Saturday, November 8, 2025 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 5th public hike of the 2025 Fall hiking season on Nov. 8th.  Hiking: Giant City State Park (Jackson County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a moderate thru hike approximately 6 miles in length approximately 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 the Giant City Visitor Center. 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. This hike will require shuttling back to the visitor’s center. This hike may be tracked using the Avenza App. map R2R-21 or SNF Makanda map. For a map to the meeting location Giant City Visitors Center click this blue link Giant City Visitors Center 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 https://rivertorivertrail.net/ and then sign off on this waiver prior to the beginning of the hike. A copy of the waiver will be at the Giant City Visitors Center meeting area for your signature.

Saturday November 30, 2024 Hike Summary

On the cooler, cloudy morning of Saturday, November 30th, 15 hikers gathered in the camping ground of Giant City State Park to be led on the last hike of the Fall 2024 hiking season, by Bob Mulcahy. We had several new hikers, some who were camping, and even 1 hiker got dropped off by a friend. Vehicles had been spotted at strategic places. Bob had it planned so that hikers could do about 5.5 miles, 9 miles, or even the full round trip of 12 miles. We crossed several streams that had a small amount of water, but, no real challenges. We did see a few scattered “frost flowers” since the temperatures had dropped enough. The sun never really broke through the clouds for the day. Most all the leaves were off trees. The 1st hiker left when we got close to the River to River trail, and he hiked on back to Makanda. We continued on, above another trail offering some nice views. There were a few small, low bluffs, but, nothing that was outstanding. We made it 5.5 miles, to the picnic table area where we all stopped, ate, and then took the group picture. Sam Morales had parked his truck out on the road, and 9 total hikers decided they had enough exercise for the day. Bob and 6 others continued on, and 4 made the full round trip of 12 miles back to the starting point. 

I will make a later post of some numbers for this fall, but we, the Trail Society want to Thank All the hikers who came for any hike this fall. I felt that we had the best “numbers of hikers’ that we have had in several years. We are already planning for next spring. I will be exploring and scouting an area or 2 over my Christmas break from teaching. If you have any feedback about hikes, Please let us the board members know, through texting, email or social media messaging. If you are interested in becoming  a hike leader, we would be glad to have that sort of help also. We look forward to seeing you All soon, and have a Peaceful, Happy, Merry Christmas and a Bountiful, Happy New Year of 2025.  Until then, as always ,”See Ya’ll On the Trail”. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Chris Drone. 

The Trail Society would also like extend a sincere thank you to Society Vice President Mr. Chris Drone for all his efforts in taking the group pictures, handling hike sign in sheets and doing all of the hike summaries for the 2024 hiking seasons.

Saturday, November 30, 2024 Hike Announcement

The River to River Trail Society announces its 8th public hike of the 2024 fall hiking season on Nov. 30th. Hiking: Red Cedar Trail (Jackson County). This hike is free and open to the public. This will be a loop hike of moderate difficulty 12 miles in length 6 hours hiking time. A shorter hike can also be done of 6 miles in length and 4 hours hiking time. Hikers who perform the shorter version will need to shuttle back to the meeting location. The leader of this hike can be reached at 708-471-7500 for more information. Hikers should meet at 10:00 am at the Giant City Campground. 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 two stream crossings which may be flowing water if it has rained and the hiker’s boots/shoes may become wet. Some steep grades. Hikers who perform the 6-mile version of this hike will need to shuttle back to the meeting area. If you are using the Avenza app for tracking your hikes, map #21 of the River to River bundle can be used for tracking this hike. For a map to the meeting location click this blue link Giant City Campground Red Cedar Trail 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 Giant City Campground meeting area for your signature.