Smith Mill - Rinard, IL

Today my family and I drove almost an hour and a half to attend Smith Mill's fourth open house.  I feel rather privileged to attend this event.  The mill has not been open to the public very long, and a lot of things are newly placed, like the nice walking path and foot bridge, as well as a Blacksmith shop, according to the Smith's Facebook site.

We waited a little while to get in, which is understandable (we got lucky though, we showed up right after it opened, and by the time we left, close to the appointed closing time, the line was at least three times longer than it had been when we got there.  Bob Smith said they'd stay open as long as they needed to, he just hated that people had to wait in line.)  The surrounding country is beautiful, everything is well landscaped, and the wait doesn't seem very long at all.

Also, everyone we came in contact with were very friendly, many people in line and around the property stopped to talk abut one thing or another, the history or the mill, or the equipment, or the area,which just makes the experience even better, in my opinion.  The Mill's owner and builder, Bob, was fantastically friendly, and you can hear the passion he has for this project when he speaks about it.

As we got into the mill, Bob was telling about how he found the mill in a general state of disrepair, and bought pieces of other mills from all over the states to complete his, including many pieces from a mill in Newport PA, after salvaging the purchased contents of the defunct mill in 1986.  It took him over 25 years to piece together his mill.  Bob said it was built in 1875 and had an 18 foot diameter by five foot wheel.  He said that he had to reconstruct the wheel anyway, so he narrowed it down to 38 inches.  Smith, a retired engineer, hand built many of the mill's components, including the wheel's 64 buckets, which he fabricated in his shop last year and bolted into place.

His parents had a huge collection of farm implements, which they now house in the basement of the mill, in an area called "SmithsOnlyOne" as suggested by Bob's dad.  They have a truly amazing piece of living history.

Beyond the mill they have a fairly large area of corresponding activities.  This year's feature is a fully functional Blacksmith shop, the Smith Mill Forge, run by Elred Simpson, and Bob's eleven year old apprentice Daniel Lewis.

There is also a neat sorghum press, which of course I didn't know what that was, and an elderly gentleman standing near us in line to the Blacksmith's told us was used to press sugarcane.  The kids were having endless fun with it.

This is a several time a year event, and I don't believe the mill is generally open to the public.  You can watch for activities on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smith-Mill/279431245439903

Directions:
From I-57 N-
Keep straight on I-57 at the 57/64 split.
Take exit 109 onto 161 East, follow about 30 miles.
Turn Left onto County Highway 25, there will be a big blue sign for Blue Point Church.
The Mill is a few miles down on the right hand side, you may not see the mill from the road, but you will see Smith's yellow shop and home, and there are markers.  You will know when you are there.

Smith's Mill
2353 County Hwy 25, Rinard, IL 62878
618) 673-2596

Jackson Falls - Shawnee National Forest

We have been past the sign for Jackson Falls numerous times, but never stopped until today.  It probably would have been better with actual water going over the fall, but really even without it was a nice, scenic, easy hike.  We never did figure out how to get into the bottom below the fall, though.

When you get to the parking area, There is a sign for Jackson Falls Recreational Area, and a 'You Are Here' sign, but it says absolutely nothing about how to get to the falls form there.  We ended up just using common sense and following the creek bed, which is right off the parking area.  We walked maybe half a mile down and saw some neat sloping falls which probably would have been really cool is there was some decent water moving over it.

A little farther down and it all open up into a pretty significant drop.  This one, while not as high as Burden Falls, has the potential to be more dangerous. While Burden Falls is a sheer cliff face and drop, Jackson is a sloping face, and you can get deceptively close to the edge.  You have to be very careful here.

Jackson Falls is one of the best places is Southern Illinois to go climbing and rappelling.  In fact, we saw numerous places in the rock where there were remnants of climbers, and even three people who were actively climbing this afternoon.  People were down in the bowl trail riding on horses as well.

There isn't a whole lot to explore here, unless you can figure out how to get down into the valley, your only choice is to turn back.  We did see some neat rock sculptures in the creek bed where people had taken the river stones and built little shrines with them.  We ended up following the road (you need 4 or all wheel drive for this!) all the way down, wondering if maybe we would come across something else, but it stops and turns from rock to sand, and a ton of no trespassing signs.  There was a really old tin roof house dilapidated back in the woods where we turned around, and I desperately wanted to explore it, but with half a dozen No Trespassing signs in the one small area, I figured they were pretty serious about not wanting people messing around down there, so we headed back.  I suggest when your done at the fall to go right back out the way you came.

