Best Hikes in Illinois

Illinois' ranked summits aren't the state's real high ground — Charles Mound, the actual state high point at 1,227 feet up in the far-northwest corner near the Wisconsin line, is still an unverified queue entry without a confirmed route, so it isn't in this list yet. What's live instead tops out at Wamble Mountain, 942 feet, with Gander Mountain and Coffman Bluff-adjacent Devils Backbone close behind — a scatter of wooded rises across the state rather than one range. A few entries give away exactly how a nearly flat state finds "summits" at all: Mounded Landfill and Mount Trashmore are both reclaimed landfill hills, not natural terrain. The shortest hike in the group is Mount Hoy's 0.3-mile out-and-back; Garden of the Gods, the Shawnee National Forest rock-formation overlook in the state's southern tip, is the longest at 9.3 miles. 15 more Illinois summits are already queued in the database — these 10 are simply the ones with a confirmed route and elevation profile today.