The River to River Trail in Southern Illinois

[Wolf - 23000]

I'm planning on heading out with a friend for a short hike Panther's Den to Garden of the God's. I've never been in that neck of the woods but I pretty confident in my wilderness skills.

My question is does anyone know of a good source I can use for a maps. The maps I found on the internet were not very good.

Wolf

[mkmangold]

Shawnee is absolutely beautiful and you can actually get lost there! Try this for maps: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/shawnee/maps/
and have a great time. Let us know how it goes.

[The Solemates]

the best source of info for this trail is the guide book, found here, or at the one outfitter for the trail in carbondale.

[get wayaway]

Anyone out there have any interest in hiking some or all of this trail? It's 150+ miles and some beautiful scenery. Also goes past a couple of wineries!

[Dogwood]

Wine and hiking.

[Likes2travel]

get wayaway - I would be interested if we could work out the schedule/dates. I live just off of exit 57 on I-64 in Indiana so I am fairly close. I have camped in the Shawnee, but never backpacked.

[Likes2travel]

Watched a couple of utube vids just last weekend of a fellow hiking a part of this trail.

[CoffeeBager]

Just an FYI to anyone headed down there that the ticks have been terrible in some places.

[get wayaway]

yep - ticks are bad down here. I live in the Shawnee and they just seem to be a way of life.

[Cookerhiker]

This trail sounds interesting but I would think early/mid Spring or Fall would be the best times to hike it.

[Marta]

Garden of the Gods is a fascinating place.

I would definitely wear permethrin-impregnated clothes.

[The Solemates]

just got back from a R2R trip. first time there. nice little trail. photos and stuff at my blog

[tauwillow]

We're thinking about thru hiking it in May! Its so hard to find much good info about the trail online.

[Just Bill]

The guidebook is really the only source of info out there, and it is not the best around. For the section you are thinking of doing, consider the Garden of the Gods state park maps. There are several trails in that area and the local map may do you more good than the overall trail map. Printing a few maps from the USGS site is a good plan too if you want them- but it's not the hardest system to follow in that area. If you're a GPS type, backpacker magazine has done several articles on that section over the years.

The R2R trail is one of the best in the Midwest- but be careful. The Shawnee is one of, if not the most popular whitetail deer hunting locations in the country. Find out when shotgun weekends are and wear LOTS of bright color. I've never been a bear bell fan, but this is a time you may consider tooting on your whistle every once in awhile to alert hunters to your presence. Just about every year a hunter is killed there, there are lots of city slickers out for a "shoot-around". Drinking and inexperience are common. It is also a very popular horse trail, so if that sort of thing bothers you- it's worth investigating some of the local horse clubs as they host several big rides on that trail a few times a year and large horse groups can be common. The trail gets pretty trashed during these group rides.

Early Spring and Late Fall are your best bets to avoid the worst of the ticks and chiggers. Winter hikes are great too. I once considered a late July hike there and the rangers I spoke with told me they don't even go in the woods in July or August. That said my November thru was a bit of an adventure as once the leaves fall it's a difficult trail to follow- but still a great trip.

The R2R is one of the best hikes in the country- do it!

[Spiffyguy]

I did the Garden of the Gods to Lusk Creek Trailhead back in Oct of 12. Was a great time despite driving the three hours there and forgetting my shoes. Spent most of that day in the car lol. This was my first really long hike. Was 55 miles round trip or something like that. Best place for the maps is http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/shawne...telprdb5268913 I bought both guide books. I found this one to be better as it had all the GPS coordinates in it. The other book had more general information. I did up some youtube vids from my trip if you are interested in those. I am hoping to do a thru hike in early spring of 2014. I am thinking like late march-April. Before all the bugs and horses get on the trail. I had some issues with heavy mud in the Lusk Creek area due to horses chewing up the trail.

[Lyte-w8-hyker]

stop by one of the forest service regional offices, they have all kinds of maps for sale of the area. Shawnee is the one gem Illinois has.

[Lyte-w8-hyker]

Also "little grand canyon" and giant city state park are very cool and worth checking out

[tauwillow]

Thanks Spiffyguy! I've been watching and rewatching your videos over the past handful of months. They were a great help for someone who likes to pre-know a place before hiking.

Just Bill - your advice about others who use the trail areas is incredibly helpful. I will do my due diligence to find the best time to head out. We intend to pick up some orienteering classes before we hike, instead of purchasing a GPS unit. We're hoping to thru hike it with our son who is graduating from highschool in late May, so our time isn't as flexible as we would like.

Lyte-w8-hyker - we have the Prairie Research Institute practically in our backyard, and they print all of the maps for the state, so we're in good hands there. I just like reading about others who have hiked the area, so I can learn more about the subtle things to prepare for ahead of time. This trail feels like I'm going in a touch more blind.

[Just Bill]

. We intend to pick up some orienteering classes before we hike, instead of purchasing a GPS unit.

Music to my ears!

Enjoy your hike- Late May is doable.

[Talleywacker]

Giving much thought to R2R as my maiden hiking trip. Hiked, just not an over- or multi-nighter
From my location it is either Shawnee or LBL and LBL has overnight fees whereas SNF does not!
A penny saved...