For this weeks adventure, we took the advice of my coworker Evan. He told us to try Salt Lick Point in Valmeyer, Illinois. So we saddled up for what we thought was Father's Day. We figured out that it wasn't actually Father's Day today...it's Flag Day?? Anyway, it got Eli to come with us, because he thought he was doing Dad a solid by going along with us on our adventure.
Calendar mistakes aside, it turned out to be a very interesting place. Many people know that Illinois is flat. And there is a lot of flat. But there are bluffs and crazy steep hills if you look in the right places, and Valmeyer has no shortage of killer bluffs and views. They're pretty insistent on not letting people go into the old caves and mines here which was a huge bummer because they look so awesome.
The 3-ish mile loop starts on a dead flat parking lot. We chose the Johnson Trail, which takes you along a dead flat path right next to the rocky bluffs.
Whoa. Cool cave in the side of the bluff straight away along the trail. The sun made this shot particularly awesome.
Next up was a small inlet that allowed us to get up close to some bluffs and a cave. This is a weird panoramic shot that I was really pleased with...but it doesn't really show the awesomeness of the bluff. You'd have to see it for yourself.
At the end of the Johnson trail (1 mile, I think) was the start of the trail up to Salt Lick Point. It went UP AND UP, super steep like, for about .8 miles, at times up to 24%.
I was a bit ahead of the Beautiful Mrs K and Eli, so I took a photo, again one that doesn't show the gradient. But if you zoom in on the photo, dead center is Eli. That may help you with the steepness.
On the way up, we saw this dude. Talk about blending in with the scenery. If he hadn't moved, we would not have seen him in the first place.
Atop the mountain, we could look out on the flat farm fields below. Not in the photo would be the St. Louis skyline, way, way off in the distance.
Another really cool cave, right at the end of the trail. Nice, cool air around this one. Looked like a great place to hide a body, Eli kept reiterating.
Last cool view. I was very disappointed not to be able to go into this one. It lead straight out to the parking lot. At one time, maybe people were able to use this part of the trail, but not any more.
Very cool family friendly hike. Just be sure that you are ready to climb. The total distance for us was 3.1 miles with an elevation gain of 482 feet!
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