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| R2R Blaze |
http://rivertorivertrail.blogspot.com/ (not updated since 4/28/2010)
Jon Voigts has a River to River Trail pocket guide with good information and GPS waypoints. The mapping coordinates use the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system with map datum NAD27. So when you plot the waypoints, make sure you are using the correct system and map datum (otherwise your waypoints will be off significantly - yea I figured it out the hard way). The world standard is datum is World Geodetic System 1984 or WGS84 based upon the North American Datum of 1983- NAD83 (no difference between the these two). Must USGS topo maps are based on the North American Datum of 1927 or NAD27. The difference between WGS84 and NAD27 can be as much as 200 meters. Unfortunately, if you go to the website rivertorivertrailguide.com - Google warns you of the presence of malware and recommends not proceeding to the site. I looked in my copy of the guide for a phone number or address but there is no other contact information. There is also a guide from the River to River Trail organization (there website has been down forever). You can order their guide at Amazon:
My goal with this blog is to provide another resource for those planning to hike the R2R trail. I live in Cape Girardeau, MO. The western trail head for the R2R trail is Grand Tower, IL. Grand Tower is across the Mississippi and north of Cape Girardeau on Hwy 3. I can reach sections of the trail in half an hour.
I intend do a thru hike of the entire trail February of 2014. In preparation for that thru hike, I plan to hike as many sections as possible (focusing on the trail portions rather than the road sections). I intend to develop a pictorial guide to the trail providing guidance on the direction to take at various junctions and forks in the trail.
I have hiked most of the Godwin trail but not the entire trail because the western portion from the trail head to Hutchins creek was badly grown up this summer. I will hike that section later this fall once the vegetation dies off. My first mistake on the Godwin trail, starting at the Western trail head near the La Rue Ecological area, was to miss the first turn on the trail. You only go about 3/4 of a mile and you reach your first fork (if you are looking for it). You should go right at this fork but the left portion of the trail looks well trodden (the right fork was grown up). What I missed was a wooden sign on the left edge of the trail (at that junction) that showed the left fork was actually the King Hollow trail. Here is a link to that track on alltrails.com http://alltrails.com/tracks/9620-godwin-trail
You can see from the track that I hiked down the King Hollow Trail some distance before I began to question the trail. It became increasing overgrown and washed out. I began to think I was simply following some upper drainage. So, I turned around (and yes Donna - I backtracked but I was not lost). I then notice the King Hollow Trail sign and went right onto the R2R trail. But I was running out of daylight and the trail was overgrown. So I returned to the Jeep. The trail junction is blazed with a silver diamond on the right side of the trail.
The first half of the Godwin trail traverses the Clear Springs Wilderness area of the Shawnee National Forest. This wilderness area covers 4730 acres and was designated as a wilderness area in 1990. The western trail head is located on forest road 236 (Pine Hills Road) just north of Wolf Lake, IL. It is approximately 6 3/4 miles from the eastern trailhead to the western trail head. The Clear Springs Wilderness area stops at Hutchins Creek (about 3 miles in on the trail).
Then you enter the Bald Knob Wilderness area covering 5,800 acres. I have not hiked in from the western trailhead to Hutchins creek yet. I have hiked to the creek from the western trail head but did not cross the creek. The creek crossing would be the only confusing area on this portion of the R2R trail. Although not well marked (it is my understanding that the number of blazes
are limited in wilderness areas), the trail from Hutchins Creek to the eastern trail head is a well defined trail and gets more distinct the closer you get to the trail head. Here is a link to my track of the Godwin trail within the Bald Knob Wilderness area http://alltrails.com/tracks/godwin-trail-west-half. There are two other trails that intersect with the Godwin trail close to the eastern trailhead but they are will marked as the Bridgeman trail (heads north) and Ranbarger trail (goes south). The trails in this area offer several options for loop hiking from 6 to possibly to 20 miles (depending on how you combine them). However, as I found out on the King Hollow trail, some portions of these trails look like goat paths and can be heavily overgrown. This area is thick with poison ivy as well.
Once I hike the entire Godwin trail (which I will do later this year). I will update this blog with details and photos of how the east and west portion of the trail hook up at Hutchins Creek.
I have hiked most of the Godwin trail but not the entire trail because the western portion from the trail head to Hutchins creek was badly grown up this summer. I will hike that section later this fall once the vegetation dies off. My first mistake on the Godwin trail, starting at the Western trail head near the La Rue Ecological area, was to miss the first turn on the trail. You only go about 3/4 of a mile and you reach your first fork (if you are looking for it). You should go right at this fork but the left portion of the trail looks well trodden (the right fork was grown up). What I missed was a wooden sign on the left edge of the trail (at that junction) that showed the left fork was actually the King Hollow trail. Here is a link to that track on alltrails.com http://alltrails.com/tracks/9620-godwin-trailYou can see from the track that I hiked down the King Hollow Trail some distance before I began to question the trail. It became increasing overgrown and washed out. I began to think I was simply following some upper drainage. So, I turned around (and yes Donna - I backtracked but I was not lost). I then notice the King Hollow Trail sign and went right onto the R2R trail. But I was running out of daylight and the trail was overgrown. So I returned to the Jeep. The trail junction is blazed with a silver diamond on the right side of the trail.
Then you enter the Bald Knob Wilderness area covering 5,800 acres. I have not hiked in from the western trailhead to Hutchins creek yet. I have hiked to the creek from the western trail head but did not cross the creek. The creek crossing would be the only confusing area on this portion of the R2R trail. Although not well marked (it is my understanding that the number of blazes
Once I hike the entire Godwin trail (which I will do later this year). I will update this blog with details and photos of how the east and west portion of the trail hook up at Hutchins Creek.
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