Saturday, March 29, 2025 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 5th public hike of the 2025 spring hiking season on March 29th. Hiking: Hayes Creek Section (Pope County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate thru-hike for experienced hikers approximately 6 miles in length, 4 hours hiking time. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618-926-3250 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the Shawnee Mart, Eddyville IL.. 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. We will have plans to shuttle for this hike. We will have two stream crossings and there will probably be flowing water. Hikers will have to walk rocks to cross streams and their boots and or shoes may become wet. There may be some slick rock areas. For a map to the meeting location at the Shawnee Mart Eddyville, IL. click this blue link Shawnee Mart Eddyville, IL 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 Shawnee Mart meeting area for your signature.

Saturday March 15, 2025 Hike Summary

It was cloudy this morning and had rained just a few hours before Marcus Owens led 21 other hikers South down the upper trail at Jackson Falls. The first stop was the carving into the rock of the Civil war soldier, then on to the top of the falls. There had been enough rain to make the 3 waterfalls we saw run nicely. We stayed on top” on the West side of the falls. We made a few stops to just take in the views Above the valley. We continued to work our way north, bit by bit, until we came to the area that we slowly worked our way down toward the railroad tracks. Then, we headed south alongside the tracks for just a few hundred feet, then back onto the trail, along the lower bluffs. Today, we saw No horses, just a few other hikers at the parking lot, and No rock climbers at all, which was a bit unusual. We got to the bottom of the main falls, where we quickly ate our lunch, because it was starting to sprinkle/shower some rain. We took the group picture with the water tumbling Over the falls in the background, then headed out, to climb up and out through the keyhole. By the time we got up through the keyhole, the rain sprinkles had stopped. We crossed a few streams, then back to the parking lot. We were done by a few minutes after 1pm. 

Next weeks’ hike, on Saturday March 22nd, will be led by Corey Evans, meeting at the huge Knights of the Golden Circle parking lot, on Forest Road,  near Garden of Gods. 

Until then, “See ya’ll On the Trail”.