This cache will hopefully give you the chance to really experience this valley. From the parking spot you will walk in along Cedar Creek and below the bluffs, search for Native American Rock Art at Buffalo Rock, Explore some rock shelters to see some petrified wood & bolders in the creek - be sure to find a place to sit and soak in the sights and sounds of this great place.
Parking for Buffalo Rock is at (N37 29.799 W88 45.536), the trail leads out of the back of the parking area. Follow the trail just over 1/3 of a mile to Buffalo Rock (N37 30.074 W88 45.680)
The Buffalo Rock site consists of an ocher buffalo painting on the wall to the left of rock shelter overhang. Shelter is adjacent to the old Golconda-Kaskaskia Trail that once connected the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Painting may have historic Native American (post-1673) origin. Although it could be earlier, as buffalo are believed to have first crossed the Mississippi River into southern Illinois around 1450."
Rock art can be very difficult to see due to the vegetation growth in Southern Illinois. There are seven small, faint, rust colored paintings under the rock shelter to the right of Buffalo Rock. The other paintings include a small crescent-shaped moon and an equal-arm cross. Please remember that the rock art in the area has survived for 300 to 1000 years, please do not touch or disturb it in any way.
After finding the cache and seeing Buffalo Rock you can continue below the bluff about 300 feet north of the painted buffalo to search for petrified wood in the roof of a rock shelter, look for the rock layer with lots of pebbles in it. Continue north below the bluff until the creek blocks you and there you will find a little more adventurous climb out of the valley to a ledge if you would like to see the valley from above or you can find a spot to sit on some rocks in the creek and listen to the sounds of the valley.
After you find the cache remember there is a whole other side of the valley. Across the creek there are many large boulders that have passages between, the boulders and between the boulders and the bluff, they are a great place to explore. There are also three more caches north along Cedar Creek: Arch cache, Sweetheart falls and Cedar Creek cache. They can be reached by a 3 mile hike (6 mile round trip) from the parking area for Buffalo Rock. There will be 3 to 6 creek crossings. From the cache you can continue north along the top of the bluff to the large rock fall, waterfall for the next spot to get back into the valley and to the trail to the other caches. Primitive camping is allowed at the parking coordinates, backcountry camping is allowed throughout Shawnee National Forest, http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/shawnee/recreation/camping/