Streets.

Please, Exercise Caution

The official trail ended at a wonderful spot from which to gather a ground level view of the Devil's Standtable, but I wanted to get just a bit closer to this magnificent natural monument. Upon a bit of inspection I found a less worn trail that led to the sandstone base and quickly scrambled up the stoney incline. Let me tell you, at eye-level with the Devil's Standtable you'll surely be impressed with just how delicate the balancing of this formation is and just how fragile the difference between the Standtable staying perched upon its column or its possible plummeting from its lengthy perch! As always, I'll give warning here... Rock may become quite slippery when wet and there is always a possibility of slipping and falling while leaping, bounding, jumping, cartwheeling, flipping, climbing, sliding, handstanding or having any other type of fun on rocks. Children may also be able to get up into an area then be unable to come back down, so please always err on the side of safety.

Directions (click the Google Map below to enter in your address)



Giant City State Park
235 Giant City Road
Makanda, IL 62958
(618) 457-4836

More Information: 

Local Treks on facebook 
Giant City State Park Stonefort Nature Trail - Be sure to hit this trail too!
Giant City State Park Devil's Giant City Nature Trail - THE "go to" trail in Giant City

Giant City State Park - Official IDNR Homepage
Giant City Trails -  A list of all eight established trails
Giant City Visitor Maps - Maps provided by the IDNR of the entire park
More Photos From Giant City State Park - My Flickr Album for Giant City State Park

Giant City State Park: Giant City Nature Trail

There are times in which Mother Nature takes the subtle approach. She gently nudges you, providing you a wondrous moment or a special little insight to what makes her tick. And then there are times that she gets right in your face, causing you to be unable to look away, and assuring that you notice her grandeur, her beauty, her utter uniqueness... As you set tread to the Giant City Nature Trail be prepared, Mother Nature is moving in close, she'll be sure that after this short one mile loop trail you'll be fully aware of her rare and unique beauty.

The beauty of the Giant City Nature Trail certainly lies within its unique "streets". These passageways wind through colossal slabs of sandstone, which loom far above you and sending trees which look to grown upon their surface to grow quickly or never find the sun. Each of these large sandstone structures seem to form buildings which line the streets, with lines so straight they seem as though they could have only been carved by a master stonemason, as nature so often abhors presumed conformity and conventionality. But it is this seeming conformity, these straight, towering angular blocks which dwarf you and your fellow hikers, that make this area so unique from the rest of the park. In fact, this area is a bit reminiscent of the Panther Den Wilderness, only the Giant City Nature Trail is far more accessible and has a well worn trail to follow.

These massive stone structures have, no doubt, awed mankind for millennia, with man obviously attempting to leave behind their marks upon the stone, the same way that the stone had left its lasting mark upon them. If you inspect the walls carefully you may come upon a pair of names carved upon the sandstone walls in 1862, by Theodore Wilson and his brother Albert during the Civil War. The pair's stoney autographs have become a popular carving to seek out and if you look very carefully, you may be able to even make out the haunting face in the rock wall that opposes it. During our visit, someone had defaced the the Giant City Trail "face" by painting an outline around the image, hopefully with time the paint used will fade and the face will again become a bit more eerie. Time may slip by quickly as you read the many inscriptions upon the walls, searching those breadcrumbs left which bare silent witness to those explorers who shared this same trail, same route, same beauty with you decades before.

After you have gazed and searched the etchings of visitors past, you will walk through a small walkway bordered by sandstone and under a precariously perched boulder. As you make your way through, it is hard not to have a quick second of doubt as to whether you should pass under or not, as I will admit, I had a quick thought of, 'what if today is the day that rock decides to fall'? It is also another great place to take a few more family photos and makes for a great "look at what I'm holding up" props. There are still plenty of Giant City buildings left to awe and amaze you, and you may even find the opportunity to scramble your way upon them to gain an additional view of the Giant City streets on which you have now tread.


