Shawnee National Forest, Southern Illinois 'Hidden Gem' for Tourists

Shawnee National Forest, southern Illinois 'hidden gem' for tourists

A growing number of visitors are discovering southern Illinois as a travel destination amid a recent effort to entice more people to visit for the summer season.

‘Hidden gem’: Growing number of visitors discovering southern Illinois as travel destination

Sonya Dymova Maggie Dougherty Medill Illinois News Bureau WOLF LAKE. Ill. — Standing on the edge of a 300-foot limestone bluff in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, Machaela Sweeney could thank the perfect words she typed into ChatGPT for bringing her to the unexpected spot. “I literally looked up lush, magical, fairytale areas,” she recalled, looking over the edge of the forest’s Inspiration Point Trail. A 30-year-old social worker fro…