Has Anyone Visited The Shawnee National Forest? (snake, boat)

[dega266]

I have never been myself but my husband spent alot of time down there when he was in college, he was a active member of S.E.A.C (Student Environmental Action Coalition) They did alot of Enviromental rallys down there. He said its very pretty, i have seen pictures before, i cant wait to go myself at some point.

[sunshine girl]

Original question asked about living in the Goreville area. Lived most of my life not too far west of there. Goreville is a small town, no big industry or job opportunities. Have been gone from area for 5 years now, so they might have a super Wal mart now for all I know, but didn't then. Safe place to live in retirement. Low, to no crime. Pretty area. Lots of trees and hills. Quiet. Hope this helps some.

[sunshine girl]

And yes, there are some predominantly black communities in deep So. IL, but Goreville is not one of them, that was the other part of your original question.

[webgodess2003]

This is a beautiful place to be! For more information visit: USDA Forest Service - Web site Unavailable Message

Carbondale, IL, Paducah, KY & Evansville, IN are within a few miles of the forest...

Come see us!

[suchance]

Okay enough about beauty... I agree, but if they are moving, they have to have income. Southern Illinois is not know for career wealth. There are not that many jobs out there that pay great wages unless you work for the university or are lucky enough to work for a branch of some other large business. Face it, Southern Illinois is known for the place of poverty in Illinois (outside of parts of Chicago), as far as medical care, child care, etc etc etc. It has problems coming up with money to fund lots of programs. In addition, althought I totally love the landscape south of Carbondale, you have to be a nature lover and learn how to make your own fun. Because summers are boring. No programs for the kids like larger cities or further north that I am aware of, even 4H is being cut back due to Govenor B. They don't even have a public pool, which I thought due to their size there should be one. So you have to use the lake system.

[linicx]

I've probably beem om SNF and don't remember the names. I know I began my journey in southern Illinois and followed the road into Missiouri and thru the Mark Twain Forest to near Sprrinfield.

Tom Bigbee in Mississipi is another awesome forest.

[linicx]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

As is NW IL and central IL (near Ottawa). The rest of the state is cornfield wastelands. Peaceful, but ugly.

Yes, Illinois is in the Livestock and Grain bellt, but to brand evverything in the state ecept Chicago as wasteland is ridiculous. Drive on the byways for a chance of scenery. No state seems very interesting from the window of any vehicle on any Interstate. Try Il 29 from 1-80 to Springfield sometime. ..

In reality Illinois is surrounded by water on three sides, divided diagonally by a major river, and it has many lakes in the intereior. But from Chicago south to the confluence Illinois landscape is a mix of farmland, small towns, heavily forested areas, rolling hills, hight bluffs, businesses and a lot of beautiful scenenry.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by linicx

to brand evverything in the state ecept Chicago as wasteland is ridiculous.

I said that NW IL, southern IL and parts of central IL are gorgeous, never once did I say that "everything in the state except Chicago is a wasteland".

[sandgirl]

Shawnee is one of my favorite places. If you love nature it is the place to be.

[joee]

There's tons of places if a person wanted to hide out in so il but heck all over the entire states actually, so ill is a neat place but as steve-o says ya better be well aware of snakes, horse shoe lake in southwest il is super bad for them, gotta beat them away with a paddle to keep them away from your boat, rattlesnakes are a problem in certain areas and copperheads are all over the place.

As far as the cornfields lol, yup it's drive 20 miles look it's a corn field then 100 miles further down the road yup more corn but if your lucky it'll be soybeans