Update on April 19th Hike Plan

Due to road closures in the area, and the expectation of more rain on Saturday, the hike scheduled for Saturday, April 19, will be scaled back. The hike will now be an out and back hike from the Old Stone Face to Sunrise Rocks which will be about a 4.5 mile hike. The meeting place will remain at the parking area at the south end of Stoneface Lane. Because of flooding, Stoneface can only be approached from the South, by turning north off Route 34 onto DeNeal Road at Rudement. Follow the signs to the Face. 

Trail Society Clears Tornado Damage

On April 17th 2025 nine volunteers and one Forest Service employee showed up to work on clearing downed trees from the Max Creek section of the R2R Trail. Downed trees were from the March 15th tornado that hit the Max Creek section of the R2R Trail. The group met at the Taylor Ridge Road trailhead at 9am and cleared all downed trees all the way over to Hilltop Lane. 3 of the 10 were certified by the FS to use chain saws. The crew:

The NWS said on March 15th a preliminary EF-2 tornado struck just north of Vienna. The tornado had wind speeds of 115 mph and was on the ground for 15.9 miles with a width of 100 yards. The tornado started at 1:15 am Saturday and ended at 1:31 am. The following image shows the path of the tornado and it clearly shows the path goes right over the Max Creek Section of the R2R Trail.

The crew concentrated only on the R2R trail and as a result, it was observed that there is still extensive trail damage along other trails in the area including trails 435 and 437. There is also extensive damage to trees through out the area and the Society recommends that anyone going on these trails or off trail be extra cautious.

Typical storm damaged cleaned up

FS employee cutting large tree

Breaktime at the Max Creek picnic table

Clearing limbs

The Trail Society would like to thank all of those that showed up to clear the R2R trail from the tornado damage.

Saturday, April 19, 2025 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 8th public hike of the 2025 spring hiking season on April 19th. Hiking: Crest Trail (Saline County). This hike is free and open to the public. This hike will be of moderate difficulty over established trail. This will be a linear thru-hike, approximately four hours hiking time, requiring shuttling. The leader of this hike can be reached at 630-470-7692 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the Old Stone Face Trailhead off of Stone Face Lane. 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 the meeting location at the Old Stone Face Trailhead click this blue link Stone Face Trailhead 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 Stone Face Trailhead meeting area for your signature.

Saturday April 5, 2025 Hike Summary

Well, this weeks’ hike was, uhhh, “interesting”, to say the least.  First, it was raining, during all of it and Second, several roads to the meeting point were flooded. Some went home, others “found” their way to the meeting point. Then, the 4 who did make it…”pivoted”. We drove out, headed to Ferne Clyffe State Park to walk around, view the “many” waterfalls, climbed up on top, and kept working our way to the top of the main waterfall, but, alas, did not make it, because we encountered 1 stream that was just too wide to find a place to cross it. We made our way back down, and met quite a few other people out doing the same thing as we were doing…hiking, in the rain, to view waterfalls. Once we got down to the main path to the big waterfall, we encountered over a dozen people, most were family groups, that were “dressed’ for the occasion, out viewing, walking, etc. 2 of our group waded through the streams of water to make it to the big falls, By the time we got back to the main parking area, it was Filled with vehicles of people out viewing the large amount of flowing water. 

Next weeks’ hike will be at Snake road in Union County, led by Shawn Gossman. 

April 17, 2025 Volunteer Opportunity

On April 17th at 9:00AM several members if the Trail Society are meeting at the River to River Trailhead for the Max Creek section of the trail in an effort to work on clearing any remaining damage to the trail from the recent tornado that hit the section. Looking for a few volunteers to assist with moving tree debris off the trail. Please email me if interested for more details. William.Gilmour@frontier.com

Saturday, April 12, 2025 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 7th public hike of the 2025 spring hiking season on April 12th. Hiking: Snake Road (Union County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be an easy hike out and back approximately 6 miles in length 4 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 the LaRue Pine Hills North 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. This hike is along a rock road and a narrow stream of water may be flowing across the road in one area. For a map to the meeting location at the  LaRue Pine Hills North Parking Lot click this blue link LaRue Pine Hills 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 LaRue Pine Hills North meeting area for your signature.

Saturday March 29, 2025 Hike Summary

On a cloudy Saturday morning, March 29th, 17 hikers, with leader Chris Drone, left the Shawnee Mart parking lot and went to the west edge of Eddyville, to take off on their weekly hike. There were no new hikers for this particular week. Everyone was an experienced hiker.  We steadily moved out, and work our way “down” for a bit, crossing a few small streams.  The trail had a few small muddy spots, but, nothing too major. We made sporadic stops to look down at Hayes creek, then eventually crossed it. Water was flowing, but, not heavily, so it was easily crossable. We got to Petticoat Junction, where there were horse tie-ups and 1 of the picnic tables put out by the River to River Trail Society and Backcountry Horsemen of Illinois chapter. We stopped for an early lunch bite, then proceeded on down the trail. We had heard thru social media to be on the “lookout’ for a lost sandal, and, sure enough, we found it. One hiker took it to get it back to its owner. We continued down wider trails/old roadbeds, until we came to Crow Knob, where there was yet another picnic table put out by the 2 aforementioned groups. We took the group picture there in front of the rock formation. We also picked up almost 25 lbs. of trash along the way…it was carried out by 1 hiker, David Simmons. We got out of the woods juuusst in time for sprinkles to start. Prior to the start of the hike, 3 pickups had been situated along Cedar Grove church road to return the hikers to either the start of the hike or to Shawnee Mart. 

Next weeks’ hike, on Saturday April 5th will be meeting at Wildcat Bluff, southwest of Vienna, Illinois and led by Megan Henderson. 

Until then, “See ya’ll On the Trail”