Saturday June 7, 2025 Annual Meeting and Picnic

On Saturday June 7th,2025, the River to River Trail Society held its annual meeting at the Vienna Illinois city park. We had a gathering of over 20 people, including 2 gents from the U.S. Forest service. The business meeting was held first, with a “first” for the Society…Megan Henderson from Belknap was elected President and Marcus Owens was elected treasurer.  The other 2 officers remained the same, Chris Drone and Gillum Ferguson, remaining as vice-president and secretary, respectively, and Clint Stevens as a new board member.  Bill Gilmour, the president for the past 8-10 years, will be moving to Michigan, and the general consensus was that the office of the president should be fulfilled by someone who lives in the general area of Southern Illinois. 

   The 2 gents (Dennis Wilson & Felipe Cano) from the Forest Service informed us about “goings-on” locally with trails and other issues, but, nothing out of the ordinary or major was happening. 

   Our guest speaker for the day was Dr. Teresa Steckler, Phd, University of Illinois, stationed at Dixon Springs experiment station, who spoke on the increasing problems with the various species of ticks. She had a lot of handouts and brochures, spoke at length on the various problems, not only with humans, but, also with livestock and pets. Recognition, preventative measures and other important information was all very helpful .

   Then, the Dennis Wilson from the Forest Service presented Bill Gilmour with a plaque and also told Bill, and the crowd, that a portion of the River to River trail, in the Dutchman lake area, will be designated the Bill Gilmour section, in recognition of all the work that Bill has done for the River to River Trail, trail mapping and hiking in general, in Southern Illinois over the last 15 years. 

By that time, Fred Scott had gotten his cooking & grilling done and everyone “dove into” the various dishes and delicacies brought by everyone attending. One of the delicacies even included blue “i” trail marker cup cakes.

The plan was to do some biking after the meal, but, the clouds kept threatening possible rain showers and no one seemed to be brave enough to head off on the Tunnel Hill bike trail.

Trail Society Annual Meeting / Picnic

Hello All!!

The 2025 River To River Trail Society Annual meeting will be here soon. It is scheduled for Saturday, June 7th, 10 am, at the Vienna, IL. City Park, which coincides with National Trails Day The park is adjacent to the Tunnel Hill Trailhead along IL Route 146 midway between I24 (exit 16) and the US Route 45 intersection downtown. We have reserved the Rams Landing shelter which is located in the back of the park. (See photo below)  As a result, the Society will be providing grilled brats and hotdogs, buns, table service and bottled water. The rest of the picnic will be a potluck and everyone is asked to bring their favorite dish to pass such as a fruit, vegetable, side dish and/or dessert.  If you want something to drink besides water you will have to bring your own. Only picnic tables are included with the shelter so if you want something more comfortable it is suggested you bring your own lawn chair.

For the meeting, there will be reports from various board members about the accomplishments from the past year and possible future projects. During the business meeting, the Society will also be electing Society officers and board members for the next year.

Following the business meeting, the Society has arranged for Teresa Steckler of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dixon Springs Agricultural Center. Teresa has been studying ticks in and around the Shawnee and anything and everything you wanted to know about ticks. She is working on a grant that is studying the impact on ticks by invasives in the Shawnee. We have also invited a couple of the senior Forest Service managers to talk about the impact the current political environment is having on the Shawnee National Forest.

Please, come join us, learn what being an officer or board member might entail. No hikes are planned for the event. You are welcome to bring a friend interested in hiking, or a significant other.

As we did last year, several members brought bikes and enjoyed a ride on the Tunnel Hill state trail to work off the meal. Since the Tunnel Hill State Trail is the bicycle alternative route for the American Discovery Trail through Southern IL because bikes aren’t allowed on the River to River Trail. As a result, anyone enjoying the trail on that day may consider registering for the The American Discovery Trail Challenge which can be done at this website.

https://discoverytrail.org/american-discovery-trail-home/trailchallenge/

Trail Society Annual Meeting / Picnic

Hello All!!

