I spent a day and a half backpacking the trails in the One Horse Gap area in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. I ended up hiking about 28 miles, which puts me at just over 550 for the year. Yes, I’m goal-oriented sometimes.
I mostly followed the loop suggested by the River to River Trail Society, but also made a few extra loops. Some of the trails are not much used and overgrown, but that’s balanced out by a large number of user trails that don’t show on the map at all.
Conditions were near ideal: highs around 80, lows about 50. Not much bug pressure, though the ticks are out in force. The whole area is overrun with poison ivy, so everything I was wearing went straight into the laundry when I got home.
We’ve had just enough rain in the area lately to soften the trails up, but not so much as to turn them into mudpits (well, except in a few areas - the whole area gets heavy horse traffic). Sadly this meant that waterfalls and cascades were mostly dry too.
I camped next to One Horse Gap Lake - a very nice spot, but there’s an access road which means there is far too much trash strewn around. At least the motorcyclists who showed up late Monday night opted to ride back out again rather than partying. Not that I have anything against people partying, but I like my sleep.
I put a few more photos at Imgur in the interest of not hammering the Beehaw servers too hard.
that’s awesome, thanks for sharing. i love backpacking. 28 miles is a damn good distance for a day and a half. you must have been packed light! what is your favourite piece of gear?
Holy crap, that’s fast. Kudos!!
I dunno that I’m all that fast; I usually average about 2.5 miles an hour. But I can keep going at that pace all day long without breaks except for lunch and to make camp. I usually set things up so I can snack and reach my water without taking my pack off, and I get plenty of stops when I take photos so I don’t feel the need for breaks. Plus it’s way easier to keep up a consistent pace when you’re hiking alone. I shudder to think how long it would have taken to get a Boy Scout troop over this whole route.
I wasn’t packed super light - around 17 pounds including consumables. So base weight was somewhere around 12, I guess.
As far as favorite gear, that’s a tough one. How about three that I appreciated this trip?
- The Osprey Levity 60 pack is very comfortable for me - they’re not making it any more, though. I guess the Exos Pro might be the closest equivalent in their current lineup. (Not that I always use this pack - I’ve got about six in rotation. Yeah, it’s an addiction).
- The Helinox Chair Zero is totally worth carrying an extra pound on any trip where I’m going to have hours sitting around camp (like this one).
- The Katabatic Gear Bristlecone Bivy keeps the bugs off at night and adds a few degrees to my sleep system.
Oh hey it’s you again! (from the ‘what have you done outdoors this weekend’ thread) I actually wandered around Garden of the Gods and some of the River to River trail last year, and I’ve sometimes wondered about going back to the area. I found some pretty cool views on the section I did hike, and obviously Garden of the Gods is freaking amazing. Is there a lot more to see on the River to River trail? Your photos seem to say yes.
People other than ffmike are absolutely welcome to answer as well of course, I just think it’s neat to recognize someone.
There are plenty of nice sections of the R2R. The area around Lusk Creek is nice, and there are enough trails there to spend a few days exploring if you’re not just taking the thru hike. Fern Clyffe is also neat although there’s no dispersed camping there.
My R2R Trail Story is online if you want a sense of what it was like for me.
Man, as someone who just does day hikes, that reads like a really rough trip. The things you take for granted are a bit mind-blowing. Thanks for the info, I’ll have to look into the stuff around Lusk Creek!
Nice area I hike out there every once and while. I camped by One Horse Gap lake. I followed the River to River trail starting out of Herod
I hiked the whole R2R last year. The road walk through Herod wasn’t my favorite part, but it’s way better than some of the chunks further west.
Yeah, I did that once but the person letting me keep my vehicle on their property told me how to get to the trail off their property. Downside was it was a giant climb to get to the trail.