Jul 25, 2015 — The Little Grand Canyon is an incredibly unqiue feature, located in Shawnee National Forest, IL. The loop begins with an easy walk leading quickly to a gorgeous green chute with ferns and mosses and a flowing stream that give the spot a fairytale-like quality. After descending the chute into the canyon, I was met with a completely flooded trail and uncountable mosquitoes, forcing me to turn around to do the other side of the loop hike from the opposite direction, rather than completing the loop. After a boring ridge hike wide enough for a truck, I got to a pretty overlook and then headed down into the canyon again through lush greenery. Of course, at the bottom, I was met with a flooded trail and the mosquitoes rejoiced to see me again. For the sake of removing confusion, the photos below are in order of the full loop (as if there wasn't any flooding), rather than my haphazard way of doing this hike.
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