The 2024 River To River Trail Society Annual meeting will be here soon. It is scheduled for Saturday, June 1st, 10 am, at the Vienna, IL. City Park, which coincides with National Trails Day The park is adjacent to the Tunnel Hill Trailhead along IL Route 146 midway between I24 (exit 16) and the US Route 45 intersection downtown. We have reserved the Rams Landing shelter which is located in the back of the park. (See photo below)  As a result, the Society will be providing grilled brats and hotdogs, buns, table service and bottled water. The rest of the picnic will be a potluck and everyone is asked to bring their favorite dish to pass such as a fruit, vegetable, side dish and/or dessert.  If you want something to drink besides water you will have to bring your own. Only picnic tables are included with the shelter so if you want something more comfortable it is suggested you bring your own lawn chair.

For the meeting, there will be reports from various board members about the accomplishments from the past year and possible future projects. During the business meeting, the Society will also be electing Society officers and board members for the next year.

Following the business meeting, the Society has arranged for Lindsey Godby Roberts to speak her passion with long distance running and her recent attempt for a third Fastest Known Time record on the R2R Trail. We have also invited the new Friends of the Shawnee National Forest Co-Chair John Wohlwend to speak on the Friends efforts around the Shawnee and how we can jointly support the Forest.

Please, come join us, learn what being an officer or board member might entail. No hikes are planned for the event. You are welcome to bring a friend interested in hiking, or a significant other.

As we did last year, several members brought bikes and enjoyed a ride on the Tunnel Hill state trail to work off the meal.

Three Picnic Tables Installed Along R2R Trail

Trail 170 Overlook Table

Thanks to the generous donations the Society has received from many different River to River Trail Through hikers, the Society has elected to improve the trail by putting those funds back into the trail. As a result, the Society elected to tackle a project of purchasing and installing picnic tables at the more popular and heavily used camp sites along the trail. The project started back on September 16, 2023 when Society members Bill Gilmour, Chris Drone and Sam Morales met in Marion, IL at Menards and purchased materials for the first six tables and delivered them to the farm of David Hilliard. The four then spent the afternoon assembling the first two tables.

The Society has partnered up with the Back Country Horseman of Illinois (BCH) specifically to help us get the tables in some of the remote campsites along the trail. On September 29, 2023 three of the Society members above were joined by Cricket Simons of the BCH when we installed the second table at Rocky Top in the One Horse Gap section of the trail and then assembled four more tables. That brings the total number of tables assembled to six with at least three more to go.

On October 4, 2023, the third table was installed along the R2R trail in the One Horse Gap section near the point where the trail crosses Hart Creek. The tables installed to date are:

Location NameDate InstalledGPS Coordinates
The Trail 170 Overlook TableSeptember 22, 2023N37.54733° W88.44585°
Rocky Top TableSeptember 29, 2023N37.52558° W88.45367°
Hart Creek TableOctober 4, 2023N37.56163° W88.45306°

The next three tables will be installed in the next couple of months and the current planned locations include the camping spot near Cedar Lake Spillway, Petty Coat Junction, Max Creek Vortex and Cedar Creek Wonders. Other future locations are still being planned.

Sam Morales and David Hilliard assembling a Picnic Table
The Trail 170 Overlook Picnic Table
Sam Morales testing out the Hart Creek Picnic Table
Bill Gilmour and Cricket Simons Testing the Rocky Top Table

Trail Society Annual Meeting / Picnic

On Saturday, June 3, 2023, at the Vienna City park, the River to River Trail Society held its annual meeting. 20 members and guests gathered to hear speakers; listen to the business report and elect officers & board members for 2023-2024. 

Fred Scott was the “chief chef” and everyone else brought something to share as potluck. It was all nutritious and good. President Bill Gilmour had a sheet printed out and distributed copies of the activities over the last year, including the number of hikes, the number of hikers we entertained, the work activities various members participated in at different times, such as trail maintenance, trash blast etc. One of the Societies’ Big achievements was the placement and dedication of the statue of our founder, John O’Dell, at the church at Herod, Illinois along IL Rt. 34. 

We had 3 speakers for the day, 2 were from the U.S. Forest Service. Ellen Bogardus-Szymaniak, the acting Forest Supervisor for Southern Indiana and Southern Illinois. She talked about that she had never been in the area, and that she was highly pleased & surprised with its beauty. Next, the new District Ranger, Dennis Wilson spoke, how he wants to foster cooperation and promotion of the area. Then, last a member of the Society, who hikes with us, Susan Wygant is a geologist. She gave a quick, informative presentation on the basics of the geology of Southern Illinois, and had several charts/maps to go along with her talk. 

