River to River

Hike Name: River to River Location: south IL Length: 75 Submitted by: Carl Siefken Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more Illinois trail reviews Illinois national parks Illinois state parks
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Description
Backpacked about 75 miles on the R2R from Elizabethtown to Triple T campground just east of Route 45 in March 2006.We used a shuttle for part of the distance (on time and reasonably priced).Previous heavy rains made the trail muddy in spots but made water easy to find. Signage was fair but we were lucky to have never made a wrong turn.We had topo maps-GPS-and the R2R trail society guide.The trail guide is a must but some of the Lat/Lons are incorrect.If you use GPS grid your topos and use your own coordinates.We saw the usual Illinois animals: deer,gray squirrel,pileated woodpecker,Canada geese and wood ducks.Heard turkey,barred owl and coyote. Also saw a couple beaver dams and maybe an otter slide. Never had any problems with any hikers - we never saw any. We saw some quadrunners using the trail one day and 5 horsemen-otherwise we had the trail to ourselves. The trail was very quiet and scenic.The rock formations are unique - they remind me of huge pancakes stacked high.Compared to other trails around the country these hills are moderate to climb at worst.There is a good hiker friendly restaurant just as you get into Eddyville.Eddyville also has a post office as does Herod.With all the rain we only had one ford that I didn't want to cross.My daughter who has done close to half of the Appalachian Trail was willing but not me. This was at Little Bay Creek between Eddyville and Trigg Tower.Bay Lake spillway was pouring tons of water into the creek but by taking forest road 463 north past the spillway we were able to cross the creek at only ankle deep. My favorite places were Garden of the Gods and One Horse Gap. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the trail this fall.

Directions to Hike
See River to River trail guide.

Contact Information
www.Rivertorivertrail.org

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