Pickle Springs Loop Trail

Continuing with this series,"Adventures with Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure", we feature this Missouri Dept of Conservation trail. It is reproduced here as it disappeared from a previous website. Directions: From Chester,ill cross the bridge and go about 5 miles to county H, and follow this until it ends at St Mary. Turn left, and go to county Z. Follow to I-55 and go north to Rt 32. Follow this approx 15 miles and you see the brown conservation area sign. Turn left and follow to the parking lot. Alternatively, for a scenic view,get off I-55 at Ozora exit, take N to P, then north on B to rt 32. This will take you over scenic ridgetops and the winery in the cave.

Coming out of the parking lot, we have a 2 mile loop junction: let's go left. Soon we come to a unique cliff area with a double buttress arches, the keyhole, and the slot. Our arches picture has been moved to http://www.naturalarches.org( click GIS for any state). The trail is up and down but not steep. We encounter waterfalls, rock shelters, and strange rock formations. Near the end, we are up on high rock cedar glade overlooking the valley and back to the parking lot. GPS coordinatesare N 37.7959 and W -90.2668. Make a day out of this outing by visiting nearby Hickory Canyon Conservation area and Hawn State Park. The winery requires that visitors buy one bottle of wine for every 5 people in a group in order to enter the cave( lighted and tables). More info from Bob Tyson at 618-684-5643 or robkay43@webtv.net.

Hayes Creek Trails

Continuing with our "Adventures With Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure in Southern Illinois," we feature the above area on Shawnee National Forest trails 491A and 491. The Shawnee staff has improved and relocated these trails in the last 2 years. Two of us visited 01/23/2012. Directions: go south from Eddyville on Rt 145 and look for Neighbors Rd and turn right. After 1/4 mile look on the left for sign 491A (room for no more than 3 cars if muddy).

491A descends gradually downhill on several switchbacks with exposed pretty cliff lines on both sides of the trail. Waterfall cascades are abundant. Cliff views will be more prominent during leaf-off since the trail is not directly underneath the walls. After 25 minutes, we reach a junction: 491A straight ahead thru Hayes Creek, 491 south, and 491 north. We first went north (right) on 491. This was muddy in places but as a riverside trail in a canyon, we are treated to continual cliff lines on both sides. 30 minutes later, the water was too high to turn left on it, so we continued straight ahead as 4961. Again this tributary was to deep to cross and connect with 496 and on to the River to River trail. The horse tie up over the creek shows GPS coordinates 37 29' 08"N and 88 37' 19"w.

We retreated back to the junction with 491 and 491A and traveled south on 491. We slowly ascend to a rim top view over Hayes Creek for 200 yards while continuing to take in the pretty cliffs on both sides. Forest did a great job on this segment. Note the 30 ft waterfall cascade. Unfortunately, 491 crossed the creek again as it heads to Bay Creek ranch. This adventure is worth it even if impeded by creek levels. Upon return to the car, we continued further south on rt 145 and turned onto FR 652 sign. It was a good one lane road which took us to two trail heads. The first one shows 031D which goes west to Bay Creek ranch. Driving a little further, another parking area shows a junction for 491A east, 491, as well as #031 west to the ranch. Contact Bob Tyson at 684-5643 or robkay43@webtv.net for further questions.

02/06/12:we returned to Fr 562 rd and parked at jct with 031D. sign says 1 mile to jct with 031. it was well marked but poor trail tread and devoid of scenery. We come to jct 031; go left to see a pretty cliff line and follow to 031H and end up on Cedar Grove Church rd. Go right to follow 031 as a loop back to FR 562. This segment went thru ravines, good tread in places, but cliff lines were more distant from the trail. The time for this loop back to the car was 1 hr 45 minutes.