    Mart Watson gave the treasurers’ report, we have a positive balance, with no outstanding bills, and Gillum Ferguson updated us on the kerfuffle with Moline, Illinois and their bike way and wanting to also name it the “River to River Trail”. 

    The officers elected are the same as last year, and we do have 1 new board member, Steve Melville, who operates Rim Rock Dogwood Cabins, of Karbers Ridge, Illinois.  Steve replaces Todd Carr.

   We then closed the meeting and adjourned to partake of the delicious food, and enjoyed chatting with each other, and we did take a group picture.  Several had brought their bikes, and rode up to the Tunnel on the Tunnel Hill trail and back, after everything was over. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Chris Drone

Trail Society Annual Meeting / Picnic

Hello All!!

The 2023 River To River Trail Society Annual meeting will be here soon. It is scheduled for Saturday, June 3rd, 10 am, at the Vienna, IL. City Park, which coincides with National Trails Day The park is adjacent to the Tunnel Hill Trailhead along IL Route 146 midway between I24 (exit 16) and the US Route 45 intersection downtown. We have reserved the Rams Landing shelter which is located in the back of the park. (See photo below)  As a result, the Society will be providing grilled brats and hotdogs, buns, table service and bottled water. The rest of the picnic will be a potluck and everyone is asked to bring their favorite dish to pass such as a fruit, vegetable, side dish and/or dessert.  If you want something to drink besides water you will have to bring your own. Only picnic tables are included with the shelter so if you want something more comfortable it is suggested you bring your own lawn chair.

For the meeting, there will be reports from various board members about the accomplishments from the past year and possible future projects. During the business meeting, the Society will also be electing Society officers and board members for the next year.

 Following the business meeting, the Society has arranged for Susan Wygant to speak on a geology topic relative to the area.  We have also invited the Hoosier National Forest Supervisor Mike Chaveas to attend, but since he is out of the office on a detail we have been informed that Ellen Bogardus-Szymaniak who is the acting Forest Supervisor may attend.  Her topic would be the relationship between the two forests.

Please, come join us, learn what being an officer or board member might entail. No hikes are planned for the event. You are welcome to bring a friend interested in hiking, or a significant other.

As we did last year, several members brought bikes and enjoyed a ride on the Tunnel Hill state trail to work off the meal.

For those that are interested, the American Discovery Trail Society is also having an event that day called “The American Discovery Trail Challenge”. Since the Tunnel Hill Bike Trail is part of the ADT hiking of biking the trail would meet the challenge.  For details see https://discoverytrail.org/american-discovery-trail-home/trailchallenge/

February 18, 2023 Work Day at Dutchman Lake

On February 18, 2023 the River to River Trail Society joined forces with the Illinois Branch of the Back Country Horseman to repair the River to River Trail between Dutchman Lake and Twinz Lane.  This section of trail was originally built through a pine forest back in the 1990s when the trail was completed in the Dutchman Lake area.  It was a beautiful hike through the pines up until 2018/2019 when a storm hit the area and toppled upwards of 60-70 pine trees rendering the trail impassable.  In November of 2019 the Trail Society worked with Forest Service and numerous volunteers to clear a trail through the fallen pines.  Over the last year or more, yet another 30 plus trees have fallen over the trail once again rendering in nearly impassable.  As a result, the Societies President organized and coordinated another work day to once again clear the trail, however after meeting with the Shawnee National Forest Service (FS) team a trail reroute was scouted and approved by the FS.  As a result, the work day changed from a trail clearing day to a trail building day.

Today approximately 25 volunteers and 1 FS employee worked to rebuild and mark the new section of trail skirting around the pine forest.  Work included identifying and marking the route, clearing the entire trail of all small trees, fallen debris, leaves, loose rocks, fallen trees and any overhead hazards.  Volunteers used chain saws, loopers, hand saws, leaf blowers, rakes and a variety of other tools to clear a safe trail.  With all of the volunteers, work on the 0.6 mile reroute took a less than 4 hours to complete.  As a result of this reroute, future R2R Trail hikers and equestrians using the trail west of Dutchman Lake will need to make sure to download the latest Avenza Map 16 which will be available in a few days.

