Saturday, October 5, 2019 Hike Announcement

The River-to-River Trail Society announces its first guided public hike of the Fall, 2019 hiking season, at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, at Jackson Falls. This hike is free and open to the public, although participants will be expected to sign a waiver of liability. This will be a hike of moderate difficulty, intended for people in good health who have done some hiking. Hiking sticks and boots or sturdy shoes are strongly recommended. Hikers should bring their own water and a snack. No dogs please. Meet by 10:00 a.m. at climbers parking lot at Jackson Falls, two and a half miles southwest of McCormick and four and one half miles east of Ozark. To reach the parking lot, turn south off Ozark Road at the sign for Jackson Falls (one quarter mile east of Zion Church), and proceed south on the gravel road for two miles. For information or directions, call (630) 470-7692

Radio station WEBQ- Harrisburg, FM 102.3

On Monday September 23, 2019 officers of the River-to-River Trail Society will discuss the Trail, the new online trail guide, and the Society’s fall schedule of free public guided hikes. Radio station WEBQ- Harrisburg, FM 102.3, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Info: (630) 470-7692.

River-to-River Trail Society Announces Fall, 2019 Hiking Schedule

The River-to-River Trail Society announces its schedule of guided hikes for the Fall, 2019 hiking season. All hikes are free and open to the public. The hikes vary in level of difficulty, but all are intended for people in good health who have done some hiking in the past. Hikers should bring their own water and a snack. Hiking sticks and boots or sturdy shoes are strongly recommended. No dogs, please.

For those that are interested, you can download a PDF version of the schedule to print out by clicking on this link: https://wp.me/a9iEpB-pC

October:
05:
Hike: Jackson Falls (Pope County)
Leader: Brian DeNeal
Meeting Place: Climber’s Parking Lot, Jackson Hollow, 2.5 miles southwest of McCormick and 4 miles east of Ozark, Illinois
Time: 10:00 a.m.

12:
Hike: Panther Den (Union County)
Leader: Bob Mulcahy
Meeting Place: Goreville City Park, 313 West Main Street (Goreville Road), Goreville, Illinois
Time: 10:00 a.m.

19:
Hike: Trigg Trailhead to Jackson Hollow (Pope County)
Leader: Bill Gilmour
Meeting Place: East Trigg Trailhead, Trigg Tower Road [Forest Road 424], 1.5 miles northwest of Trigg Tower, and 3.0 miles northeast of Simpson, Illinois
Time: 10:00 a.m.

26:
Hike: Cedar Bluff to Bork’s Falls (Johnson County)
Leaders: Jim Todd and Ken Gerdes
Meeting Place: Goreville City Park, 313 West Main Street (Goreville Road), Goreville, Illinois
Time: 10:00 a.m.

November:
02:
Hike: Cove Hollow Trail (Jackson County)
Leaders: Don Monty and Anne Gaylord
Meeting Place: Parking lot at east end of Boat Dock Road, off Route 127, ten miles south of Murphysboro and twelve miles north of Jonesboro.
Time: 10:30 a.m.

09:
Hike: Sand Cave to Hunting Branch (Pope County)
Leader: Mart Watson
Meeting Place: Hunting Branch Picnic Area, Forest Road 849, off Forest Road 848, Bell Smith Springs creation Area
Time: 10:00 a.m.

16:
Hike: Wildcat Bluff to Heron Pond (Johnson County)
Leader: Shawn Gossman
Meeting Place: Heron Pond parking lot, two miles west of intersection of Belknap Road and Route 45, south of Vienna, Illinois.
Time: 10:00 a.m.

30:
Hike: Burden Falls Wilderness (Pope County)
Leader: Kelly Pearson, U.S. Forest Service
Meeting Place: Parking lot at Burden Falls, on Burden Falls Road, about four miles west of Delwood, Illinois.
Time: 10:00 a.m.


The River-to-River Trail is a hiking and equestrian trail which stretches 157 miles through Southern Illinois between Elizabethtown on the Ohio River and Grand Tower on the Mississippi. The River-to-River Trail Society is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, founded by John O’Dell in 1993. All its work is done by unpaid volunteers. Besides the program of free public hikes, the Society engages in trail maintenance and advocacy, and publishes an online guidebook to the entire River-to-River Trail, which can be downloaded free of charge at the Society’s website rivertorivertrail.net. Patches for the Society can be purchased for $5.00 during the Society’s public hikes.

September 21, 2019 Trail Society Work Day

Hi All:

                After discussing alternatives with the Forest Service on Friday, we agreed that the best place to try our first trail maintenance day we would be along the trail north of Iron Furnace.  The plan is to meet at Iron Furnace at 8:30 Saturday morning and then work to clear as much of the first mile of trail north of there that we can get done.  We will be accompanied by to Forest Service employees that will be running chain saws and our efforts will mainly be supporting them to move brush and logs off the trail as needed.

                Long pants, work shirt, good shoes, gloves, plenty of water, snack and insect repellant are a must and loppers or a rake may be helpful.  If you have a phone with the Avenza App loaded and the River to River Trail Bundle downloaded it would also be helpful to make sure everyone is working on the trail.

                Fred Scott has recently hiked this section of trail and verified that there are numerous trees of various sizes over the trail.

Fall Service Days

Hi all:

I hope everyone has had a great and enjoyable summer. With the onset of fall and the fall hiking season approaching quickly the society has proposed to try and schedule a few service days this fall to help on trail maintenance. The first of these days is scheduled for Saturday September 21, 2019 in the Dutchman Lake area. The society is looking for 6-10 volunteers to clear the River to River trail west of Dutchman Lake Dam. The Society will be assisted by 2 Forest Service employees running chain saws. The time and meeting place hasn’t been decided yet, but if you are interested in helping out, please let us know by emailing william.gilmour@frontier.com or responding to the post I will be making in Facebook. Thanks in advance for your help and support.

Bill Gilmour