A wonderful place to camp and ride the trails in Shawnee Nat'l Forest is Hayes Canyon Campground located at the north edge of Eddyville, IL. The owners, Patti and Ben, are super friendly and very accomodating. The office is at the entrance to the campground, and after checking in, Ben hops in his golf cart and leads you straight to your site. He'll even park your rig if you're needing help! Each horse has its own pen right behind your site. The pens are constructed of 3 strands of rebar and are uncovered, so be sure to pack a waterproof horse blanket for cool, rainy nights. A little manure cart is parked behind the pens for easy stall clean-up and are then emptied daily by a staff member.

     The campground offers 37 open sites along with lots of permanent campers so there are usually plenty of riders that will offer to show you the trails. Each site has water, electricity and sewer; most are well shaded, quite level and mostly gravel. Centrally located is a clean showerhouse which also includes a lounge where campers can gather in case of rain, watch TV or to simply relax and "hang out". It also has a laundry area and pay phone. If you bring along your laptop, you can sit on the huge covered porch at the office where you have access to free wi-fi.

     There are 2 trailheads leading out of camp, one of which takes you almost directly down to Hayes Creek. Located at the NE part of camp is the other trailhead where you'll find a unique "trail head" which is actually an outhouse with a flush toilet! It draws a lot of attention and comes in very handy for the sites right across from it.

     There is plenty of riding in the vicinity of the campground. Come prepared with compass and/or a GPS along with a map of the area. Currently, Ben and Patti offer campers a free map of the forest when checking in.

      You won't regret camping at this friendly well run campground.

     Click here to view a slideshow of some of the beautiful places a friend Jill and I rode to.