Volunteers included Chris Drone, Jim Todd, Melanie Kasson, Jane Netzler, Jody Baumberger-Gehrig, Loretta Maldaner, Fred Scott,  Scott Graham, Sam Morales, Charlie Kahle, Allison Kallo, Shelley Deal, Nathan Heldenbrand, Sharon Buchanan, Loni Heidbred, Megan Anderson, Gloria Heggy, Marcus Owens, Jake Saunders, Dwight Pray, Angie Carter, Rick Yates, Ken Nampadano, Cricket Simons, Vicki Simons and Bill Gilmour.  If anybody was missed, we are sorry.  The work day was coordinated by Bill Gilmour and Cricket Simon.

The FS, Trail Society and Back Country Horseman would like to sincerely thank all of the volunteers that showed up to help today.

Hope to see all of you on the trail again in the future.

Group photo of today’s trail crew
The trail as it existed prior to 2018
A view of the trail for the last 3-4 years

Saturday November 26, 2022 and Season Hike Summary

On Saturday, November 26th, Bob Mulcahy led the last hike of the Fall 2022 hiking season, with 11 other hikers attending.  Much Thanks to Michelle Bloom and Jill Fairbanks who met Bob early to park their vehicles at the North end of the hike to help ‘ferry’ people back to the starting spot. Today was a bit unusual for the Trail Society. We had more female hikers than male (8 vs. 4), then, we “gained” 2 hikers about mid-morning. They had arrived late, went to the North end, and hiked in to meet us. They had not been with us all fall, but were able to make the very last hike. We also had 1 new hiker from the Metropolis area. We parked at the intersection of trails 383 & 385, along a ‘wide spot’ on Boat dock Rd.  and proceeded North. We were able to find several windows today, and several places between rocks that many, if not all of us crawled/walked through. Cedar lake was on our “right” most of the day, and we were able to get some good views of small coves, thus the name of the hike…”Cove Hollow” The sun Tried, but was never fully able to ‘break through”.  We did not get into “Wolf Den hollow”, thus we did not happen upon/encounter any wolves, nor did we have a local canine accompany us, as we did a few years ago on a similar hike. We , ended up hiking just over 4 miles.Oh, I Almost forgot, we learned today that for 1 hiking couple, this particular hike, 8 years ago (with another hiking group), was their 1st date. Congrats!!

I would like to say a Huge “Thanks Much” to ALL the hike leaders this fall: Sam Morales, Steve Melville, Bob Mulcahy, Gillum & Vicki Ferguson, Bill Gilmour, Marcus Owens and Shawn Gossman for volunteering to lead a hike,  taking time to ‘pre-scout” their hikes, planning, and hike leadership. We appreciate all our hike leaders, and encourage and ask for possible new hikes and/or new hike leaders.  We had 129  hikers this fall attend hikes, with new hikers almost every hike. We are  Very Glad you came, and welcome you to return this Spring of 2023.  Tell your friends what group, and ‘how’ to see the wonders of the woods in Southern Illinois.  We will start planning for Spring 2023 hikes right after January 1st .   If you would like to lead a hike, please reach out to us via our phones if you have our contact, or through the facebook page of the River to River Trail Society, or to individual board member facebook pages. I would encourage you to learn to use the Avenza app and the available free maps, when out hiking on your own. 

Until then, 

“See Ya On the Trail” and Merry Christmas & Happy 2023!!

Respectfully submitted, 

Chris Drone

River to River Trail Guide updated December 16, 2018

The River to River Trail Society posted an update to the River to River Trail Guide on today.  This new version includes an update to the  supplemental information associated with Hogg’s Bluff in chapter 8 thanks to the great folks at Camp Ondessonk.  It also includes new information on the West Panther Den Arch in chapter 12 that I visited recently because it is only a quarter mile off the trail along a short but nice bluff line.  Finally, this update includes a new Ad for the great folks at  http://southernmostillinois.com  Please support them and we thank them for their support of the official Trail Guide. 

The updated version of the guide can be download from the same page as the original guide http://www.rivertorivertrail.net/home/trail-information/river-to-river-trail-guide-2018/