Little Grand Canyon
landmark in the Shawnee National Forest in Jackson County, Illinois, United States
The Little Grand Canyon (officially named Grand Canyon) is a box canyon located in Shawnee National Forest in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, south of Murphysboro. It is located on the east bank of the Big Muddy River across from Turkey Bayou to the west, between Swallow Rock to the north and Chalk Bluff to the south. Access to the park is gained from Hickory Ridge Road to the east. The area was designated a National Natural Landmark in February 1980.
Description
Erosion carved this deep box canyon from the sandstone of the Shawnee Hills, opening into the floodplain of the Mississippi River near Turkey Bayou. The canyon contains several seasonal and a few permanent waterfalls, some descending through dramatic cascades of sculpted sandstone. The 3.6-mile (5.8 km) trail is marked by white diamond blazes and begins in the upland hardwood forest. The trail then descends through a steep and sometimes slippery sandstone side canyon to the lusher, damper habitat of the canyon floor. The ascent from the canyon requires a small amount of climbing at the Three Sisters Waterfall. Stone steps on parts of the trail were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, not by Native Americans as some believe.
“Little Grand Canyon” enters the record as landmark in the Shawnee National Forest in Jackson County, Illinois, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Little, Grand and Canyon can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Little Grand Canyon” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Little, Grand and Canyon provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6650186. Authority coordinates are 37.686, -89.398. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Little Grand Canyon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.