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  1. #41
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    Good description Just Bill, the middle third, from Garden of the Gods west until Makanda/Giant City, is easily the best. Fern Cliffe, Max, Bay, and Lusk Creeks are all great. Etwon to Garden of the Gods is lots of forests, which is nice, but nothing grand. East from Grand Tower is 12 miles of road walk, then a spectacular natural area on the way to Alto Pass, then not much spectacular to Makanda.

  2. #42
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    LOL, if you happen to hit that grand tower roadwalk at the right time it can be the most interesting section of the trail!
    http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_...rdb5106391.pdf

    Alto Pass to Makanda is the best concentration of wineries if'n you might care for a bit of that... makes that section bit more interesting

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  4. #44
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    Winery ratio is high near Alto Pass, though you'll have to go off trail for most of them. And they tend to be weekend only early closing places. Have to time it just right. The lodge at Giant City is a good place to have an adult beverage. And it's right on the trail.

    The Shawnee Restaurant and Lounge is a good time, too. They've got a great selection due to all of the horse riders, not your typical small town bar. Oh yeah, the breakfast is fantastic, too! I've had the pleasure to eat and drink in there a number of times. They close for a few weeks around Christmas for all you Winter R2Rers.

  5. #45
    Registered User Just Bill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andyg View Post
    Winery ratio is high near Alto Pass, though you'll have to go off trail for most of them. And they tend to be weekend only early closing places. Have to time it just right. The lodge at Giant City is a good place to have an adult beverage. And it's right on the trail.

    The Shawnee Restaurant and Lounge is a good time, too. They've got a great selection due to all of the horse riders, not your typical small town bar. Oh yeah, the breakfast is fantastic, too! I've had the pleasure to eat and drink in there a number of times. They close for a few weeks around Christmas for all you Winter R2Rers.
    Is the Root Beer Saloon still up and running?
    Neat guy, neat place. One of the better stops on any trail really.
    The all you can eat Chicken Dinner at Giant city is a bit like The Home Place of the midwest.

    I think a neat and mildly underrated part of the R2R trail is that the west part can be very casual, almost AT in the mid-atlantic type of trip with lots of side trips and diversions if you'd like it to be. They are sidetrips for sure but from Alto Pass to Giant City you could spend a lazy week floating from place to place enjoying the unique culture of Southern Illinois. Some of the vineyards are a bit higher class, but several are simple back porch or picnic areas out back with live local music playing often. Both towns (Alto pass and Makanda) are easy cab rides from Carbondale (amtrak station).

    If you want wilderness the east half is still quite wild compared to eastern trails. There's a trail, and plenty of other trails so it's a choose your own adventure bit of navigating. But as mentioned since you don't pass directly by many of the places things still feel wild enough on the west side.

    Really there isn't a ton of stuff in the midwest, but the R2R has a little bit of everything for everyone and it makes for a very repeatable trail overall as a result. I hiked parts of it many times visiting folks down there for climbing or paddling trips before even realizing that I was on it.

  6. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by ScottGraham View Post
    About a month ago, I did work on clearing that section. I'd recommend not hiking it until I get the East end cleared and the short section from Eastern Star to the town. That said, it is still better than hiking the Makanda road, which has nothing outboard of the guardrails at some points. The white lines are painted on the edge of the drop offs. I did tht section last year and walked the road, and wished I had hiked the woods, but aftr seeing thecodition after eading this, I made it my own personal goal to get I cleared. It's the worst spot on the trail IMO (And that takes some doing, several places are iffy) Thank Tau! (my site is Rivertorivertraihike.com) R2 isn't the AT but it's all we have close by.
    I tried accessing your site, but it did not come up.

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  8. #48
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    I just noticed I left the L off the Rivertorivertrailhike.com link. These internet links are so unforgiving. Thanks Tau!

  9. #49
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    Not sure I posted it here but the whole trail from 51 to Makanda is now cleared and it is actually a nice hike now.

  10. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by ScottGraham View Post
    Not sure I posted it here but the whole trail from 51 to Makanda is now cleared and it is actually a nice hike now.

  11. #51
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    Default That section from Makanda to Route 51 in pictures. I'll go back over it in the Spring

    http://rivertorivertrailhike.com/dir/?page_id=1601 What I wouldn't do for one of those wheeled Gas string trail cutters. Well, one thing I wouldn't do is pay for a new one. I won't be taking the snapper back that way again either. That was a job come-alonging it over that creek Hopefully if I hit it in the Spring and again a couple months later it won't get that overgrown again.

  12. #52
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    http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/shawnee/maps-pubs

  13. #53
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    So how long is the river to river trail? what about mountain bikes?

  14. #54
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    The trail is about 160 miles long. Parts of the trail are open to everything, parts are roads, parts are restricted and parts are hiker only. It just depends on where you are. The trail is on State, Federal & Private land and some of it is on designated Wilderness Areas where they don't really even want many blazes so it all depends.

  15. #55
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    There's a mountain bike route for sure. I've not seen a map for it though.

  16. #56

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    Quote Originally Posted by levibarry View Post
    A guy named Scott Hayden did some video which are on
    Youtube. Some about are about the trail and some about the gear he took. He
    even talked maps and guidebooks. They are from about 1 year ago.
    FYI

    Levibarry

    I actually think this guy's videos are better.

    https://youtu.be/O_fJUGIlg40
    **Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.**

  17. #57

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    Hey again guys, I'm sure this was already posted somewhere in the thread, but I am looking for shuttle information. I am planning a late April hike with a group of at least 3, but possibly up to 6 people. Our 2 most realistic options are 1) Park somewhere near Hwy 45 then get shuttled to our starting point (GoG). OR 2)Park at GoG, end near Hwy 45 and get shuttled back to GoG.

    Also, based on reviewing a few sources, it appears this is about 45 miles total-correct?

    TIA!
    **Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.**

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