I ran into bhouse46 and he was asking about Southern Illinois paddling opportunities. I suggested a couple places that enjoy going with teens from the camp I work at, and on personal trips. He asked me to write a post on it.
Devil's Kitchen Lake is in Marion, IL near Carbondale.
Map I usually use the boat ramp at the campground on the Southern end of the lake. There are 2 other boat ramps that you can use if you want to shorten the trip, both near the middle of the lake one on the east side and one the west. You can camp at the campground or in Crab Orchard Refuge area at the northern end of the lake. I go to a spot called "Panthers Den" which is all the way at the end of the center finger. A short walk down the River to River trail from the lake and you will be at the rock formation the area is named after, it is beautiful with lots of options for exploring. When there has been a fair amount of rain thee is nice creek that runs through that whole area. There are rock ledges you can camp under and a few established sites to use.
The lake was made by the Army Corp of Engineers in the late 50's and they didn't cut down any of the trees when flooding the canyon. There are stumps throughout the lake and that limits motor boat traffic along with the 10hp limit the lake is not heavily used. DKL is one of the few lakes in Illinois with rainbow trout, and there is a nice population of largemouth bass.
I also take the teens to the Cache River near Vienna, IL. The Cache is the northernmost cypress swamp in the US. It is a ver uniques area with canoe trails marked throughout. I use the boat ramp near the visitors center.
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