Hawk's Cave Trail

Hawk's Cave Trail is in Fern Clyffe State Park, in Goreville.  A place I've been many times, but had never taken this other trail.  In fact, there are several trails here I still need to explore.

Hawk's Cave is a short trail, probably a little less than a mile loop, about the same as the waterfall trail.  When you park in the lot, instead of hiking straight onto the waterfall trail, veer left and go across the stepping stones.  That trail will split into three, Hawk's Cave trail is on the far left.

The trail itself will Y a little ways into it, but it's a loop, you can't get lost.  Your only decision is really if you want to go uphill before or after exploring the cave (haha.  We chose before in which case you go right.)

You won't see the cave coming until your nearly in it.  That's the beauty of it.  This massive cave site so perfectly in the rock face that your just walking along minding your own business wondering when this cave will appear and Bam! Your in it.  It's massive.  It doesn't go back too terribly far, but it is move cave than overhang.  There's a lot of big stones that have fallen laying around that you can climb on and have fun with, just be careful, play at your own risk.  I don't have the slightest clue where the nearest hospital is or how long it would take them to get to you.

There's a smaller cave as you leave Hawk's Cave, I could see it from the trail (which is really pretty at that point) but we didn't go back to it, simply because I was doing a photo shoot at the time and light is never on our side.

Walking back down you'll cross a cute little footbridge crossing a stream.  The kids loved it, and had it been a little warmer, I'm sure would have been in it.

You go back down the hill you walked up, then meet back up at the main trail.  You should still have plenty of energy to go and see the waterfall. :)

Take rt 37 to Goreville, and follow it through town.  Just outside of town you'll see the sign for Fern Clyffe.  If you want more to see, Tunnel Hill State Trail isn't far!

Tunnel Hill State Trail

The Tunnel Hill State Trail has had many names; the Vincennes and Cairo Railroad, the Wabash, the St. Louis, Pacific, New York Central, Penn Central, Conrail,  the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis line (also known as the CCC & St. Louis or Big Four) the Southern Line, and finally Norfolk Southern Railroad.  The rumble of freight and coal cars reverberated through the narrow tunnels instead of footsteps.  Passengers in Pullman cars saw Southern Illinois' scenic landmarks, instead of bikers and dog walkers.

In 1991, Norfolk Southern gave the State of Illinois the railroad right-of-way between Harrisburg and Karnak, where it had abandoned operations. The Department of Natural Resources has worked to develop the railroad ballast as a trail for hikers, joggers and cyclists, surfacing the trail with crushed limestone and gravel, installing privy toilets and providing drinking water. The first segments of Tunnel Hill State Trail opened in 1998. The trail was completed in the fall of 2001.

I had the pleasure of finally getting to walk a small part of the trail while doing an engagement photo shoot for my childhood (best) friend.  I've been meaning to walk the trail for years, but it's quite the drive for us to get there, and the only bikes we own have motors, so it seems kind of silly to drive all the way over for a mile or so walk.  I was thrilled for it that day, though.

I believe there are several entrances to the trail, but we came in right by the tunnel.  For more than 50 years after the railroad was built, the tunnel was longer than 800 feet, but when a portion of the tunnel collapsed in 1929, the landmark was shortened by 300 feet. Now 543-feet long, it is the only tunnel on the trail. The tunnel is located 1/4 mile south of Tunnel Hill on the trail toward Vienna.  This is on the trail's highest point, exactly midway on the trail, 680 feet above sea level.  Apparently the slate filled hill was enough of a nuisance for the railroad that it was easier to tunnel through it rather than go around it.

Unfortunately I did not get to go any further than the tunnel, but from the DNR website I learned there are other unique features to the 45 mile long trail: "The 23 picturesque trestles along the completed sections of Tunnel Hill State Trail feature decking and side rails, which entice trail users to stop. The trestles range in length from 34 to 450 feet. The longest in Breeden Trestle, which is also the highest at 90 feet. It is located 2 1/2 miles south of Tunnel Hill. In addition to the large communities found along the 45 miles, there also are hamlets along the trail, including Bloomfield, Sanburn and Ledford. In addition, there are a handful of locations that could be described as ghost towns - Forman, Bender, Rago, Parker City and New Castle. All serve as landmarks to trail users. Interpretive signs along the length of the trail point out old coal mines and a sandstone quarry."

We took our pictures around the tunnel, and just a little beyond it.  It was after sunset and getting close to dark, as well as being cold (yet still unseasonably warm) since it was December.  We passed several people while on the trail, most of which had dogs happily trotting along with them.  On the way back to the parking lot, I was looking up and taking everything in, and we passed right underneath a barred owl.  I LOVE owls (and birds of prey in general) and hurried back to the car for my good camera lens.  Lucky for me, he was still there when I walked back, despite the fact a woman and several dogs had also passed beneath him.  DNR's website says many wild animals can be seen along the trail at various points during the year.

