The first stop on my list was this place called shawanee national forest in Illinois. I picked it mostly because of good ol fashion curiosity. I have driven by it several times and I had always wanted to go explore and see what's wonders it held. So I drove there, picked a campground , paid the fee and went to sleep .the next day I got up and started looking around. First let me say that the park had mud everywhere. It had rained a **** ton the day before and didn't stop until noon the next day. So I first hit the Walmart early in the morning and got some supplies. Once that was done it had cleared enough for me to start looking around. 

Looking on the app "All trails" I found a few interesting places and decided to go on a few small hikes. First stop was this place called burden falls. To get there I had to take a back road that was gravel and had plenty of potholes and mud to last a lifetime. Not only that but there were quite a bit of abandoned places back there as well. Sketchy but not enough to scare away people who were looking for adventure. 

Once at the falls I got everything in my small pack and started this small hike. It was only a mile long and it was mostly just an up and down TraIL. It started at the top of the falls and you went through this winding trail to the river. At the river you had to take off your shoes and cross it. Luckily it was shallow and not very cold so it was easy to do. Once across the river you got a clear view of this place .the falls were huge and I had quite the time looking around. There were several areas where I had to cross the river so I was constantly getting my feet wet .Luckily I was wearing shorts so it wasn't a big deal to move across the water on several occasions .

It was quite the tasks and I really enjoyed being out for the day but it was only just the start of my first day out and about. 

Stay tuned for the next part.