Peter Cave Trail

Continuing with our series, "Adventures With Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure in Southern Illinois," we feature the above trail this month. It is unclear whether this is on Shawnee National Forest land or that of a willing landowner. Respect the "keep out" signs on the side trails and land.

Directions: Tunnel Hill exit on I-24. Follow thru Tunnel Hill, cross Rt 45, and proceed to Rt 147. Turn left and go several miles, and look for Cedar Grove Road (just before the Rt 145 junction). Turn left and proceed approx 2.4 miles, keeping your eye out for the River to River Trail crossing signs. Park on either side of the road and walk east (right) on the R-R trail. It starts out as a narrow trail thru pine plantations for 0.5 mile. Now we encounter an old forest service road-turn left. 0.5 mile later, we reach Crow Knob Ecological area. This is a pretty, circular bluff, although brush impedes circling the bluff at its base. You can walk on the top. Continue another half mile to a couple marked side trails. One is trail 497 to Jackson Hole; the other is for Peter Cave (no trail number). I estimate the distance to the cave as 1.1 miles. It seems to be adequately marked; however, there is a stretch of trail heavily damaged by horse traffic and no way to circumvent it. This trail is level grade up until the end approaches. Now we suddenly descend into a valley where beautiful tall cliff walls form a "U" shape configeration. Note the pole line where you can tie up horses. Climb up 30 ft to enter this huge rockhouse/shelter bluff (not really a cave). I estimate the length at 200 ft, depth at 75 ft,and 30 ft high. Take time to also hike along the base of the cliff line. Two other trails from Hayes Creek Canyon terminate here too so make note of your trail as you return to the car. Remember to turn right upon reaching the junction with R-R trail.I cannot find GPS corrodinates for the cave;However,here are the ones for crow knob which you pass on the way to the cave:37 29' 55"N and 88 37' 56"W. During a 2010 Sierra hike in the winter,there was a 60ft waterfall flowing over the top of the cave-spectacular!
I have forgotten to deal with the ownership issue. The trail and cave are private property according to the owner I ran into during a Sierra hike.  He said it is open to the public-just don't go off trail or leave trash.

I'll deal with Jackson Hole trail in the future when finding an easier access is found: Trail 497 is a real "gut buster" in the first 2 miles. More info from Bob Tyson at 684-5643 or robkay43@webtv.net.

Hickory Ridge Trails

Continuing with our monthly series, "Adventures With Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure in Southern Illinois," we feature Shawnee National Forest trails along Hickory Ridge Road.

Directions: Follow south 20th street from Murphysboro until you ascend a hill near a church. Turn left onto Hickory Ridge Road. This road is paved all the way to Pomona. After several miles, we arrive at a four-way stop. Turn right. Note a FS trail near Fairview Church. Forget this overgrown trail-no prominent features. Continue on to the sign for Little Grand Canyon. That area was already described at http://illinois.sierraclub.org/shawnee/unclebob/adventures.htm. Set your odometer and drive 1.2 mile to an unmarked firelane on the left (just past Mason Concrete). Park here and walk if the lane is muddy; if not, drive in to the turnabout. The ridgetop trail has good views during leafoff. Note the unmarked trail junction. I took the left fork for a while. It suddenly makes a very steep descent to the bottom of a circular cliff line. Returning to our junction, I took the right fork. At some point there is an ATV spur trail steeply descending to the base of pretty cliff walls. Returning to the right fork, the trail makes a gradual descent to go on forever. I turned around after 40 minutes.

Back on Hickory Ridge Road, drive another 1.3 mile and arrive at a gate (on your left) at the bottom of the hill. This is FS 741. This old roadbed trail runs approx 2 miles. During leafoff, our walk affords unobstructed views of the cliff line. At some point, note a large canebrake patch, creek, and boulder. Bushwhack left about 100 yards to find a pretty rock canyon, waterfall, and a shelter cave to the upper right. Back on the trail, we cross a powerline clearing and continue into the woods. We soon navigate a huge canebrake forest and the trail ends at a creek. In the spring, I noted acres of blue flowers. ,As of May 2009,due to an inland hurricane we cannot follow the trail past the powerline clearing. Unfortunately the remainder of the trail took us to several buzzard roosts high up in the trees. very impressive!

Retrace your route back to the car. Drive about 100 yards to a trail on the right (FS 346C). The first segment traverses a Pine plantation. The trail is often muddy due to ATV riders. Just before the creek, look to the left and follow a long cliff line to its end. Note the unique texture of the rock. Retrace this 0.5 mile back to the car.

Drive another 1.2 mile to find Wolfe Creek Trail. There is a vineyard on the left: continue approx 200 ft and park on the shoulder near a log pile on the right. This faint trail travels in a northwest direction thru woods to reach the start of continuous 2-3 mile cliff canyon. Prior to reaching this point, you will have passed the foundation of an old CCC camp. There is no defined trail in the canyon; Just stay close to the base of the cliff line to avoid getting lost. Do not continue past the waterfall without permission of the landowner. The private property boundary starts here, even though there is no sign. In autumn, the stretch of road from Little Grand Canyon to this point is a continuous blaze of yellow leaves.

The photos are of the bluff line on trail FS 346C and the rock cave along trail FS 741.

More info from Bob Tyson at 684-5643. the GPS coordinates for fr 741 are 89 22' 55.20"w and 37 40' 7.90"w.

Cedar Creek Wonders

Continuing with our monthly series, "Adventures With Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure in Southern Illinois," we feature Cedar Creek Wonders in Shawnee National Forest (this unofficial trail is not on the forest map). Directions: From Tunnel Hill village, go south, cross US 45, and continue straight ahead (Mt Gilead Rd) for approx 6 miles. Just past the church, turn left on Gum Springs Rd. Travel about 2-3 miles to a concrete bridge and note the parking area on the left. Cedar Creek divides the canyon. Take the user-made, half mile trail on your right (north).

We follow a pretty continuous cliff line along with 3 shelter bluffs. Note the solid yellow buffalo petroglyph along the last shelter bluff. The trail seems to end at a huge boulder. It would take a strenuous effort to overcome this obstacle. Upon re-tracing my route back to the car, note a faint trail which can take one to the top of the cliff line for a view over the canyon during leaf-off.

The River to River Trail crosses this area. I followed it west on the south side of the creek for over a mile but no prominent features were noted. It will come out again on Gum Springs Rd about 3 miles further north. I also followed it east from the parking area. There is an unmarked junction after a quarter mile: turn right, cross a bridge, and ascend uphill. No prominent features were noted after a couple miles. A future article will describe another trail in Cedar Wonders which also includes a free-standing natural bridge.

More info from Bob Tyson at 684-5643 or John O'Dell at 252-6789
Photo courtesy of the River2River hiking group. See more photos of this scenic area at
http://community.webshots.com/user/river2riverhiker

2/12/2012: learned something new. The river to river trail continues east across the road and then ascends uphill on the right; However, if you continue straight ahead on an old railbed, Hogg Bluff awaits. As we walk for a mile and view distant cliff lines, we come to an isolated knob partially surrounded by a creek and a pretty semi-circle cliff line. Bushwhack along this line or ascend the knob for a great view. I am told this railbed will go to Cedar Falls at Camp Ondessonk. One can also get off here and follow south on a user-made trail along ravines and frequent cliff lines to the same falls;However, this involves frequent creek crossings. I also note that people can take US 45 from Harrisburg to Ozark General store, go another 1/2 mile and turn on Gum Ridge Rd to the trail parking area.the coordinates for hogg bluff are n37.29.742 and w88.45.467.