Bjork’s Cave — Attraction in Illinois

Very scenic and quiet. Bit there is definitely someone living there. We parked at the top of the fall at first and hiked along the top of the bluffs. We came across a layer over tent with a roll of toilet paper 🧻 hooked on top of a tree close by that appeared to be old looked like it had been rained on. We stood there looking wondering why someone would leave their tent like that but then hiked on past. When we realized the trail wouldn't lead us to the bottom of the fall any time soon we turned around and headed bk toward the car and when we got to the tent again there was a shovel and machete right where we had stood when we were looking at the tent on our way in. I am positive it had not been there before.we quickly made our way bk to the car and drove up the road a short distance and found the actual trail head and decided to hike it down to the bottom of the fall. Not much water but still nice. Never seen a single person but had the eerie feeling of...

What a great discovery! We spent a long weekend in the area exploring the local state parks and came upon Bjork's Cave from a local recommendation. What a beautiful place. We returned here 3 times throughout our stay to enjoy swimming in the cool water (we were under a heat advisory, so it was a much needed reprieve). The access road isn't the greatest, very narrow and has washed out badly in recent rains. It's worse coming from the East, but also closer to Goreville which was near where we were staying. If you park in the small parking area to the West of the falls, there are a couple of trails you can take. The marked trail, and a smaller dirt trail to the left. The main trail is much longer, and you have to backtrack quite a ways to get to the falls. The dirt trail, while more rugged, will have you there in minutes. A local did tell me that in dry months the falls & swimming hole dry up, but it was absolutely awesome when...

Beautiful (caution… read at the end) beautiful beautiful beautiful. Short hike to reveal amazing petrology. With heavy rainfall recently, the waterfall was awesome. My wife and daughter hiked behind the fall and said it was so interesting to see how fast the wind was blowing. The rock formations made me think that God was on injured reserve that day and the substitute designer was Salvador Dali. (He later received exaltation to red shirt as a human based on this portion of his work.) There were well maintained trails and several water stream created trails. All of that being said… the trail that is near the road and fall has no form of barrier. It is a direct ledge with a multiple story drop. Be aware and if you are responsible for someone with limited ability or is overcoming decision making deficits, keep them and yourself away from that trail. There are plenty of ways to witness this...