There were a bunch of people for a remote area, in fact it's a one car road, so go slow, and keep an eye out.  People will be coming both directions and one of you is going to have to move.  There were alot of campsites we passed, it seems you can just pull off the road and camp where ever you like.  We also passed alot of trails, most of which looks friendly for horses, so I'm sure there's alot of riders in there, as well.

Directions:
From IL-37 South-
Follow 37 to Marion.  Turn Left onto IL-13 E/Deyoung st.
Turn Right onto IL- 166 South.
Turn Right onto US-45 South.
Turn Left onto Ozark rd.
Continue on Ozark.  It will turn into McCormick rd.  Follow it to the left.
Take the first Right onto Glen st/ Falls rd.  It is right at a big house with a metal roof and a fence with birdhouses all down it.  It kind of looks like a driveway.
Follow it several miles, you will cross where a stream crosses the road, and right on the other side of the streak on the right is the Rec area.  You may or may not see the sign from the road.  The road will also go to the left here, it's a pretty major type intersection, you won't miss it.

Sand Cave - Shawnee National Forest

Today we visited Sand Cave in the Shawnee National Forest with our friends Tina and Linda.
First of all, the directions to get there really don't get you there, we did a little bit of wandering along the way, so please be sure to follow my directions at the end of the post.

There's a whole lot of history associated with Sand Cave, but to be honest it seems to be one of the least visited places we've been.  There are no real signs pointing the way, and the only other people we saw were locals on four wheelers.  There isn't even a place to park, you literally have to just pull off the side of the road as far as you can (luckily, the only traffic coming through besides you will most likely be someone from one of the three houses in the immediate vicinity.)

Once you park, you walk down a well used (by ATV and horses, anyway) mostly sand pathway.  There are various paths leading off of it, but you will easily tell the difference between them and the main, which you will stay on most of the way.  You will come to an opening, where there is a 'Natural Area' sign on the right.  Just past this sign the trail will split, and you can actually take either path.  The one to the right hugs the bluffs and you won't see the cave until you are literally in front of it.  The other path to the left goes around down hill a little, then rounds back up into the front of the cave.  We ended up following the bluffs there, then following the other trail out (because we saw a copperhead snake on the first trail.)  It's basically the same distance,ones just a little more out of the way.

Once you get to the cave it's pretty amazing.  We've been to alot of sites around Southern Illinois, and this is the first real cave we've visited.  Yes, we've been to cave-in-rock, but this is so remote and seems so much more natural, for lack of a better word.  There's so few people, and there's no graffiti to spoil the view.  We did meet up with some people on ATVs, so at least you can see the size of the cave in relation to the four wheelers.

It's a huge mouth carved into the face of the bluff, and the cave actually goes back into the bluff around 100 feet.   There's a nice round rock right int he middle of the cave, I have no earthly idea how it got there or where it came from, but it's a pretty neat spot for a rest and a picture.

History is supposed to be pretty extensive here, though I had trouble finding much on it.  I did read that Indians were supposed to reside in and around the cave for some 12,000 years, and also that the cave was used to hide slaves moving along the Underground Railroad.  In fact, Miller Grove, the community nearby where the slaves were taken into, was used int he escape plan of Eliza in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

You can follow the bluff beyond the cave, but we did not, as we had other places on the itinerary for the day.  The cave is actually only about a mile from the entrance, and it's a really easy trail to hike, it's one I really recommend.  Plus, there's a ton of other things to do and see in the area.  This is the harts of Shawnee forest, and within just a few miles driving distance there is Natural Bridge, Bell Smith Springs, Burden Falls, and Jackson Falls, depending on which way your heading.  You could spend all day out this way and see something completely different in each place.

Directions:
From I-57 South-
Take exit 44 and merge onto I-24 east towards Nashville.
Take exit 16 for IL- 146 towards Vienna/Golconda.  Turn left onto IL-146.
Go through Simpson and past Robbs, turn Left onto Cedar Grove Rd.  There will be a fairly large white sign for the church on the left side of the road, it's kind of hard to miss.
Turn right onto Sand Cave Road.  It is actually marked as such.  This is the last road right before the church, you will see the churches blue roof and spires.
Google maps will tell you to turn right after Sand Cave rd, but this is false.  You will just go straight down the road (go slow!!) until it splits.  Right after the big house on the right there's a driveway on the right, but literally it's just a long driveway. Don't go down it.  Park on the left side of the road by the light pole right after the big house.  The road stops there and that's where you start walking.  Don't try and drive down it!