From 031D parking area, we drove north 1/4 mile to another parking area(gravel pile) and took 491. This was good trail tread, well-marked, some nice cliff features, and arrive at Hayes creek crossing in 20 minutes. While here, we picked up 491A back to the car. This was good trail tread, well marked, but little scenic value except distant views over ridgetops. It ends on a long rock glade. Turn left on the road and proceed 0.2 back to the car. This segment was 35 minutes.

Peabody/Forest Service Land Swap

The comment period ends Jan 31. While the Shawnee would gve one property near the confluence of the Saline river and the Ohio (Gallatin county) in exchange for 2 Peabody properties, there is an environmental issue regarding the one near the Ohio River. This property protects a maternity roost colony of federally endangered Indiana bats, habitat for Gray bats, high quality natural area which includes rare hardwood forest bottomland.
Tell the Forest Service to stop this swap. Mailed comments may be sent to Hurston Nicholas, supervisor. Shawnee National Forest. 50 Hwy 145 South. Harrisburg,Ill. 62946. The subject of the letter is: ALHI-Shawnee NF land exchange proposal. You may also email to: comments-eastern-shawnee@fs.fed.us

Clayton Hollow Trails

Continuing with our series,"Adventures With Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure in Southern Illinois," we feature Clayton Hollow Trails. I used the Shawnee National Forest green interim 2011 map for this place. Keep in mind that the map is not drawn to scale, so distances are hard to determine on each trail. Directions: From Harrisburg, go east on Rt 13 to Equality and turn south on the Garden of Gods road. Travel several miles and go left at a stop sign. After a few miles, turn onto High Knob Rd. Take this until a stop sign appears and turn left on Leamington Rd. Follow this about 6 miles to Blackridge Rd. We ascend up this road, passing residences, and after the blacktop ends, start looking for a small parking lot on the right. Trail 184 crosses the road and bisects both Thacker Hollow and Clayton hollow. Cross the road and we will make 184 a loop trail.

We are gradually descending a rim trail overlooking deep ravines. 15 minutes later, we junction with #181. Follow 181 a short distance to a junction with #183. A right turn here takes you back to Blackridge Rd. We will go left on 183 and again we view deep hollows and ravines along the way. Later we reach a confusing junction: 2 unmarked trails, another says "to #184", and the 4th says 183. We continued on 183 and note Pounds Hollow Lake below the trail. At a point where the lake is no longer visible, note an unmarked spur trail (I put pink ribbons there) that took us to a free-standing natural arch 5 minutes away. It is next to a rock glade top.

I returned to 183, continuing north, and now junction with 184. We continue north on 184 with 200-300 ft Pines, fern areas, and the trail tuns west. We hit a 3 way junction: road goes to a campground, one unmarked trail, and 184 turning south. Continue 184 back to the car along deep ravines. This loop trail took 4 hours. The Forest Service did an excellent job on graveling most of the trails. The trails are wide and not very steep. If time is short, just experience the first 15 minutes of 184 along the rim until the junction with #181. GPS coordinates for the area are 37 37' 51" N and 88 17' 12" W. Due to limited parking on Blackridge, those with horse trailers may want to park at Double M campground and use trail 187-8 to access the area. Scroll down this blog to Thacker Hollow trails for more hiking without even moving the car. More info from Bob Tyson at 684-5643 or robkay43@webtv.net
10/12/12: the GPS was in dispute. you may want to try N37.37.172 and W88.16.509. For anyone trying to access Blackridge road from the south end, travel on Karber Ridge Rd past Garden of Gods. The county roadsign is gone at its junction with Blackridge. while passing the sign for High Knob along Karber Ridge rd, go further east 2.3 miles and then turn on blackridge. there is a R-R trails marker at the road too.

FS 001T Loop Trail

Continuing with our monthly feature, "Adventures with Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure in Southern Illinois," we feature this new Forest Service trail, which also goes by the name Cove Hollow Trail. This can be confusing since a trail south of Murphysboro already has that name. Upon inquiry, the locals have always used that term for this place. Directions: scroll down this blog to East Trigg trailhead for directions from Ozark, Illinois. Coordinates appear to be 37 30' 0"N and 88 43' 0"W. It can also be found as N 37.801994 and W-90.70985.

