[Music] [Music] if you're heading to the Great Outdoors be sure to think big I'm Wu's Lacy Spence and in this episode I'll share why you should take a hike to Giant City State Park take a hike on weiu is supported by R king America's Farm and Home Store camping supplies kayaks fishing and pet supplies and more find your store and more information regarding Roll King at rolling.com hi I'm Wei's Lacy Spence I've lived in Central Illinois my whole life and if there's one thing I've learned you don't have to go too far to find the beauty of the Great Outdoors come along with me as I visit a variety of parks and natural areas across Illinois and share why you should take a hike to each episode's location adventure and fun await in take a hike the miniseries thank you for joining us for this episode of take a hike I'm your host Lacy Spence and today we are among the Giants we are at Giant city state park and we have a fabulous guest with us today would you please introduce yourself to our viewers I would love to my name is Jennifer Rand Binger and I am the park naturalist here at the fabulous giant city state park and park naturalist uh is the best job in the world so I get to go out with people like lacy and take School groups out and do all the fun stuff see I have like the second best job in the world because I get to go around and meet people like you uh so let's just kind of start is there any history or anything behind Giant City State Park oh gosh there's so much history here so uh giant City State Park became a state park in 1927 but prior to that it was a huge tourist destination so when you get down to Giant City you quickly learn what the Giants of giant City are when you see our large Sandstone Rock formations so this has always been kind of a a draw for locals and tourists alike just because it's such a unique place I mean if you go a mile north of giant City State Park it's flat when you get down here uh you get the beautiful Sandstone limstone Bluffs in Southern Illinois yeah we are very familiar with the flat where we're from in Charleston and so when people come here uh there seems to be Recreation opportunities everywhere you look so can you kind of talk about about that what draws people in so here at Giant City my goodness where do I start there are so many things to do uh we have eight different hiking trails and they range from a third of a mile all the way to 12 miles uh we have a newly accessible trailer Post Oak Trail uh which is nice and flat and up to 88 standards um we have a 12mile backpacking Trail for those who want to maybe start trying their hand at backpacking it's a great little intro Trail it's 12 miles and then 6 miles in we have a campsite where people can camp uh we have horse stables here um so people can come and go horseback riding we also have horse trails people can bring their horses to the park and ride their horses here at Giant City On Our 12 mile Horse Trail we have climbing opportunity so where we're standing now is our fabulous devil stand table Trail which is a third of a mile and I don't know if you can see it or not but there are anchors here in the rocks and I'm actually surprised there aren't more climbers here today probably since it's a work day it's work day yeah but the weekends we'll bring more climbers here um we have unique flora and fauna so we have and this is my favorite Trail the Trillium Trail in the park is a TW mile loop it's an Illinois designated Nature Preserve and if you come mid to late April it is absolutely on fire with wild flowers it's absolutely beautiful um the namesake Trillium comes from all of the beautiful white trilliums but if you catch it just right you'll also see yellow selendine poppies and purple Larkspur pink geraniums it's absolutely fabulous so um and then we also have a very healthy Wildlife population here um we have um you know all of the traditional things that you would find in the forest in Southern Illinois you know skunk posum we have Bobcat here which if you're really lucky you'll get to see we have a very healthy deer population a turkey population which brings me to hunting we do allow hunting here at Giant city so we do get lots of hunters I mean the recreational possibilities here are just endless um we also have ponds for fishing for those who like to fish um and we have lots of creeks for getting in and stomping around and well gosh okay so there was a lot there let's back up let's unpack a couple of things so before we start a recording today you were telling me I believe it was of the trillum trail that there were some um special species discover there yeah tell about that sure uh so uh the Trillium Trail which I said was in Illinois designated Nature Preserve um in the late 1890s there were two plants discovered there never before known to science so the first one is the forb saxifrage and the frenches shooting star so I think it's pretty cool that never before known to science they were discovered here at Giant city state park and they still Bloom on our Trillium Trail so mid to late April again is the perfect time to come and see those blooming here at the park and I don't know if it's a display you keep up your round but in your Visitor Center there's a really neat display that tracks month by month what beautiful wild flowers you have around oh so um is it just April when is the best time to come check out the wild flowers so I would say just about any time is no time you love that yeah but really if you're wanting those spring ephemerals ephemeral meaning quickly fleeting so they're only around for a short time um when the forest canopy fills in then we lose our ephemerals but if you're wanting to see those beautiful spring ephemerals I would say mid to late April is the best time to come and and check those out it really depends on what kind of winter we've had and how how cold it's been but usually it's a pretty safe but to come mid to late April awesome and so then you also mentioned