It took an hour to drive to Little Grand Canyon, Illinois. I called Kyle midway and told him my original estimate would be 33.33% off. There were way too many stop lights on the highway there. Anyway, we pulled into the parking lot and soon started down the trail. Before us we'd seen a large couple. We quickly passed them. As we descended 365 feet into the canyon Erin commented that the lady was wearing high heels. As we started down a somewhat slick, sandstone side canyon into the main canyon I commented that she wouldn't likely make it this far in high heels. We followed steps cut into the sandstone side canyon and exited the rock walls into a wide flat floored canyon. Often we saw 60 - 100 foot sandstone cliffs on our left as we traversed across the canyon floor. We followed the trail along the bottom of the canyon heading west towards the impending sunset. As we progressed it was obvious that the canyon floor floods in high water.
The trail turned to the left and headed down a gloomy canyon. I was more interested in getting some pictures of the sunset and scenery lit by the fading sun so we worked our way around a boggy area to a sandstone grotto. Kyle hopped up into the grotto and soon urged Erin to join him for a picture. The cliffs in this area are quite tall possibly exceeding 100 feet. The sandstone is beautifully weathered and formed the entire height of the cliff. You can see small pockets, grottos, and other pretty textures in the cliff walls. We followed along the cliff until I got a view of the sunset where I took one picture. Then we crossed the valley to get a picture of another sandstone cliff lit by the fading, evening sun. The sky was whiter than I'd prefer and the cliff wasn't as accentuated as it had been earlier. After that, we routed back to the cars while we still had light. We then drove to Golden Corral for dinner and started the rather long drive home.
Little Grand Canyon
A side canyons leads to the floor of the Little Grand Canyon.
Erin and Kyle stand in a side canyon to Little Grand Canyon.
Little Grand Canyon
The sun sets next to tall sandstone cliffs in Little Grand Canyon.
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Little Grand Canyon
Kyle poses inside a sandstone grotto while hiking the Little Grand Canyon.
Kyle and Erin pose inside a sandstone grotto while hiking the Little Grand Canyon.
Little Grand Canyon
The last picture I took on my hike in the Little Grand Canyon.
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