Garden of the Gods Wilderness is a 3,318-acre sandstone wilderness in southern Illinois within Shawnee National Forest, known for rugged scenery unusual in a state largely shaped by glaciers. Formed from sandstone laid down about 300 million years ago, then uplifted and deeply eroded, the area features hoodoos, cliffs, overlooks, and such prominent formations as Anvil Rock, Camel Rock, and Table Rock. Part of a broader second-growth forest on former farmland, it became federal forest land in the 1930s, entered Shawnee National Forest in 1939, and gained wilderness protection in 1990 under the Illinois Wilderness Act. Easy trail access has made it Illinois’s most-visited wilderness area.