ffmike

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/675946

I spent the day yesterday wandering around some trails in the Shawnee National Forest (southern Illinois) from the Golden Circle trailhead to Pounds Hollow and back. I didn't keep super good track of my route, but it was something like (trail numbers): 1440 to 154 to 001 to 155 to 001 to 137A to 165 to 166 to 164 to 001 to 180 to 185 to 184 to 183 to 006, bushwhack to 134 to 006A to 006B to 109, roadwalk Karbers Ridge to 001 to 010A. Whew! The River to River Trail Society has some excellent brochures with georeferenced PDFs that cover trails in this area.

The weather was a bit sticky, but not too bad - high temps in the lower 80s. Between some recent rain and increased horse traffic for the summer, low spots in the trails are getting pretty torn up in places, particularly as you get closer to the various horse camps. Poison ivy is out in force, ticks are too so take reasonable precautions.

The area is a mix of pleasant forests, clifftop vistas, and streambeds (almost all dry at the moment). Pounds Hollow Lake is one of the ones in the area created by the CCC building a dam in the 1930s and has a reasonably popular swimming beach, as well as rest rooms and potable water.

I had planned to camp at Pounds Hollow, but I stupidly forgot to pack cash to pay for the $10 fee, so what was planned as a 20 mile day turned into a 29 miler when I took the most direct route back to the trailhead where I started. There are a couple of other good spots along that route back, but all the water sources were dry or stagnant, and I didn't have enough water along for dinner & breakfast so I said the heck with it and came home. All told, 29.2 miles in just a shade over 12 hours. The last 4 or so were pretty tough, but I made it.

[Image description: southern Illinois forested hills receding into the distance, framed by trees and viewed from the top of Buzzard Roost]

More pictures at imgur.

I'll start: pesto as a bagel topping.

"The broad attention is showing the world what local leaders have spent the past half-century trying to prove: This desert city can be a major player in global tech and manufacturing."

But putting the water shortage in the very last sentence of the story? Seems like burying the lede.

Good news for photographers

I spent the day yesterday wandering around some trails in the Shawnee National Forest (southern Illinois) from the Golden Circle trailhead to Pounds Hollow and back. I didn't keep super good track of my route, but it was something like (trail numbers): 1440 to 154 to 001 to 155 to 001 to 137A to 165 to 166 to 164 to 001 to 180 to 185 to 184 to 183 to 006, bushwhack to 134 to 006A to 006B to 109, roadwalk Karbers Ridge to 001 to 010A. Whew! The River to River Trail Society has some excellent brochures with georeferenced PDFs that cover trails in this area.

The weather was a bit sticky, but not too bad - high temps in the lower 80s. Between some recent rain and increased horse traffic for the summer, low spots in the trails are getting pretty torn up in places, particularly as you get closer to the various horse camps. Poison ivy is out in force, ticks are too so take reasonable precautions.

The area is a mix of pleasant forests, clifftop vistas, and streambeds (almost all dry at the moment). Pounds Hollow Lake is one of the ones in the area created by the CCC building a dam in the 1930s and has a reasonably popular swimming beach, as well as rest rooms and potable water.

I had planned to camp at Pounds Hollow, but I stupidly forgot to pack cash to pay for the $10 fee, so what was planned as a 20 mile day turned into a 29 miler when I took the most direct route back to the trailhead where I started. There are a couple of other good spots along that route back, but all the water sources were dry or stagnant, and I didn't have enough water along for dinner & breakfast so I said the heck with it and came home. All told, 29.2 miles in just a shade over 12 hours. The last 4 or so were pretty tough, but I made it.

[Image description: southern Illinois forested hills receding into the distance, framed by trees and viewed from the top of Buzzard Roost]

More pictures at imgur.

I'd much rather this wasn't necessary, but all things considered I guess I'm glad people are doing what they can.

We spent a chunk of the weekend at Patoka Lake, which is an Indiana State Park that has a private marina nestled inside. While my wife was off fishing and boating, I got in ten miles or so of hiking. Honestly I'm not sure I'd come back here; getting from the Marina to the actual hiking trails is about four miles of bike path, i.e., concrete and asphalt. Most of the trails themselves are through areas that have had controlled burned in the last few years. In addition to being less green, this also means that the trails bear only the vaguest resemblance to what the official trail map shows; many of the branch trails don't seem to have been reconstructed yet.

But still, a bad day in the woods beats a good day at my desk any time! More photos on imgur.

Sometimes nature is not our friend. Click through to the video, it's pretty amazing.

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.

I thought I knew all the plants that would attack me in southern Illinois...then I headed off trail to find a good spot for a cathole and started to push through a shoulder-high thicket of these guys:

This proved to be a mistake, due to the hitherto-unnoticed-by-me spiky thorns all over their stems. I found another spot, so now I'm just left with small punctures & curiosity.