Directions (click the Google Map below to enter in your address)

Giant City State Park
235 Giant City Road
Makanda, IL 62958
(618) 457-4836

More Information: 

Local Treks on facebook 
Giant City State Park Stonefort Nature Trail - Be sure to hit this trail too!
Giant City State Park Devil's Standtable - Another GREAT trail in Giant City

Giant City State Park - Official IDNR Homepage
Giant City Trails -  A list of all eight established trails
Giant City Visitor Maps - Maps provided by the IDNR of the entire park
More Photos From Giant City State Park - My Flickr Album for Giant City State Park

Giant City State Park: Stonefort Nature Trail

Fried Chicken. More importantly, and according to a family friend, the World's Very Best Fried Chicken served in an all you can eat family style. That, is what truly brought me to Giant City State Park, located just outside of Carbondale, IL. But what I found, besides the absolutely delicious fried chicken, was an astoundingly gorgeous and completely unique area, filled with a hiker's wish list of things to do, see, explore and, of course, eat!

With so many different trails to explore in Giant City State Park I've decided to break them up into more easily "digestible" single review trails, starting here with the Stonefort Nature Trail...

We began our whole excursion in Giant City State Park pondering exactly what a "Stonefort" was, and since we all had a different idea of what it may actually be we decided to make the Stonefort Nature Trail our first official stop. Little did we know, but we actually caught a glimpse of the Stonefort Nature Trail's breathtaking observation point from atop an 80 foot sandstone bluff as we entered the main park.

So, Exactly What Is A "Stonefort"?

This one-third of a mile loop trail took us on a tour of an ancient "stonefort", one of ten wall-like structures, constructed entirely of heavy stone, believed to have been erected in the Late Woodland period between 600AD - 900AD in Southern Illinois. Each of these ancient arrangements have been discovered on top of hills or promontories and were once believed to have been used as some type of stone fortification, thus giving them the name "Stonefort". These unique walls, consisting of heavy stones, are now believed to have been constructed as meeting places or perhaps ceremonial locations. The original wall that sat atop this particular trail was actually removed, dismantled by early European settlers to the area, who used the heavy stones as building materials. The low stone base is all that really remains of the original site, however, in 1934 the Civilian Conservation Corps (whom I can't thank enough) rebuilt the wall into the site that we see today. During the reconstruction of the wall, the CCC found many Native American artifacts including a good deal of pottery. "I personally love sites like this that carry that hint of ancient mystery, sites such as this and Rock Pile Mountain always pique my curiosity of early Native Americans and, while marveling at their accomplishments and ingenuity, I also find myself theorizing on what these sites may have been used for.

But What About The Actual Trail?

The Stonefort Nature Trail itself is well worn, with many roots and rocks embedded in its surface, which some may find a bit difficult to walk on. The trail also winds it's way up the side of a small hill, where you instantly come upon the structure itself upon arriving at the top. If you continue the loop, around the top of the hill, you will come to a spectacular overlook from an 80 foot sandstone bluff which overlooks the park's entrance. A word of warning for those of you with small children and faint hearts, it is a STEEP, LONG drop to the bottom of this bluff and there are no handrails. The trail also narrows a bit here making it a somewhat dangerous portion of the trail. For those that continue along the loop, you'll find another overlook along the way along with a carpeting of moss, ferns and wildflowers, sheltered beneath a wide canopy of local hardwoods an evergreens. This trail is well worth the short hike, even if you decide the breathtaking 80 foot overlook perhaps steals a bit too much of your breath.

Directions (click the Google Map below to enter in your address)

Giant City State Park
235 Giant City Road, Makanda, IL 62958
(618) 457-4836

More Information: 

Local Treks on facebook 
Giant City State Park Devil's Standtable Nature Trail - Be sure to hit this trail too!
Giant City State Park - Official IDNR Homepage
Giant City Trails -  A list of all eight established trails
Giant City Visitor Maps - Maps provided by the IDNR of the entire park
More Photos From Giant City State Park - My Flickr Album for Giant City State Park