The trails are marked especially well, most in Southern Illinois are only marked by trail head markers, some have markers visible every so many miles, but the trails at Bell Smith are all marked clearly by colored bands on the trees. Each trail has it's own color, and even when one intersects another it's easy to stay on it.
The most popular trail, according to Wikipedia, is the Stone Arch, which is found on the Natural Bridge Trail. We did take that trail, but had young kids with us, and it actually went up the side of a steep rock with hand and footholds, and we wouldn't take the kids up there. This, along with a few other trails, cross a creek, so also be careful on those. I have to assume if the water is high you simply won't be able to get across as there are no foot bridges.
There are many nice big waterways, and we passed several groups of swimmers. It seems to be a popular spot for swimming in warm weather. It also seems t be a bug draw for people hanging out and drinking, there were a bunch of drunk kids in the parking lot, and the roads leading into and around the park are narrow and leave you nowhere to go, so please be careful when driving around within the park.
(from route 34 South)
Turn left onto Old state route 13 in Harrisburg.
Turn right back onto IL-34 N.
Turn left onto IL-145/IL-34 S.
Turn right onto Water Tower road.
Continue onto McCormick rd.
Take the first left.
Again, take the first left and follow road into the park.
No comments:
Post a Comment