Giant City State Park

Book excerpt: Anyone wanting to understand how Giant City State Park in rural Makanda earned its name need only hike on the Giant City Nature Trail. Here they walk through the parks namesake rock formations, carved 20,000 years ago by the melting waters of a Pleistocene glacier that stopped a mere 1.5 miles from the park. Yet it wasnt until 1933 to 1941, when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated its three work camps, that man blazed his most notable trail in the parks history. The CCCs work since then has been enjoyed by millions of park visitors to its stone picnic shelters, trails throughout the park, and the massive Giant City Lodge.