Wildlife again going through your Visitor Center um Flying Squirrels yeah can we talk about that we absolutely can you know as a Southern Illinois native I mean I grew up in this area I had no idea that we had flying squirrels and the reason being is that they're mostly nocturnal so of course when we're sleeping they're out moving around and they're very elusive but we do indeed have uh a great population of flying squirrels here in Southern Illinois uh we do have some flying squirrel boxes out in strategic locations um so we know we know they're here but they are elusive yeah really got to uh plan your trip if you were trying and are you allowed to be in the park at night or so the Park is open until 10: p.m. okay but our Trails do close at dusk and the reason being is because you know there's uh drop offs in the park and it can be a little dangerous so we prefer that people are off the trail by dusk now I was reading up on rock climbing not uh any sort of professional or anything like that but I have to ask um in one of the info packets I suppose it was talking about reaching into the holes and there may or may not be wildlife in there so that's yes yes so you know in Illinois we have three venomous snakes in Southern Illinois so that would be your timber rattlesnakes which are beautiful and very elusive we have the water moccasins which you can find if you go down south like to cash River but here at Giant City we have copper heads um and so it's not like you're going to see copper heads everywhere and when it's warm like this they tend to stay where it's nice and cool um but yeah I mean it's always a good thing to be aware of the fact that we do have a venomous snake here at the park um there's a lot of popular misconceptions about venomous snakes unfortunately um I am an Enthusiast I love to photograph them and contrary to popular belief I have never had a snake chase me or try to get me it's quite the opposite they don't want to be anywhere around people and if you think about it giant City State Park gets a million visitors a year yeah that's a lot of food foot traffic coming through the trails so those snakes are not going to be anywhere out where there's going to be people and if somebody does happen to see one um you know if you they're going to do one of two things they're either going to stay perfectly still and and hope that you don't see them or they're going to try to get away as quickly as possible but if you are out climbing it is always a good idea to look where you're placing your hands first and that's not just for rock climbers that's for hikers as well if you're hiking and you're stepping over log you always want to look first before you step um and I have to say for visitors to come to Giant City and see a copperhead snake you would be very lucky fair enough I mean that's that's all I needed to hear um the creepy crawlies are not exactly my favorite so as we're standing here today in the shade under some beautiful trees it's a gorgeous day um I have to ask there's several trees that you can see when you come here quite a variety are you able to speak to that at all oh my gosh yeah so we are dominantly an oak Hickory Forest um which makes for a very healthy ecosystem but you can also see things like right here we have a shagar hicky and you see the Shaggy Bark and it's great habitat for bats um we also have uh things like SASS ofas and right now two of my favorite trees are doing their thing and that would be the peman trees and the Papas so Pop I don't know if you've ever had either of those fruits I've at least heard of Pon but I've not heard of the other one yeah okay so POA is an understory tree um and it gets these really beautiful green fruits on it it looks kind of like um oh uh kind of like a short green banana yeah and they're very Squat and so it's hard to find this fruit because uh a lot of the critters also like this fruit and will eat it so um but we did manage to get some recently and it tastes kind of like the cross between a mango and a banana they're absolutely delicious yeah so and then of course with the pop or with the pons um you know the old wives ta.. the pons right yeah they're like uh I don't think prognosticator is quite the word I want thinking of uh the groundhog but it can predict for winter right yes yeah so you're supposed to be able to uh well they're delicious first of all but you're supposed to be able to cut the seed open and find either a knife a spoon or a fork um I've tested this Theory several years and I don't know how true it true it is but everything that I found this year has been a spoon so down here in Southern Illinois we're really hoping for some snow sure so well and I feel like across the state a lot of parks have been telling me that they're dealing with drought so it would be nice to get at least a little extra moisture from somewhere yeah um and so we've also run into some folks today who are out searching for salamanders yeah and so is this a good place for sure so you know for herps in general I think giant city is a great place but you always want to make sure that your respectful when you're out because you have to think about this is the animals home so um you you want to keep your distance but it is a great place to look for salamanders and I encourage people to do so but respectfully um what I usually will do is take a flashlight and then look in some of the water cracks in the Rocks um and those are great places to find slimy salamanders or cave salamanders or a longtail salamander so there's lots of great herping opportunities here at Giant City and again like I said you you want to be respectful and you want to do it in a respectful way uh you know if you're if you're looking for herbs you want to make sure you keep your distance obviously even if it's a non-venomous snake um I tell people all the time you know you don't want to pick them up or harass them because would you want somebody coming into your house no ma'am