2025 6th Annual National Public Lands Day, Garden of the Gods Trash Blast

Several groups got together for a planned Trash blast on National Public Lands Day at The Southern Illinois landmark of The Garden of Gods on Saturday, September 27, 2025.  This has become an annual event in concurrence with the U.S. Forest Service, Friends of the Shawnee National Forest and River to River Trail Society, along with any other individuals that want to attend and clean up this great area. 

Alyssa Macuiba of the Forest Service,, Steve Melville of SNF Friends  & Chris Drone had discussed how many volunteers had responded and we each had only about 3-4 people that had contacted us, and Alyssa had a “list” she wanted to get accomplished. Well, we had over 20 that came together to be put to work, to pick up trash and clean graffiti. 

Alyssa gathered about half of the people to do work on the graffiti. She has a several step process: a) paint “elephant snot” on the graffiti, b) scrub it with a bristle brush dipped in water c) let set for 30 minutes, then d) Steve Melville of Shawnee National Forest Friends used a Dewalt, battery-powered pressure washer which sucked water out of a 5 gallon bucket…and cleaned it all off. Fantastic!!!

Other small groups picked up about 105 lbs of trash, including 1 tire, in many areas, such as, a) below the rocks of the observation trail, b) the observation trail c) around the camping area, the upper & lower parking areas, the Backpackers’ parking lot area and quickly scouted a few small other areas. 

It was a Very successful day, with hikers from various groups working together to beautify a Southern Illinois Gem. 

For more information and photos on the excellent work completed, take a look at the following report put together by the Friends of the Shawnee National Forest.

National Public Lands Day- Report_2025Download

2025 National Public Lands Day, 6th Annual Garden of the Gods Trash Blast

Hi all, we hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable summer considering everything going on. We in the Trail Society have been working on our fall hiking schedule which was released. In an effort to give back to the forest, the Trail Society is planning our 6th annual trash blast work day at Garden of the Gods on National Public Lands Day. National Public Lands Day is held annually on the on the fourth Saturday in September and is the largest single-day volunteer event for public lands. Join us and the Friends of the Shawnee National Forest at Garden of the Gods main parking lot at on Saturday September 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM to celebrate National Public Lands Day by helping to clean up the trash in area before the fall tourist season.

Depending on the number of volunteers that register, we plan on having several groups picking up in various areas. These would include below the observation trail, another group picking up along the observation trail and around the parking lots and a third group picking up at the backpackers parking lot and on the Indian Point Trail. If you are planning on volunteering please plan on bring your own gloves, water, trash pickup tools and snacks needed for the event. This trash blast will involve bushwhacking around the base of the observation area and in the woods below parking the parking lots.

It is requested that volunteers call or email Chris Drone (618-926-3250 or chris.drone@gmail.com) to register your participation. Please leave a message if no answer.

Let’s make this as successful as last years rescheduled event as shown in the pages photo.

2024 National Public Lands Day, 5th Annual Garden of the Gods Trash Blast

Hi all, we hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable summer considering everything going on. We in the Trail Society have been working on our fall hiking schedule which was released. In an effort to give back to the forest, the Trail Society is planning our 5th annual trash blast work day at Garden of the Gods on National Public Lands Day. National Public Lands Day is held annually on the on the fourth Saturday in September and is the largest single-day volunteer event for public lands. Join us and the Friends of the Shawnee National Forest at Garden of the Gods main parking lot at on Saturday September 28, 2024 at 9:30 AM to celebrate National Public Lands Day by helping to clean up the trash in area before the fall tourist season.

Depending on the number of volunteers that register, we plan on having several groups picking up in various areas. These would include below the observation trail, another group picking up along the observation trail and around the parking lots and a third group picking up at the backpackers parking lot and on the Indian Point Trail. If you are planning on volunteering please plan on bring your own gloves, water, trash pickup tools and snacks needed for the event. This trash blast will involve bushwhacking around the base of the observation area and in the woods below parking the parking lots.

It is requested that volunteers call or email Chris Drone (618-926-3250 or chris.drone@gmail.com) to register your participation. Please leave a message if no answer.

Lets make this as successful as last years event as shown in the pages photo.

Saturday March 9, 2024 Hike Summary

Saturday morning, March 9th, was cloudy and cool, as hikers met at the Garden of Gods camping parking area. The leader, Chris Drone, led 12 other hikers, with 1 new hiker. We consolidated vehicles, and moved over to the Backpackers parking lot, then headed NW out onto the trails. The 1st stop was “The Big H”, a rock formation about 30-40 ft. above the floor of the main trail. Several hikers had never been there before. Some took the opportunity to climb up to the formation, and ‘into” it.  We then continued down the stream, crossing it back and forth several times, then turned and went up a long hill. We walked thru the woods, until we got closer to some sandstone rock outcrops, where we ate lunch and took the group picture. We then continued, and, with the help & guidance of Sam Morales & Steve Melville, found formations such as Noah’s Ark, Starry Rock, Anvil rock, and, one rock that didn’t have a name for but, it was by Unanimous consent vote Not to name it after the hike leader. We met several hikers & couples during the day. We then turned, and mainly took a ‘walk thru the woods’ for a mile or so, and, we did something that Rarely happens…we “Gained” a hiker. He was out on the trail, and decided to follow us back. We had enough rain over the preceding 36 hours to make streams flow a bit, and to make some small waterfalls. We finished the day seeing the “Arch of the Gods. and then walked across the road to the Backpackers parking lot.. We hiked a bit over 5.5 miles, depending on whose app was checked. 

Next weeks hike will be led by Steve Melville meeting at 10 am at the Rim Rock parking lot. We will be “spotting” vehicles, because it will be a “one-way” hike. Steve has said the hike will be less than 5 miles.