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The River to River Trail meanders across southern Illinois from
the Ohio River to the Mississippi. One of its lures is the opportunity
to visit scenic areas off the main trail. One of these areas
is Jackson Hollow, between Ozark and Eddyville, Illinois.
On Oct. 27, nine TTA members, six from the Northwest Chapter
and three from the Memphis Chapter spend a glorious late autumn
day exploring the waterfalls, rock houses, and stone bluffs of
Jackson Hollow. This area is an official "ecological area"
and resembles Colditz Cove near Allardt, TN, but the route can
be extended to be four to six times longer if so desired.
For those who have never been hiking in southern Illinois, the
region is a pleasant surprise. There is a band of hollows, streams,
waterfalls, and bluffs that stretch across the entire state that
is reminiscent of the Cumberland Plateau (but with less relief).
This Saturday we were following a route through the hollow formed
by Little Bay Creek and its tributaries. Since our route was,
for the most part, unmarked, the statement "keep the rocks
on your right and you will exit through the same crack in the
bluffs where you climbed down to enter the hollow" was our
rule for the day. (This advice was from John O'Dell, founder
of the River to River Trail Society.)
You enter from a NFS parking lot frequented by climbers and backpackers
following a small unnamed stream that forms a waterfall as it
falls to the hollow below. (The climbers out this Saturday were
from as far away as St. Louis, and commented that they liked
to come here for the quality of the rocks.) Climbers take a tree
down or use ropes, but we were proceeding along the rim in sort
of a half-circle until we crossed a second stream (with a much
smaller, intermittent waterfall) to a place where the rocks had
broken off leaving a sort of "stone door" to the stream
bed below. After climbing down, it was "keep the rocks on
your right" as we wandered through huge boulders, crossed
numerous streams, and enjoyed the clear fall day. After an hour
or two, we crossed the Illinois Central Railroad tracks where
we stopped in a box canyon with a small waterfall at the end
where we had beside a small stream. Returning the way we came,
we ambled down the tracks a half mile or so to the point where
we followed the base of the bluffs back to the opening through
which we had descended.
Along the trail we saw a few climbers and a lone horseman,
dubbed the singing cowboy by Nancy Warren. We encountered him
twice once visually and audibly -- and later only audibly.
The entire route was 3-4 miles long. It can be extended to
8-10 miles in a much larger loop that incorporates part of the
River to River Trail. We will save this for another time.
Participants (from left to right in the group photo) Vivian
Norwood, Sandy Davis, Margaret Dixon, Amy Kaiser, Nancy Warren,
Anna Clark, Jim Clark, Carolyn Pierce and Woody Pierce
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Photo of Woody Pierce walking "Through the stone doorway",
Amy Kaiser "Near the waterfall", and , and "Early
creek crossing" compliments of Sandy Davis.
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