River To River Trail Alto Pass to Hwy 51

The River to River trail in southern Illinois is composed of both trail and road hiking.  I  I plan to thru hike the River to River trail in 8 days averaging 20 miles per day next year (2014) in mid February. The days will be short in February and I cannot afford to lose time backtracking to pick up the correct trail.  So, I am hiking as many of the actual trail sections as possible between now and my February thru hike.  I plan to hike from Grand Tower to Alto Pass on the first day.  The only trail section is the 6 mile Godwin trail through the Clear Springs and Bald Know Wilderness areas of the Shawnee National forest.  The rest of that section is hiking approximately 15 miles of gravel and paved roads.

I plan to hike to Giant City State Park on the 2nd day.  I am considering renting a cabin or at least camping in park's campground (with access to the showers).  However, I do not know what facilities are open at the park in February.  Also, this would only be a 16 mile day which would leave me with a couple of 22 mile days later on the trip.  I may to another 4 miles that day and camp closer to Rocky Comfort road (approximately 4.44 miles from the Giant City State Park lodge.

The second day will begin at Alto Pass (still not sure where I will camp that night).  Here is a link to my track at alltrails.com

http://alltrails.com/tracks/r2r-trail-section

To hike this section of the River to River trail, I parked at Cedar Lake and hiked south to where the trail jumps off Cedar Street coming out of Alto Pass.  So when you look at the track the River to River trail is actually on the west side of the lake (coming back up from Cedar street I took the Cedar Lake loop trail on the east side of the lake - not part of the River to River trail).  So from Cedar Street, you would turn left (north), stay to the west side of Cedar Lake, cross the causeway (going east) and follow the trail to Rowan Road.  From Rowan Road you will road walk to Hwy 51.  The next blog will pick up from Hwy 51 and take you to Giant City State Park Lodge.

Starting in Alto Pass, you hike out of town on Cedar street.  The trail leaves the road after about 1.3

Treatment Plant (gone too far)

Trail head north through summac

miles just before the water treatment plant (there was no blaze indicating  There is a small bridge on the road just after the trail leaves the road and the waste water treatment plant is on the left just pass the small bridge.  If you go over the bridge and can see the house and treatment plant on the left, you have gone too far.  The trail going north is cut through head high sumac and at the top of the hill you will find an orchard.

Wide mowed path on ritght

Orchard - stay to right side

Stay to the right side of  the orchard and you will see the trail leaving the orchard to the right (not blazed).  I is a wide moved path going downhill to a farm field.

Gate in opposite corner

First small field 

At the bottom of the hill you enter a small farm field and you will walk along
the edge of the field.  You will walk straight toward the tree line and then turn left headed for the opposite corner from where you entered the field and cross the creek bed.

You then enter a larger field and again you need to get to the opposite corner.  You will see a gate in that corner.  The River to River trail continues from that point.

Trail blaze near field gate

Stay right and cross creek bed

Now the trail is in the timber with private property to the right (there is a fence just to the right of the trail in this area).  The next fork in the trail is just before you cross the next creek bed.  You will veer slightly to the right and cross the creek.  This intersection was not blazed at the time I hiked the trail.

View down trail towards creek bed

The next intersection is a choice between going along the east or west side of Cedar Lake.  I do not have a picture of that intersection but you will stay to the

Left takes you to a trailhead

left.  The actual River to River trail runs along the west side of Cedar Lake.  The Cedar Lake loop trail runs along the east side and does cross the River to River trail eventually.  You will walk along the edge of Cedar Lake and then the trail hits a T intersection.  If you go left, you will end up at the Cedar Lake trailhead.

Go right (see R2R blaze)

You want to go right and you will cross over the Cedar Lake causeway.

Go left at top of hill

The next trail junction is another T with the Cedar Lake loop going left and

Looking back down trail toward causeway

the River to River trail going left.  The picture on the left shows the slight incline at the junction.  The trail continues at the top of that hill and you want to go to the left.  The picture on the right is a view looking back down the trail towards the Cedar Lake causeway.  I don't remember seeing a blaze at this junction either except that the trail to the right was marked as Cedar Lake Loop trail.

Go left

The next intersection was well marked and you go left.  The trail going to the right looks more worn but the trail to the left (least traveled) is the River to River trail.  Note the blaze on the tree at the very right edge of the photo.







The Cedar Loop trail hooks back up with the River to River trail at this point.  You continue straight
(or slightly left).  The other trail runs south (right fork).

Go left (no blaze visible at this intersection)

The next intersection is not blazed and you will go left.  Shortly after you take the left fork you will cross a creek bed.

At the end of this trail (just before the trailhead), the trail enters a cut in the timber for a power line.  You will walk though this cut for a few hundred fee and end up at the Lirley trailhead.

From the trailhead, you will head north up Rowan Road, turn left on McQuire Road and then right onto Old US Hwy 51.  The trail apparently leaves Old US Hwy 51 and head south (go right off highway) just before in intersects with Hwy 51.  I have not hiked the short section of trail which then crosses Hwy 51.  I have picked up the trail where it crosses Hwy 51 and hiked east.  But I have not looked for the trail from Hwy 51 to Old Hwy 51.

This section of the River to River trail from Alto Pass to Hwy 51 is 10.53 miles.  I provided a link to my track at alltrails.com earlier.  You should consider joining alltrails.com if you are not already a member.  You can select any of my tracks (or someone else's track) and use it as a GPS trip guide.  I have provided a screen capture of the track below:

Remember that the River to River trail follows the west edge of Cedar Lake and then crosses the causeway.