Saturday, March 4, 2023 Hike Announcement

The River-to-River Trail Society announces its 1st public hike of the 2023 spring hiking season on March 4th. Hike to the Wonders of the Grindstaff Hollow (Gallatin County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a hike of moderate difficulty, 5 miles in length, 4 hours hiking time. There will be some small stream crossings. Some hikers can be shuttled for this hike. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618 499 9629 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the High Knob Lookout area. This hike is intended for people in good health who have done some hiking. Hiking sticks and boots or sturdy shoes are recommended. Hikers should bring their own water and snacks. No dogs please.

For a map to High Knob Lookout area, click this blue link High Knob Lookout and a map will open up, and then click the Directions button and a driving map will be created which will allow you to plan your driving directions to High Knob Lookout. Driving directions from the east: From the intersection of Hwy 1 and CR 5600E drive west on CR 5600E/Pounds Hollow Road/Karbers Ridge Road for 6.9 miles. Turn right onto CR 2 and go 1.7 miles. Turn right onto Knob Hill Ave/Knob Hill Lane until you reach the lookout. Driving directions from the west: From the intersection of HWY 34 and CR 1180N/Karbers Ridge Road drive east on 1180N/Karbers Ridge Road for 4.5 miles. Turn right onto CR 2 and go 1.7 miles. Turn right onto Knob Hill Ave/Knob Hill Lane until you reach the lookout. Speed limit driving through the horse camp is 10 miles per hour.  

Prior to participating in any hikes, the River-to-River Trail Society requests that all hikers read this waiver River-to-River Trail Society Liability Waiver and then sign off on this waiver prior to the beginning of the hike. A copy of the waiver will be at High Knob Lookout for your signature.

February 25 Volunteer Opportunity

Our partners the Back Country Horseman are looking for volunteers to help pack gravel into trails in the Lusk creek area. Volunteers are needed to fill buckets with gravel, dump them into the pack teams and then to level the gravel where it is emptied from the pack animals. Meet at the end of Stone Bottom road north of Eddyville at 9/930am Saturday. Here is a link to the meeting place. https://goo.gl/maps/yEAzJGxNcQWfssiN6

If you have any questions, please call Cricket Simons (309-826-8114) or Angie Carter (270-952-1438).

February 18, 2023 Work Day at Dutchman Lake

On February 18, 2023 the River to River Trail Society joined forces with the Illinois Branch of the Back Country Horseman to repair the River to River Trail between Dutchman Lake and Twinz Lane.  This section of trail was originally built through a pine forest back in the 1990s when the trail was completed in the Dutchman Lake area.  It was a beautiful hike through the pines up until 2018/2019 when a storm hit the area and toppled upwards of 60-70 pine trees rendering the trail impassable.  In November of 2019 the Trail Society worked with Forest Service and numerous volunteers to clear a trail through the fallen pines.  Over the last year or more, yet another 30 plus trees have fallen over the trail once again rendering in nearly impassable.  As a result, the Societies President organized and coordinated another work day to once again clear the trail, however after meeting with the Shawnee National Forest Service (FS) team a trail reroute was scouted and approved by the FS.  As a result, the work day changed from a trail clearing day to a trail building day.

Today approximately 25 volunteers and 1 FS employee worked to rebuild and mark the new section of trail skirting around the pine forest.  Work included identifying and marking the route, clearing the entire trail of all small trees, fallen debris, leaves, loose rocks, fallen trees and any overhead hazards.  Volunteers used chain saws, loopers, hand saws, leaf blowers, rakes and a variety of other tools to clear a safe trail.  With all of the volunteers, work on the 0.6 mile reroute took a less than 4 hours to complete.  As a result of this reroute, future R2R Trail hikers and equestrians using the trail west of Dutchman Lake will need to make sure to download the latest Avenza Map 16 which will be available in a few days.

Volunteers included Chris Drone, Jim Todd, Melanie Kasson, Jane Netzler, Jody Baumberger-Gehrig, Loretta Maldaner, Fred Scott,  Scott Graham, Sam Morales, Charlie Kahle, Allison Kallo, Shelley Deal, Nathan Heldenbrand, Sharon Buchanan, Loni Heidbred, Megan Anderson, Gloria Heggy, Marcus Owens, Jake Saunders, Dwight Pray, Angie Carter, Rick Yates, Ken Nampadano, Cricket Simons, Vicki Simons and Bill Gilmour.  If anybody was missed, we are sorry.  The work day was coordinated by Bill Gilmour and Cricket Simon.

The FS, Trail Society and Back Country Horseman would like to sincerely thank all of the volunteers that showed up to help today.

Hope to see all of you on the trail again in the future.

Group photo of today’s trail crew
The trail as it existed prior to 2018
A view of the trail for the last 3-4 years

River-to-River Trail Society Announces Spring, 2023 Hiking Schedule

The River-to River Trail Society announces its schedule of free guided hikes in and about the Shawnee National Forest for Spring, 2023. All hikes are open to the public free of charge. No reservations are required. These hikes are of at least moderate difficulty, and are intended for people in good health who have done some hiking. Boots or sturdy shoes and a walking stick are recommended for all hikes. Hikers should bring their own water and a snack. No dogs, please.

2023-Spring-Hiking-ScheduleDownload

The River-to-River Trail Society is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation founded
in 1993 by John O’Dell to promote completion of the River-to-River Trail, which now
runs 157 miles through the Shawnee National Forest between Elizabethtown on the Ohio
River and Grand Tower on the Mississippi River. The Society engages in trail
maintenance and advocacy, and it offers free guided hikes to members and the public
during the spring and fall hiking seasons. In addition, the Society has a Trail Guide to the
entire River-to-River Trail, which can be downloaded for free from the Society’s website:
http://www.rivertorivertrail.net/.