The Burden Falls Wilderness is a 3,775-acre (15.3 km2) unit of the Shawnee National Forest. It is located in northwestern Pope County and southwestern Saline County, Illinois. The wilderness is characterized by road-less second-growth hardwood forest, punctuated by a small, seasonal waterfall on Burden Creek. Burden Falls falls 20 feet over a sandstone ledge, and the falling creek then descends another 80 feet in a series of cascades and cataracts.