and pick so just be respectful but.. a lot of really wonderful herping opportunities here and not just here at Giant City but in Southern Illinois in general and so another thing that we were talking about before we started um there are there's another historic tie there are um structures that we can view that tell maybe a mysterious story so let's kind of dive into that exp that so so the stoneport trail yeah in in in the park so we have a trail called Stone Fort it is a third of a mile it's a relatively short Trail but it takes you up to the top of a mini Bluff um this is one of the 11 stone forts that we have distributed across Southern Illinois and what's really interesting about them is that they're a mystery so I think when people hear the term Stone Fort they think there's going to be a big structure on top of this BL there some elaborate for GU when you get up there honestly it's a pile of rocks okay so you have to think about who built these structures so we're talking um late Woodland cultures of indigenous people so roughly 400 to 9900 ad and think about the fact that giant city is a huge tourist destination it it was even before we became a state park in 1927 so the effect that that has on the structure it really has a pile of rocks okay which doesn't sound very impressive but um there's something about the mystery that I is really intriguing um there's a gentleman who's writing a book about the mysterious Stone forts of Illinois and there are a lot of theories out there um I've heard a theory that they were ceremonial um they were defensive structures um my favorite is the theory that a very friendly Park Visitor shared with me once that they were extraterrestrial so it's up for interpretation I tend to think it's probably more along the lines of maybe a ceremonial structure sure but if you look at a map of the stone fors and you look at a map of Illinois they kind of are dotted across the landscape from River to River so it's just this really little unique mystery that we have have here at Giant city state park no I love that and it lets your imagination roam a little bit sure you know try to picture what was here back in the day yeah uh so in our next segment we're going to be um tagging along to tag monarchs with a Homeschool Group and one thing before we get into that can you kind of dive into the importance of tagging why are we doing that what is that process absolutely so this time of year in September when the daylight is decreasing and the temperatures are going down although it doesn't feel like it today the Monarch um the monarchs are doing something really interesting so this generation of monarch caterpillars that are emerging from their Crysis are specially adapted to be able to fly thousands of miles so they're migrating to Mexico um and so what has been happening is their populations have been declining in recent years due to habitat loss so there is um lots of research that's being done and we participate in something called Monarch watch is it's through the University of Kansas and so anybody can do it you can go online through Monarch watch you order tags for a very nominal fee um and then they send you the information and so here at Giant City we open it up for the entire month for the public to come out um contact us let us know when you're coming so we can make sure we have enough supplies uh so we we set them up we show them how to do it why we talk about why we're doing it um and then we send them out to the fields with Nets and we see what we can get so This research is really important so that they can track their migration patterns um and then we also educate on why planting milked is very important for the Monarch um and um it's just a great program and it gets families outside so it's a win-win yes and we most definitely love our pollinators because they Keep Us Alive that's right so uh before we wrap up is there anything about Giants City that I haven't asked about I want to give you the floor that people need to know and maybe why they should visit yeah so I you know giant City really is a hidden treasure um we have people as close as St Louis which is two hours away and they come to me and they say my gosh I had no idea um just because of the landscape of the sandstone rocks that we have here um you know there's just so many recreational opportunities in Southern Illinois in general and giant City really is is um it's just a Hidden Gem we have people who come who said they've lived in Illinois their whole lives and they didn't even know that we existed which to me is very sad because there's there's so much to do here and so much to see yeah uh so I just really want to encourage people to come out to the park and and see what we have to offer because it's a very beautiful place I mean I know I'm a little biased but it really is a wonderful place to visit now the proof is in the pudding we could see it it's beautiful here so I also want to run back through through just really quick so you said there is a camping opportunity at least on that 12mile trail is there camper camping around there are so we have a a family campground with 85 sites uh and those reservations can be made online Okay um we also have 25 sites that are first come first sered awesome um and they are there is electricity there for people who like to do more of the the camper camping with the lamping yes but then also we have uh primitive sites as well for those who like to rough it a little bit more so and then you had mentioned the horseback riding and they're um like a separate concessioner type of thing so we do have a concessioner here for people who don't have horses they can come they can take trail rides but we also have a horse campground that's specially designated for horseback Riders who bring their horses and we have a beautiful 12 Mile Trail around the park where people can come and horseback ride and then is there there's a lodge around here but it's not technically you all