Saturday, May 4, 2024 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 10th public hike of the 2024 spring hiking season on May 4th. Hiking: To Bork’s Falls (Johnson County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate hike, 4 miles in length, 3 hours hiking time. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618-599-0686 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at Goreville Village Park. 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. There are five wide stream crossings which will require hikers to walk rocks in order to cross. If it rains prior to this hike, hiker’s boots/shoes may become wet when crossing the streams. Hiking sticks are highly recommended. There is an area of slick rock. Hikers will also be required to shuttle for this hike. For a map to the meeting location at Goreville Village Park click this blue link Goreville Village Park 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 the meeting area. Prior to participating in any hikes, the River to River Trail Society requests that all hikers read the 2023 Trail Society Waiver which can be found on the River to River website at the following link River to River Trail Society Information and then sign off on this waiver prior to the beginning of the hike. A copy of the waiver will be at the Goreville Village Park meeting area for your signature.

Saturday April 20, 2024 Hike Summary

16 Hikers met leader Bil Gilmour at the east end of Illinois Rt. 147. It was sunny and a bit windy. We then vehicle-pooled North on Cedar Grove church rd, a few miles and turned West on a lane into the forest We had 3 new hikers, 1 from West Frankfort and a mother-daughter pair from the Cobden-Makanda area. There were lots of people using the area today…plenty of equestrians, and then the River to River Relay race was also today. Much of our hike was on Trail 032, but, the last mile or so was on the River to River Trail. We ate lunch, and took the group picture at a nice little water fall…no name for it…that had a small amount of flow to it today. It had about a 10-12 ft. drop into a nice pool.  No one chose to go swimming though. It was another Great day to be hiking. A couple of gents even did some “trail marker maintenance ” by using their big Sharpie pens to re-mark some Trail 032 signs that were fading out. Next weeks’ hike will be led by Fred Scott at Bell Smith Springs. We will meet in the main parking area. 

Until then, “See ya’ll On the Trail”. 

Saturday, April 27, 2024 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 9th public hike of the 2024 spring hiking season on Apr. 27th. Hiking: Bell Smith Springs (Pope County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate thru hike, 5 miles in length, 4 hours hiking time. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618-841-4838 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at Bell Smith Springs. 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. There are four stream crossings which requires hikers to walk rocks in order to cross. If it rains prior to this hike, hiker’s boots/shoes may become wet when crossing the streams. Hikers will also be required to shuttle for this hike. For a map to the meeting location at Bell Smith Springs click this blue link Bell Smith Springs 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 the meeting area. Prior to participating in any hikes, the River to River Trail Society requests that all hikers read the 2023 Trail Society Waiver which can be found on the River to River website at the following link River to River Trail Society Information and then sign off on this waiver prior to the beginning of the hike. A copy of the waiver will be at the Bell Smith Springs meeting area for your signature.

Saturday April 13, 2024 Hike Summary

On a warm, sunny Saturday morning, 21 hikers gathered at the swimming pool parking lot of Dixon Springs State park. Shawn Gossman was our leader for the hike. We crossed the small wooden bridge and then under the highway bridge and followed the stream and rocks of Ghost Dance Canyon. There had been enough rain earlier in the week to create a nice amount of stream flow and small waterfalls among the various boulders. We did not hike all the way to the end of the boulders. Shawn led us up and out of the canyon to an area that most of us had never explored. Some old remains of buildings and foundations of the old resort-style area. It was ‘hidden’ in brush and undergrowth. Some of the foundation was quite large. One “structure must have been a fountain of sorts. We then made our way back to the trail, where we took the group picture with a backdrop against some rocks of the canyon. We hiked about 2 miles, and were back to the parking area about 12 pm but, it was into an area most had never explored.. 

Next weeks’ hike will be led by Bill Gilmour, meeting at the area on the East end of IL. Rt. 147, at 10 am, Sat. April 20th. We will be vehicle-pooling from the parking area. 

Until then, “See ya’ll On the Trail, 

Saturday, April 20, 2024 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 8th public hike of the 2024 spring hiking season on Apr. 20th. Hiking: Trail 32 (Johnson County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a hike, 6 miles in length, 4 hours hiking time. The leader of this hike can be reached at 270-331-1553 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the intersection of Hwy 147 and Cedar Grove Road. 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. There will be some small stream crossings. If it rains prior to this hike, hiker’s boots/shoes may become wet when crossing the streams. Hikers will also need to shuttle for this hike. For a map to the meeting location at the intersection of Hwy 147 and Cedar Grove Road click this blue link Intersection of Hwy 147 & Cedar Grove Road 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 the meeting area. Prior to participating in any hikes, the River to River Trail Society requests that all hikers read the 2023 Trail Society Waiver which can be found on the River to River website at the following link River to River Trail Society Information and then sign off on this waiver prior to the beginning of the hike. A copy of the waiver will be at the intersection of Hwy 147 and Cedar Grove Road meeting area for your signature.

