Searching For Sasquatch And Superman In Southern Illinois
It doesn't seem like an obvious place to search for more insight into two of America's most celebrated fictional beings — Sasquatch and Superman.
But Southern Illinois surprises in a lot of different ways.
Comprising 10 counties, the region forms a rough triangle bounded by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Depending on where in the state's deep south you're headed, it's around a five-to-six-hour drive from Chicago, but only two hours by road from St. Louis.
Another way that locals demarcate the region is everything south of U.S. Highway 50, which shoots arrow-straight across the state from St. Louis to Louisville.
It's not just distance that defines Southern Illinois from the rest of the Land of Lincoln. The contrast with 'stormy, husky, brawling' Chicago (to quote Carl Sandburg) couldn't be more stark. But the area is also miles apart from the prairie corn belt that runs across the middle of the state.
What you get instead are low rolling hills covered in the thick woods of Shawnee National Forest, rock formations that would look more at home in Utah or Arizona, and charming riverfront towns that are small but historically significant.
How does this segue into Sasquatch and Superman? Read on to find out . . .
Hanging out with "Sassy," the iconic Bigfoot statue near Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National ... More Forest.
The Secretive Shawnee Hills
Running east-west across the region between the two rivers, the Shawnee Hills aren't very prominent. The highest point is Williams Hill at just 1,065 feet (five Chicago skyscrapers are actually taller).
They compensate for that lack of altitude with sprawling wilderness, much of it within the confines of Shawnee National Forest. Established in 1933 on lands that had been over-logged and over-farmed for a century, the park was rehabilitated with help from the Civilian Conservation Corps to the point where it's now one of the most wooded areas in the lower Midwest.
Shawnee is a hiker's paradise. The AllTrails hiking app recommends more than 100 routes in the region. Most are rated easy or moderate, but there's also more gnarly treks like the 10-mile Panther's Den Trail, the 45-mile Tunnel Hill State Trail and the 151-mile River to River Trail backpacking route. For those who want to get off the grid, the national forest harbors seven federally designated wilderness areas.
For those who can't make the longer hikes, short trails lead through the incredible rocky warrens at Garden of the Gods, the Little Grand Canyon and Giant City to geological wonders formed over millions of years.
The rugged topography also provides plenty of places for creatures to hide. According to the most recent data from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), Sasquatch has been sighted 45 times in Southern Illinois, many of the incidents in Shawnee National Forest.
A statue of a female Bigfoot that locals call 'Sassy' keeps watch over Karbers Ridge Road near Herod. The nearby Garden of the Gods Outpost general store hawks ice cream, snacks, camping supplies, t-shirts and all sorts of Sasquatch swag, from fridge magnets and coffee mugs to socks, soap and plush toys.
View over Shawnee National Forest from the Garden of the Gods.
From Krypton to Metropolis
Superman may have been born on the planet Krypton and raised in Smallville, Iowa by the Kents. But he didn't realize his full superhero potential until moving to Metropolis, where he went undercover as newspaper reporter Clark Kent.
The Metropolis of movies and comic books is obviously New York City. But that didn't stop Metropolis, Illinois from adopting the Man of Steel as their own native son.
The world's largest Superman statue guards the town square near the Super Museum with more than 20,000 Superman artifacts. Farther up Market Street are a Lois Lane statue and a whimsical Super Big Boy figure. The local newspaper is called The Planet after the comic book version. And Metropolis stages a Superman Celebration festival in June.
All this superhero shtick distracts from the city's real history. Fort Massac on the Ohio River waterfront is a faithful reconstruction of an 1802 American fort built on the site of a French stockade erected in 1757 to safeguard the region from British invasion during the French & Indian War.
Upstream from Metropolis are other historic landmarks like the Kincaid Mounds Archeological Site and Cave-in-Rock, a large cavern that once sheltered the notorious Samuel Mason and his pioneer-era river pirates. Cave-in-Rock village is the Illinois terminus of the last vehicle ferry across the Ohio River, a short cruise over to the Amish Country of western Kentucky.
It's not all nature and history.
There's a Shawnee Hills Wine Trail for sampling the local vintages at a dozen wineries and a Southern Illinois Coffee Trail that links 50 different spots where you can sip a cup of joe. As the region's largest city and home of Southern Illinois University (SIU), Carbondale offers a large array of restaurants and nightlife.
Historic Fort Massac overlooks the Ohio River in Metropolis.
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