The trail can be biked in one day, and hiked in two or three, but be advised there is no camping facilities on the trail itself.  There are campgrounds nearby, but you would need to use the buddy system as far as vehicles are concerned, plotting out your stops each day and dropping a vehicle at each end of your hike.  Shawnee National Forest has three campgrounds within 10 miles of the trail: Lake of Eqypt, north of the community of Tunnel Hill; and Teal Pond and Bell Smith Springs, both southeast of New Burnside. A fourth, Lake Glendale , is about 15 miles east of Vienna. Also located in the same vicinity as Lake Glendale is Dixon Springs State Park. Two other state park campgrounds are about 10 miles from the trail: Ferne Clyffe, west of the community of Tunnel Hill; and Saline County Conservation Area, southeast of Harrisburg.  Horses are not allowed on the trail.

How to get there:

Highway 146 East
P.O. Box 671
Vienna, IL 62995
618.658.2168

Follow I-57 S and I-24 E to IL-146 W in Vienna.  (Take exit 16 from I-24)
Turn R onto IL-146 W.
You will see the trail's parking lot on the left.

The Foundry House at Devil's Backbone

Unfortunately for some, when you search for 'Devil's backbone, grand tower, IL' all you really come up with is haunted ghost stories.  But you know, the Foundry House is much more than that, and honestly, despite being what most would call a 'sensitive,' I sure didn't see'feel'hear anything out of the ordinary at the site of the former home.  Except awe, that is.

We rode the Harley's down to Grand Tower on a particularly beautiful early fall day, just to find the Foundry House.  Devil's Backbone state park is easy to find, and it's actually really big and nice.  We parked in a big playground right next tot he river for a while, and walked around a bit.  While the park was easy to find, nothing I could find said where the foundry house or iron furnaces were, so we had to glean that information on our own.  We ended up asking a very knowledgeable camper.  From the park, the Bake Ovens are to the left, and the Foundry House to the right.

Grand Tower, at one time, was a booming river city (then call Evan's landing), boasting visits from such notable figures as Mark Twain and Ulysses S Grant.  It's hard to know who all came through the town, as most records of visitors and residents have been lost in fires and multiple floods.  We do know, however, that the Mississippi and the Bake Ovens were booming business.  In the 1800s the iron foundry was built on the side of the Devil's Backbone, and the superintendent of the foundry was built high atop a rocky outcrop nearby.  The house had to have once been quite majestic, with an almost 360 degree view of the river.  Few pictures exist anymore, unfortunately, and the one that does has been widely circulated.

We did not seek out the furnaces, as we've seen many before in the Garden of the Gods area.  What we came to see where the remains of the Foundry House.  From the park there is a narrow access road running to a small beach, the pipeline, than back into town.  The Foundry House is right on top of the hill the pipeline rests on.  You can't miss it, really.

So here's the legend that you will get on every other site you pull up about Grand Tower.  After the foundry was built, the superintendent built his home practically right on top of the outcropping called Devil's Backbone (which used to be a much longer, larger outcropping, but was largely blown away to make for better river traffic, as well as stone to be used for various endeavors.)  It was a huge two story house, clearly more than was needed for himself and daughter Esmerelda, but hey, if you have that kind of money, why not, right?  Word has it they came up the Mississippi by way of steamboat after Esmerelda's mother died, although without records, this whole tale could be made up, I have no idea.

Anyhow, Esmerelda falls in love with the pilot of a riverboat called the 'Spectre' (again, how do we know this? We don't.)  Her father, however, has chosen a well-to-do older gentleman as her betrothed, and forbids her to see said pilot.  She stays locked in her room, refusing to see anyone, despite the family having quite the social life beforehand.  She'd stay in her room for days, watching for the Spectre to travel up or down the river.  When a length of time had passed and she failed to see the ship, Esmerelda inquired to it's whereabouts, finding that it had been destroyed in a boiler fire, along with most of it's crew- including the pilot.  The young lady lost all desire to live, and on a stormy night not long after her room was found deserted.  Her broken body was found along the riverbanks the next morning.  

Many people claim to see or hear her at the foundry house ruins.  We saw no such thing.  The walls of the home, however, are quite visible, and we spent some time hiking around the top of the cliff. 

The backbone is overgrown, and while there is a path climbing up to the foundation, there really aren't any to speak of atop the rock, but it's small and you can forge your own path.  It's pretty dense with thorns in a few places though, though keep watch where you step.