either it's also a concessionaire so yeah so that the L does belong to the state of Illinois it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps uh and during the Great Depression um so we had CCC camps here at Giant City and really the ccc's have made giant City the park it is today um they built the lodge and if you drive through the park you see all of these beautiful stone retaining walls that were built in the 1930s so it's a true Testament to their handiwork so without the Civilian Conservation Corps there would be no giant City Lodge and there would be uh you know the the park wouldn't be as nice as it is today and so the lodge offers food is there also where you can stay or um you know it's funny when I tell people I work at Giant City the first words out of their mouth are usually Fried Chicken which is great I've had it can vouch it's delicious and I do want to say that the fried chicken is a very important part of the park um it hurts my heart just a little bit because there's so much more to see at Giant City but yes the fried chicken is a huge draw um and not only do they have all you can eat fried chicken but they also have uh cabins where people can can run a cabin and and come and stay in the park and in our last minute or so here can you talk about just Southern Illinois in general because in addition to how amazing giant city is while you're in the area there's also plenty to see you were telling me Oh Boy we could do a whole segment on Southern yeah so this is my playground um it really is a miraculous place there's just about every kind of ecosystem that you could want from swamps if you go down to the cash river which is a beautiful state site there's water tuo and Cypress swamps um and you can walk a boardwalk and see where the the snakes have gone through the duckweed and the water tupo and the Cypress are hanging down it's beautiful to a snake road and in the Shaunie National Forest Pine Hills uh we've got Garden of the Gods there's just about every ecosystem you could possibly want in Southern Illinois and for anybody who loves to go outdoors and spend time outside there is absolutely no no way you're going to be bored visiting Southern Illinois um there's all kinds of recreational opportunities we have lakes we have Rivers uh it's just a great place to visit and spend time well Jen thank you so much for running through everything giant City and I'm really excited to meet some new friends um little bit littler and um some that flutter so don't go anywhere take a hike we'll be right back we're going to go tag some monarchs [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and welcome back we are about to have a lot of fun checking out some monarch butterflies today and I have two fabulous new guests with me can you introduce yourselves start with you I Rachel Sullivan and I'm Jackie sis wonderful so who do we have here today is it a Homeschool Group or we are a Homeschool Group We Are Wild and Free of Carbondale Illinois awesome and so how did you get connected with giant City to uh be doing this today we're all pretty local um we kind of surround the area um so being homeschooled we have a lot of time throughout the day to Rome we like to be outside yeah and we have a hiking group so we go all over Southern Illinois and a lot of giant CI so um yeah you have some more flexibility to do that which is great um about how many kids do you have here today uh 20 20 to 25 I'd say and I see a pretty good range in age yes can you talk about that a little bit yeah so our kids age um from one I think our oldest is about 15 but being homeschooled it's wonderful honestly that all the age groups get to kind of congregate together um they all take care of each other it's perfect yeah it's a different flow and we love that and we love that they're getting out of Nature and really experiencing it so um I'll go ahead and let you all kind of get to it um it looks like the kids are taking off and so let's have some fun and T some monarchs I've had a lot of coffee that real it is a real Monarch does have no so this is a female so if this were a male there'd be two little black dots on either side can I hold it well we're going to put it in there and we're everybody will get a chance to touch one when we're done how's that sound no just be very gentle super don't pinch it just with your finger so I'm holding it very lightly so you know monarchs are specially adopted because they're going to fly thousands of miles away so a lot of times when you touch what is it am I a are you a you are a beautiful girl that's what you are but so this Monarch is going to fly thousands of miles away so it's specially adapted and it scales on its wings don't come off on your finger so it's tough it's super to you want to try how about we put it in the nut you think yeah in the carrying Cas all right oh you got a great Spangled fleary in there good job yay so I saw least three just walking across the road I'll try and round everybody up those are just Mom I think it's a girl I don't see any black dots no pass any up you can get in there too if you feel comfortable number four is full oh where's that ready across the road there's nothing quite like watching the next generation of Bunning naturalists getting to spend the day with The Great Outdoors as their playground and classroom the takahik crew wants to give another big thanks to The Homeschool Group Wild and Free of Carbondale Illinois for letting us tag along on their Monarch tagging heel day and to Jennifer Randol Binger and giant city state park for having us for this episode hopefully you'll consider giant City for one of your next destinations to take a hike to thank you for joining us for this episode and we'll see you next time [Applause] [Applause] [Music] take a hike on weiu is supported by R king America's Farm and Home Store camping supplies kayaks fishing and pet supplies and more find your store and more information regarding r King at ring.com