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,