On Sat. November 13th, 2021, Mart Watson led 25 hikers into the Splatterstone Falls & Cove Hollow area. We started the day with introductions, as usual, but, it was also noted, by Mart and others, of the passing of John O’Dell, founder, in 1992, of the River to River Trail Society. John was very influential in getting the River to River Trail completed, and wrote the first 4 published guidebooks. He was President of the Saline County Tourism board, the Saline county Historical Society, and the River to River Trail Society. He also helped start the River to River Relay race. Mart Watson noted that John Always wore hiking shorts, no matter what the weather was like. He then “passed the hiking pole” on to Eric Johnson, Bill Gilmour, Mart Watson & Gillum Ferguson. Now, we ‘newer’ members of the Trail Society need to ‘take up the mantle’ and carry it & push it forward.  We had a ‘moment of silence’ in remembrance of Mr. John O’Dell, and “took off down the trail. Mart led us to Splatterstone falls, which was dry, then on down into Cove Hollow, by the railroad that runs through Jackson Hollow, and we were able to see a train of empty coal cars heading North. We met up with a large group of horse riders, then observed a few rock climbers. We hiked just over 4 miles, in about 4 hours.

There will be NO hike on Saturday, November 20th, as that is part of the 1st Shotgun Deer hunting season.

Our Last scheduled hike will be on Saturday, November 27th, at Wildcat Bluff, about 5 miles Southwest of Vienna, IL.

Until then, “See Ya on the Trail”

Respectfully, submitted,

Chris Drone