The 6-mile Lower
Cache River Canoe Trail is located in southern Illinois in parts of
Johnson County and
Pulaski County and is marked with international signs. It meanders through backwater sloughs taking the visitor to the Illinois champion bald cypress tree. The river's swamp trail parallels Cypress Creek and is an excellent trail for wildlife observation, especially at dusk when the swamp comes alive with nocturnal noises.
To observe the 1,000-year old trees is to gaze upon the area where they were sapplings at the time Lief Ericsson visited the continent. Their buttresses (the flared bases of the trees) exceed 40 feet in circumference.
