Saturday, November 14, 2026 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces it 5th public hike of the 2026 Fall hiking season on November 14th.  Hiking: Giant City State Park, (Union County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate, hikeapproximately 4 miles in length. Hiking time is 3 hours. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618-791-3086 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the Giant City Lodge parking area. This hike is intended for people in very 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.  Check the post on the River to River Trail Society website www.rivertorivertrail.net for the current week’s hike information including driving directions to the meeting area. For a map to the meeting location, click this blue link: Giant City Lodge, a map will open up, click the Directions button and a driving map will be created. 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 Trail Society website at the following link https://rivertorivertrail.net/ under the Society Information tab. The waiver will be at the meeting place for your signature.

Saturday October 31, 2026 Hike Summary

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, so the River to River Trail Society could host its famous Halloween Night Hike at Max Creek. Max Creek is most often referred to as Max Creek Vortex. A “vortex” is an area with multiple reported paranormal activities, much like the famous Skinwalker Ranch. The legend behind Max Creek Vortex dates back to the 1800s; a whole family of settlers was murdered by the wife after she went crazy. People report seeing orbs of light, hearing strange noises, experiencing physical effects, seeing UFOs, and even the occasional Bigfoot sighting.

This Max Creek Vortex hike gave us an extra spooky detail. We had a total of 13 people hiking, A spooky number for a spooky trail on a spooky night.

Once we reached the creek (the Vortex area), the hike leader shared the legend and activated a battery-operated circular light to enhance the experience. The hike leaders had planted it earlier in the day when they hiked the trail in full to make sure it was all passable for the evening hike. The hike leader also shared his spooky experiences from his first visit to Max Creek.

The hike included a lit, carved pumpkin at the trailhead, and both the hike leader and Fred brought candy and some tricks for the hikers.

Another Max Creek Night Hike on the books, and No One Was Vortexed!

Saturday, November 7, 2026 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces it 4th public hike of the 2026 Fall hiking season on November 7th.  Hiking: Crest Trail, (Saline County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate, hikeapproximately 6.5 miles in length from Tecumseh statue at the top of Glen O. Jones Lake, over to Stoneface. Few streams. Hiking time is 4 hours plus shuttle back to parking area. The leader of this hike can be reached at 618-926-3250 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the Tecumseh Statue. This hike is intended for people in very 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.  Check the post on the River to River Trail Society website www.rivertorivertrail.net for the current week’s hike information including driving directions to the meeting area. For a map to the meeting location, click this blue link: Crest Trail, a map will open up, click the Directions button and a driving map will be created. 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 Trail Society website at the following link https://rivertorivertrail.net/ under the Society Information tab. The waiver will be at the meeting place for your signature.

Saturday October 24, 2026 Hike Summary

What a Grrreat day for a hike. Carl Brennan led 15 other hikers on a Sunny Saturday morning, from our meeting spot on Trails end lane, into Thacker Hollow. We saw a nice sized equestrian group head out South on the old roadbed about 10 minutes ahead of us. We did a lot of “switch-backing” today on most of the trails. Much of the time we were under ‘tree-cover’, seeing splashes of sun. Finding a small cave early on was interesting, and the trails were extremely dusty from the lack of rain. Several times we were on trails 184 & 188, and ended up on the dam for Pounds Hollow lake, which was mowed nice and neat by Terry Wheeler of STC. We then headed up a ridge, and found the Pounds Hollow arch, where we stopped, ate lunch and took the group picture. We only met up with 1 equestrian group of 4, but, we did see other equestrians out ahead of us. We ended up hiking just a bit less than 5 miles. And, again, we had several new hikers. Glad to welcome them and invited them back to join us any time. 

Next weeks’ hike, a night hike at Max Creek, into the Vortex, on Halloween, will be led by Shawn Gossman, of Hiking with Shawn on youtube. It will meet at 630 pm. 

Until then, “See ya’ll on the Trail”.