What a cool little park located in the town of Desoto. A large variety of playground options for…read moreall ages. I loved the old school teeter totter! The grandbabies enjoyed the older play structures. Bathrooms were surprisingly open (mid week winter) and clean. Easy parking. Located next to several little League baseball fields. Lots of fun.

I was looking up things to do in the Carbondale area and this place caught my eye. I don't have any…read morekids nor am I one but I had to visit the park and I got to hear the story about how this park was built and how it came to be. This park is very well kept! I've never been to an active park that is so well maintained and the fact that it has no graffiti on it! This park is so Interactive and I thought it was convenient that it had porta potties next to it as well. Even the ice cream man came by to visit. Plenty of great Interactive things that check out that are one-of-a-kind like climbing got a dragon and even the playground is big enough for grown-ups to walk around without actually it's time to climb on stuff. This place was like walking into a Renaissance fair , I highly recommend checking this place out!

Really good park we really like the castle I love this park specially Corbin, and Paisleyread more

My grandson received an injury while attending a week long stay at Ondessonk in June 2026. The skin…read morewas scrapped off his knee completely. His mother received a voicemail saying that he had been injured but that it was not bad. He spent the night in the clinic and the next day his father picked him up as it was the last day of camp. The knee was wrapped and no one came out to explain what had happened. After the 2 hour trip home the leg was unwrapped exposing the injury. They rushed him to a nearby clinic to have it properly diagnosed and evaluated. The Camp and the Belleville Diocese although being informed has not made any efforts to apologize or check on his well being. I will not be sending my grandchildren there in the future due to their inept handling of this situation.

Catholic youth summer camp, located about 2.5 hours drive from St. Louis, in Southern Illinois…read more Kids sleep in rustic "cabins" (not fully enclosed, so bring mosquito netting!) in the woods, segregated into multiple named camps (groups of cabins), with the boys all on one side of the lake, girls on the other. Lots of fun activities, including swimming, hiking, horseback riding, archery, target shooting, climbing wall, ropes course, crafts, outdoor skills, nature exploration, and more. It's not convenient for us to get to, but everyone we've known who's gone has loved it and wants to do it again the next year. Be careful about using Google for directions. If you punch in the address, it correctly finds it, but if you just search for Camp Ondessonk it puts a pin in the map in the wrong location, looks like a few miles away from the actual camp, at somebody's house. Hopefully they'll get this fixed soon.

This is a decent place to go on the weekends if you're too young to get in the bars or if you just…read morewant to bowl! It's a great place to meet people, and it's easy to get to. It's affordable and entertaining for all ages.

Had a really nice weekend at Ferne Clyff. There are 18 trails that are maintained and for various…read morelevels, but be aware that nearly every trail has poison ivy just at the edge of pathways. There's lots to do, whether you're there to hike, bike, climb, or relax in nature. The camping grounds are a bit crowded, but most everyone keeps to themselves and are very friendly. There are lots of primitive restrooms throughout the park, but maintained with plumbing restrooms are only available for overnight paid guests. If you forget firewood, there is a place near the main campground restrooms where you can get bundles of firewood from a vet owned business. As of 5/8/2026 when I'm writing this, each bundle is $5 and can be paid in cash or QR.

This is my go to hiking park when I need to introduce someone to the beauty of SoILL on a tight…read moretime budget. The Waterfall Trail is flat and wide and boasts a fun waterfall in wet seasons, but also lovely bluffs and wildlife even when it's dry. My favorite hike was on a cold January day. We started with flurries, and the ground was completely white when we completed it. My kids are also HUGE fans of the Hawks Cave hike. Lots of fun boulders to climb on and explore. It's a short (though a bit steeper) hike, but begs you to linger at the cave.

Bowled here while visiting friends in the area. Facility is clean and modern with latest scoring…read moretech. Staff was friendly. We had a fun family outing.

Went bowling yesterday with my niece and she had won 1000 tickets after we spent 20$+ on the…read morearcade. When we turned out tickets into the machine it counted them and then wouldn't let us redeem them. When we asked a worker he said to pick out our prizes and he'd be back to get them out instead since the machine was broken. Then the rude ass owner decided she didn't want us to get our prizes and basically told us "sorry can't help you" I've never had a good experience here. 10/10 don't recommend. It was so bad I want to give you a zero but that's impossible so instead I give you a one.

Come for the Garden of the Gods, stay for the wondrous hiking…read more If you drive 4.5 hours to see the Garden of the Gods, you also have to spend time hiking the actual forest it's in. That's what Emily and I did after taking in the breathtaking views at the Gardens. We kind of went into this blindly with just a map of the area. We backtracked a bit to this area that may have been something called Backpacker's Hike or something like that. Pictures say it was the Indian Point Trail. Anyways, we parked next to a few other cars and headed out to hike. I don't need to explain hiking but I will go over a few fun things we saw. There were more cliffs to enjoy but the views were just a bit less than stellar compared to the Gardens. Still great though. We saw a lot of places where people must've camped or hung out at night cause there were fire pits everywhere. We deviated from the path cause we were looking to hike as much as possible and ended up getting dead-ended about 4 times. While we were limited to this area of Shawnee, I would say we got a pretty good taste of what it offers. We got to see so many beautiful viewpoints and took plenty of great photos. I know this is just scraping the surface of what Shawnee National Forest offers and maybe some day I can go back and see all the other landmarks that this place is known for. Enjoy nature. It's a thing of beauty.

Loved the many places in the Shawnee National Forest! Of course we came down to this area for…read moreGarden of the Gods which is five stars, top three places in Illinois to visit! And we hiked there as well. The Shawnee is large and stretches east and west, so it's really like, two National forests in one! The town of Marion was lovely, and we camped at Cave in Rock on the Ohio River. I also visited Scratch Brewing in Ava, IL. There's so much to do on all sides of the Shawnee, I'd love to return to do more hiking!

Not a very friendly staff. Owner has many preconceived ideas about people without really getting to…read moreknow them. Sometimes has outbursts where others can hear, especially children. Many other choices.

Great Rad E Bikes. We were rained out but Jay graciously explained E Bikes and riding. What…read moreexperience he has. And high quality bikes