Saturday April 6, 2024 Hike Summary

On Saturday, April 6th, 16 hikers gathered at the East Trigg Trailhead, to be led by Sam Morales. We had several new hikers, including 3 from South Bend, Indiana.  There was also a large group, mainly from the Chicago area, that went out ahead of us, to do some rappelling/ bluff climbing. 

We set out by walking North along the road for a couple hundred yards, then headed East into the woods along an old roadway, then next turned North into the woods again, along a trail. We kept seeing some small gade areas, with a small, but flowing stream.  At 1 point, we started “bushwacking” then Sam got us to the top of Splatterstone falls. We then worked our way around, descended down into the valley/canyon area, worked our way back to the bottom of Splatterstone falls, where we took the group picture.  We hiked our way out of the valley/canyon, along the base of bluffs, then emerged along the West side of the railroad tracks. hiking our way South. We were close to the tracks for quite a while, but no train ever came along, slightly disappointing a few. At 1 point, we were close enough to the rapelling area in Jackson Falls that we could hear a Lot of people just talking. We knew there were a Lot of people out enjoying the day, and visiting the area. We did meet with an equestrian group. and did find the rapelling group from the Chicago area that left the parking lot before us. We ended up by walking out (west) on the lane that leads to the Tin Whistle on the railroad tracks. Weather for the day was just about Perfect!!

We have 4 more hikes for the Spring 2024 season. Next weeks’ hike, at Dixon Springs State Park, will be led by Shawn Gossman. No need to register, just be there by 10 am. It will be a shorter hike of about 2 miles. Shawn has hiked this area many times, and knows it well. 

Until then, “See ya’ll On the Trail”

Saturday, April 13, 2024 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 7th public hike of the 2024 spring hiking season on Apr. 13th. Hiking: Ghost Dance Canyon (Pope County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate hike, 2 miles in length (1/2-mile trail, 1-1/2 miles bushwacking), 2 hours hiking time. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618-694-7034 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at Dixon Springs State Park swimming pool parking lot. 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. There are some steep grades and some slick rock on this hike, and there are two stream crossings which requires hikers to walk rocks in order to cross. If it rains prior to this hike, hiker’s boots/shoes may become wet when crossing the streams. For a map to the meeting location at the Dixon Springs State Park swimming pool parking lot click this blue link Dixon Springs State Park pool parking area 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 the meeting area. Prior to participating in any hikes, the River to River Trail Society requests that all hikers read the 2023 Trail Society Waiver which can be found on the River to River website at the following link River to River Trail Society Information and then sign off on this waiver prior to the beginning of the hike. A copy of the waiver will be at the Dixon Springs State Park pool parking meeting area for your signature.

Saturday March 30, 2024 Hike Summary

On a warm Saturday morning, March 30th, 21 hikers gathered at Berry Ferry landing parking area, on the East side of the Ohio river, across from Golconda, Illinois. Cathy Jennings was the hike leader for the day. We then carpooled to the parking area for Mantle Rock. We had quite a few new hikers for the day. We proceeded down the trail for about a mile, then turned to our right, to bushwack over to a stream, and we followed the stream to a waterfall area known as Joy Falls, that, fortunately was trickling some water flow. It was a different way to get to the glade that is a few hundred feet down the highway from the Mantle rock parking area. The water drops into a pool, that has a nice deep, flat ‘cut-back” that was easily explored. We then headed back to the main trail. 4 hikers decided to leave the group. and proceeded back to their vehicle. 17 hikers continued on  the trail.  The front part of the group passed right by a nice, long rat snake, brown, that was sunning itself on a log within a couple feet of the trail. It took off and most watched it climb a small tree. The trail is very well marked. We stopped for lunch, then wound around, seeing a nice ‘wading’ pool area,a nice overhang area, and then Cathy led us off trail for a few hundred yards to some flat rock areas that had petroglyphs. We then continued on the main trail until we got close to the arch of Mantle Rock. Sam Morales took some hikers up on top of the arch, which is over 180 ft. long. Once everyone was back together, we took the group picture under the arch, and then it was only about another half mile, and we were back to the parking area. 

Next weeks hike will be led by Sam Morales, meeting at the East Trigg Trailhead, which is about 1 mile North of Trigg Tower. 

Until then, “See ya’ll On the Trail”.