For the last official River to River Trail Society hike of the Spring 2022 hiking season, we met at the old Shawnee Mart parking lot on IL. Rt. 145 at Eddyville. Marcus Owens & Steve Mitchell were our leaders for the day. We usually ‘finish up’ our Spring hiking season every other  year with this hike into some area of Lusk Creek.  We had 17 other hikers,including a couple of new hikers.  We split into 2 groups after the Group picture was taken at the Indian Kitchen trailhead parking area. 1 group, led by Marcus, moved on down to the end of the road and went into the woods from there, and Steves’ group just crossed the road from the parking area, heading into the woods. Marcus’ group hiked along and crossed Bear Branch, then headed to a spot that at 1 time, ( a long time ago) was some sort of mine..the indicator being a large pile of soil several dozen feet high, with an opening at the top. Some of the trails were a bit muddy, which, with mud on the soles of boots, created some ‘slick’ stream crossings. Stream flows were high enough, that todays’ routes had to be modified. We got to Lusk Creek, but never attempted to cross it. We ate lunch at 1 shelter bluff, at which about 6 gents from Benton IL. had spent the night camping. We made it to Indian Kitchen on Lusk Creek, but, the temps weren’t warm enough for anyone to go swimming. We saw 1 lone horse rider & his dog, and 1 family of 3 having a picnic lunch and taking in the scenic greenery. Marcus’ group took an older trail back to the parking lot, and avoided a lot of mud. Wonderfully, we picked up little trash today. Keep up the Good work on that item folks. (Leave No Trace).

It seems like it was just a few days ago, when Todd Carr led the 1st hike this spring, on a Sunny, but chilly day, in the One Horse Gap area.

  Our next ‘outing’ will be the official Annual Meeting of the River to River Trail Society. This Will take place On Sat. June 4th,2022, at 10 am, with the location somewhat to be determined. SO, with that in mind, be ‘on the lookout’ either from email or on our Facebook page, with notification about more details. Our speaker will be Don Monty, who helped John O’Dell with getting the River to River Trail started. Don has led hikes in the past for us, in the Hutchens Creek area, on the West side.  We also will be conducting the business meeting. ANYONE who has, at 1 time, hiked with us, is welcome to come to the meeting. We also will be electing officers for the coming year.