Mississippi Palisades

While we were in Illinois for Thanksgiving, I took off Saturday AM and went out to the Palisades where we used to camp, hike, and climb. I had not been there in over a year and suprisingly, a lot had changed. I forgot how pretty the river bottom is. It's incredibly large compared to the Missouri River. I always thought that they would be of similar size, but the Missouri is a trickle compared to the Miss.



The sentinel tower that we used to climb (120' limestone pillar) had a sign that said not to climb on the south column. When we used to climb, the top of the south pillar was always a little wobbly on top; now it must be to the point that someone could knock it off.

All throughout the park on top of the bluffs, there are sinkholes that are full of sediment & debris. I have probed them, hoping to poke through to the underworld, but never found anything. This trip I was exploring one and found that the bottom had finally broken through to the cavern below (lower picture). I wish I had a rope & harness (and another person) with me. The cave looked like it went down for a while and would be explorable. Maybe next trip.