The trail head has plenty of room for cars and horse trailers. Cross the road and follow the River to River trail signs for 18 minutes on this old service road until the junction with oo1T. This is a graveled surface thru a pine plantation and then changes to dirt. Suddenly this impressive cliff line appears and the serpentine trail weaves in and out a different cliff line and rock formations with each turn. Height vary from 30 ft to well over 100 ft. It looks like horse riders have also discovered this trail as dips in its surface have turned to mud. At some point we encounter a junction: upper cove and lower cove. I took upper cove to continue along the base of the cliffs. Then it turns to merge with lower. Now the loop will head south back to River to River trail (oo1). Did you miss the slot canyon near this junction? Now the loop moves away from the cliff line and running parallel with railroad tracks. Enjoy steep ravine views thru a long canyon. Despite previous user-made trails, oo1T is well marked. Eventually tread turns to gravel and meets up with 001. Turn right to return to the car. Turn left if you want to travel thru the RR underpass,left again, and follow the trail along pretty ravines and go on to a pretty rock area at Bay Lake. Our trail was 2.5 miles, gradually up and down but not steep. Overall, the Forest Service did a great job creating this trail. More info from Bob Tyson at 684-5643 or robkay43@webtv.net.

Native Plant Project - Vienna Ranger Station‏

The Shawnee Group Sierra Club, along with several other non-profits, entered into a cost share agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to supply volunteer labor for native landscaping at the new Hidden Springs Ranger Station in Vienna. To date, students from Vienna High School have contributed a lot of time with some of the initial landscaping, but the Forest Service is in need of some additional help.

Projects that need attention now include:

Remove daffodils (you can keep what you dig if you like).
General springtime garden bed clean up.
Help with establishing a short nature trail through a tiny woodlot adjacent to the building -- requires some small shrub/tree and invasive species removal, constructing some brush/habitat piles, laying some weed fabric and mulch on trails, etc.

Please contact Terri Treacy at terri.treacy@sierraclub.org to schedule a time -- week day or weekend -- to lend a hand.

Hughes Mountain Natural Area

Continuing with our series, "Adventures With Uncle Bob-Guide to Self-Adventure," we feature this Missouri Dept of Conservation area. Directions: Cross bridge at Chester, IL, then Mo 51, then Co H, then Co Z, and enter I-55 north. Take Rt 32 exit to Farmington. Proceed north to Rt 8 and then a left turn on Co M. Follow several miles until you see the brown sign for this place.

This is an easy gradual ascent of 0.75 mile along the Devil's Honeycomb trail. Upon arrival, you have a 270 degree panoramic view over distant mountaintops. At this unusual glade-top, roam around among the polygonal rock formations. The pre-Cambrian and Rhyolite rock outcroppings are among the oldest exposed rocks in the US. It looks like a giant used a cookie cutter on this huge glade-top. Retrace the trail back to the parking area.

This area was featured in the February,2005, Shawnee Sierra newsletter but never got posted on the website, so a home for it is created on this blog. While this trail is further away from our normal postings, the motive here is to afford those with more limited hiking abilities to have an outdoor experience. On Mo 21, approx 10 miles away, take the trail at Elephant Rocks State Park (http://illinois.sierraclub.org/shawnee/unclebob/adventures.htm). This is a one mile PAVED loop around gigantic formations. If you plan a trip to Branson, continue south from there on to Rt 86 for Dogwood Canyon Nature Park. This commercial site enables the hiker to walk along a paved, flat trail along waterfalls, cliff lines, rock formations, and caves. A tram car comes by every hour for those who are weary. http://www.dogwoodcanyon.org/. More info on the above areas from Bob Tyson at 618-684-5643 or robkay43@webtv.net. More pictures at wikipedia.org and this place on search line. Coordinates here are N 37.801994 and W -90.70985.