Road Trip Mistake #5: Getting Lost In Little Grand Canyon

Little Grand Canyon in Pomona IL is a great place to go hiking.

It’s not a great place to get lost.

It’s been a while since we made an egregious road trip mistake, but not following trail blazes and so getting lost deserved to make it on the list.

Here’s what happened.

We’d decided to go hiking in Little Grand Canyon as it had a three mile long loop trail. Seeing as it’s a moderate/difficult trail, that’d be long enough to provide a decent workout but short enough to be done in an afternoon. We were also curious how it’d compare to Providence Canyon State Park which is known as Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon.

Another benefit is that it’s free to visit – there are no entry fees or parking fees. It’s also pet-friendly, so we could bring our dog Truffles.

Little Grand Canyon is less than an hour’s drive from where we were staying at the Super 8 in Marion. We’d had a late start and so didn’t arrive until about 1:45pm; there was still plenty of parking available though.

Next to the parking lot was a notice board with a map of the Little Grand Canyon trail. You have three options when visiting:

1. Main Overlook – This takes you one mile out on the trail to an overlook of the surrounding area, then you walk the mile back.
2. Canyon Overlook – This takes you 0.4 miles out on the opposite side of the canyon and provides an overlook of the canyon. You then return along the same 0.4 mile stretch.
3. Little Grand Canyon Trail – This is the option we chose. This takes you the mile out to the main overlook, 1.6 miles down into the canyon and back up again, then the 0.4 miles of the Canyon Overlook section of the trail. Alternatively, you can take the trail in the opposite direction.

Little Grand Canyon is found in the Shawnee National Forest, so there are plenty of trees around as you set off on the trail.

The first mile of the trail was fairly easy and so it wasn’t long until we reached the Main Overlook. This offered some beautiful views of the surrounding area, with distant views of the creek below.

After taking in the views, we continued along the Little Grand Canyon trail. This took us back into the forest and started heading downwards into the canyon.

As always, Truffles wanted to lead the way.

We were grateful to have on our hiking shoes as, even though it was a nice day, much of this section of the trail was along slick rocks. As you can see in the photo below, the trail was marked with white blazes. Those blazes – or the lack of them – would prove to be important later.

You’ll need your hands free as you descend into the canyon as there are some slippery and fairly steep steps when heading down.

Once down in the canyon, we stopped for a quick family selfie.

The canyon had a magical feel with the tall canyon walls, sun shining through the trees and virtually no other hikers.

There were also some intriguing rock formations caused by erosion over the years.

After following the canyon floor for a while, we reached the point where it was time to head back up.

It was 3:45pm by this stage, so we decided to stop in the picturesque spot below to have a late lunch with the picnic we’d brought with us.

While eating our lunch, we saw a couple of other hikers head up the path with their three dogs. They removed their dogs’ leashes to make it easier to clamber up, so we decided to do that with Truffles once we’d finished eating.

We don’t normally trust Truffles off-leash because if she saw a squirrel or chipmunk, she’d be off. There didn’t seem to be any wildlife on this part of the trail though, so we let her roam free and she had a grand old time.

I was glad not to have her pulling me along on her leash as the rocky ground was extremely slick. So slick in fact that I slipped over at one point and almost booted her in the face.

Despite how slippery it was, this part of the trail was especially beautiful.

At some point around there, we made our mistake. We kept following what seemed to be the trail but which, as it turns out, wasn’t the route we were supposed to take.

Shae and I chatted about the lack of white trail blazes, but I figured that the blazes might have only marked the first mile of the trail to the Main Overlook. That was dumb of me as a) we’d seen the white blazes beyond the Main Overlook and b) even if that had been the case, there would’ve been some other kind of trail markers instead.

We decided to keep heading uphill though as there was still some kind of path through the forest.

The path got narrower and narrower until it was virtually non-existent. At this point, we continued heading up a steep incline, assuming we’d have to head uphill in order to get out of the canyon.

Once we reached the top, we were relieved to arrive at a well-defined gravel path. The only issue now was knowing whether to turn left or right on it. We were a little turned around, but thought we needed to head left. The path heading to the left also had a slight incline which suggested it was heading away from the canyon which is what we wanted.

We’d thankfully calculated correctly, as we arrived back at the parking lot about ten minutes later. We must’ve missed the trail markers pretty badly though, as we’d ended up on the path heading back from the Main Overlook that we’d taken out at the start of the hike. We should’ve come out of the canyon on the other side along the Canyon Overlook section of the trail, but we were back safely and that’s all that mattered!

Final Thoughts

Despite getting lost, we had a very enjoyable hike at Little Grand Canyon. Part of that was due to its challenging trail down into the canyon and back up again, with beautiful views along the way.

If you’re looking for somewhere fun to hike in Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, Little Grand Canyon is a great -and free – option. So long as you don’t get lost 😉 Be sure to also check out Garden Of The Gods with its rock formations and stunning views.

Address

Little Grand Canyon, Pomona, IL 62975