The River-to-River Trail Society announces its eighth and
final hike of the Spring, 2019 hiking season, on Saturday, May 4. The hike is
free and open to the public. This hike will be in the area of the Cache River
and Little Black Slough, although the precise route will be determined by the
water level in the river and adjacent wetlands on Saturday. Hikers should meet
at 10:30 a.m., at the Heron Pond parking lot, off Route 45, between Vienna and
Karnak, Illinois. Boots or sturdy shoes and a change of socks are recommended,
as are a hiking stick and insect repellant. Hikers should bring their own water
and a snack. No dogs, please. For information or directions, call (618)
694-7034.
The River to River Trail Society announces that the newly updated 2018 R2R Trail Maps have been uploaded to the Societies website and the Avenza Map Store this past week. The Society would like to thank the Shawnee National Forest Service team who assisted in making and updating these maps. The maps main changes feature new trail head parking lots, numerous added road names and better contour lines. There have been no new trail reroutes in this version, however the Forest Service is actively working on a significant reroute east of Owl Bluff in the Lusk Creek Wilderness.
Judging by the nearly 15,000 map downloads that have occurred in the past 12 months, the version 1 maps on the Avenza App have been very successful. The majority of those downloads came from the 405 trail enthusiasts that downloaded all 29 maps. The following is a summary of the downloads from the Avenza Map Store as of this past Wednesday April 24, 2019. Since uploading the version 2 maps on that same day there have been another 9 R2R Trail Bundle downloads.
The new maps can be downloaded from the Avenza Map Store by searching the store for “River to River Trail Bundle”. It is recommend that the version 1 maps be deleted before downloading the version 2 maps.
Finally, a new updated version of the River to River Trail Guide is expected to be uploaded in the next month. We hope everyone finds the maps useful and enjoys their time in the Shawnee National Forest and we also look forward to another successful year with Version 2 of the maps.
19 Hardy Hikers, including leaders Marcus Owens & Steve Mitchell led us into the forest & streams of Lusk Creek Wilderness & Natural Areas yesterday. The weather tried to threaten rain..(it did succeed for a few minutes), but, hikers prevailed. We split into 2 groups, per Forest Service rules. Most everyone got some part of their body wet..during 2 Lusk Creek crossings..or, by maybe slipping/sliding in the mud or on a rock. Trails were pretty muddy, and water was ‘rippling’ at many spots. We saw quite a few horseback riders out on the trails. . Lots of wildflowers were in bloom, that various hikers snapped many pics to share. Areas that were visited were Natural Bridge, Owl Bluff, & Salt Peter cave…Mileage was about 7 miles. We had 2 New hikers this week. I think we have had New hikers almost every weekend this season.
The River-to-River Trail Society announces its seventh guided hike of the Spring, 2019 hiking season, at Lusk Creek Wilderness in Pope County, on Saturday, April 27. Although this hike is free and open to the public, in order to comply with the rules of the U.S. Forest Service participation will be limited to eighteen hikers and two leaders. Those wishing to take part in this hike should call (618) 534-8139 to register. Boots or sturdy shoes and hiking sticks are strongly recommended. Hikers should bring their own water and a snack. No dogs, please.
As of Easter Sunday morning there is only 9 spaces left for this hike.
Today’s River 2 River Trail Society hike was at Trail of Years State Forest and also along Snake Road. At Trail of Tears we did the C.C.C. Heritage Trail and the West Loop of the Ozark Ridge Trail for a total of about 3 miles, and about the same distance at Snake Road. Snake Road is a National Forest road along the base of the bluffs that form the Eastern Boundary of the Valley of the Mississippi River. Along the other side of the road is a bunch of ponds and streams. Many reptiles and amphibians summer in the ponds and winter in the bluffs. The Forest Service closes the road for 2 months in the Spring and Fall to vechicular traffic to afford the animals safe passage across the road. Many people come to walk the road and see the animals We had 23 hikers
The River-to-River Trail Society announces its sixth guided
hike of the Spring, 2019 hiking season, on Saturday, April 20, at Trail of
Tears State Forest in Union County. The hike is free and open to the public.
Meet at 10:30 at the Trail of Tears SF Visitor’s center, 3240 State Forest
Road, Jonesboro, Illinois. This will be a hike of very moderate difficulty,
about four miles in length, with some uphill. For those who wish, a possibility
exists for more optional hiking after the end of the scheduled hike. Boots or
sturdy shoes and hiking sticks are recommended. Hikers should bring their own
water and a snack. No dogs, please. For information or directions, call (618)
499-2337.
We had a Grrreat day on the Max Creek hike with Brian DeNeal & 31 other hikers. I think we had Yet Another 5-6 new hikers…they just keep coming. The rain of Thursday raised the water level of the creek, and alternative routes were devised but, we still were able to make 3-4 crossings..which added to the ‘excitement”..A few peeps spent time ‘in’ the creek, rather than just crossing it. Several horses & their riders were out today also. Lots of flowers are making their ‘spring show…May apples, Jack-in-the-pulpit..and others. Brian DeNeal gave a nice talk on the Legends of Max creek,but, since it was daylight…we weren’t able to witness any of the supernatural phenomena…Air Temps were just right..water temps..well, who knows??
The River-to-River Trail Society announces its fifth guided
hike of the Spring, 2019 hiking season, on Saturday, April 13, at Max Creek, in
Johnson County. The hike is free and open to the public. Hikers should meet at
10:00 a.m. at the New Simpson – Tunnel Hill School, on Route 45, between Ozark
and Vienna, Illinois. This hike is about five miles long, of only moderate
difficulty, and will visit the Max Creek Vortex and a section off the
River-to-River Trail. Boots or sturdy shoes and hiking sticks are strongly
recommended. Hikers should bring their own water and a snack No dogs, please.
For information or directions call (618) 499-2337.
What a HIke!! Bob Mulcahy led 18 of us, including 4-5 new hikers, over trails in & around many coves of Kinkaid lake. I had never been there. With the warm temps, & humidity, many were down to T-shirts by lunch time. The area is quite rolling,so, for a few, it was challenging. Saw pelicans & geese, Heard & saw Lots of fishing boats powering around the lake too. Plants were flowering & buds were popping out. We ate lunch at a nice picnic area. Going back in, we met up with quite a few others out for a hike themselves. Interesting to me, was the lack of underbrush vegetation on the rolling ridges & valleys. Yes, we did ‘double-digits’ in total mileage…but, Bob Mulcahys’ muffins….mmmm…
The section of trail between the McCann Springs parking lot and the Big Muddy Levee near the Snake road parking lot at Winters pond is closed because that section of road is underwater due to flooding of the Big Muddy River. It is unknown how deep this and whether it can be safely navigated. Any current hikers out there need to take note and make appropriate plans to get around this area.
The section of trail east of Bassett road may experience periods of congestion over the next several months because the FS has issued a contract to harvest trees. As a result, there will be timber crews in the area doing just that and also may be working on the trail to improve it for equipment access.