How to get there:

It's not hard to find the backbone, follow rt 3 into grand tower, and there is a sign saying 'Devils Backbone Park' or you can go into town and follow signs to the park. Either way it's the same place, just two entrances.  The park road is where you will come in, and it goes straight into the park and also splits off to the right on a small one lane.  Follow the lane past the RV campground and around a curve to the beach.  There it will turn to rock and go up a big hill, and right on top of the hill is the access below the pipeline to the backbone/foundry house.  You can follow the same road straight out to 20th street and 3rd ave back to rt3 when you leave. :)

Pound's Hollow/ Pine Ridge

We went camping at Pound Hollow, which is basically a part of Garden of the Gods and Shawnee National Forest. Camping is $5 a day, and you can have several tents on one campsite, there are a bunch of sites so calling ahead really isnt nessesary.

Pine Ridge Campground in the Pounds Hollow Recreation Area has to be one of the most under appreciated camping gems in southern Illinois. While it officially has 75 sites, half of these are closed most of the time, opened as overflow only on the busier Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, and even then they’re not necessary. Since Pine Ridge has no electric sites and no shower, it’s not popular with the modern RV crowd. A fair-weather non-holiday weekend may only see five to ten sites occupied—which is all the better for those of us who don’t mind tent camping in a beautiful pine wood, near a tranquil beach, great hiking, and all the attractions of the eastern Shawnee National Forest.

Fern Clyffe State Park

At Fern Clyffe we did only two trails, Hawke's Cave and Big Rocky Hollow, and I know we have only begun to scratch the surface.

Theres 16 acres of wilderness to cover, a ton of camping sites, plus the 53 acre adjoining nature preserve. The trails we did have Hawke's Cave, a 150 long shelf cave, cut right out of the side of a bluff.
 On Big Rocky Hollow, there is a 100 foot tall waterfall, although they say if its a dry season it wont really be there.

There really are many ferns the park's named for, but most interesting to me was all the moss. Almost every surface has some kind of furry green moss covering it, and it really makes for pretty pictures, especially in the fall.

My husband and I have taken our motorcycles through the park on more than one occasion  and it really is a nice rise, even if you don't get off of them.  If you pull off at the entrance to the trail for the waterfall, there's a huge rock near the parking area that looks like a ship.  There are a few small trails where you can just wander near and even on top of the rocks, and as long as your kids are a little older and your not worried about them falling off, its a great place for them to explore.

As a photographer, I've also taken several people out here for photo shoots, which no matter what time of year it is always turn out really nice.

The trails are all easy, and most are just a mile or so, so even kids can really enjoy this one. Its also really easy to get to:

Ferne Clyffe State Park
Rt.37, P.O. Box 10
Goreville, Illinois 62939
Phone: 618-995-2411

Rim Rock - Pounds Hollow

My family and I stayed at Pounds Hollow Campsites for three days on the weekend of July 12, 2008. It was, to say the least, incredible...or it would have been had it not thunderstormed on us all weekend. Even that, though, was in a way spectacular, a big storm came through, and your surrounded by these big pine trees, and the trees were swaying like mad but we never felt the wind at tent level. The campsites are very nice, we stayed at site 46 at Pounds Hollow Campsite and it was great. You can actually walk down to the lake to swim every day, its that close. I Mention our campsite because, if you drive down to the lake, on your way back up you pass a small cave, which is accessable from our campsite. At the back of the site was a small hiking trail which we explored, to find it led right down to the cave. It isnt big enough to do any major exploring, and the thought of snakes kept us pretty well out of it, but its interesting to see anyway.

There are bathrooms, pump water at an adjoining campsite, fire pits, and picnic tables at each site, and they are good large sites as well. Its $5.00 a night to stay as of July 2008.

Pounds Hollow lake is a great place as well, you can swim in the designated swimming area, which is fairly large and has a beach, as well as the bottom of the swimming area being sand instead of lake mud. There are lots of picnic areas with concrete flooring and picnic tables, and a sheltered picnic area on top of the hill. There are also bathrooms and water fountains there. Theres a sign that says you can rent paddleboats, but we didn't see any. You can also boat and fish. There are several porch type platforms set up around the lake you can fish off of, as well as going off and setting your hook somewhere.

Right next to Pounds Hollow (and actually connecting to it) is Rim Rock. If you don't do anything else in the Garden of the Gods area, you HAVE to see Rim Rock and hike the trail. Rim Rock isn't really a specific rock formation, its just a set of sheer bluffs that kind of separates it from the other areas of the park. you start out basically on top of it, and wind your way down into the hollows. Theres a nice trail, which leads you onot an observation deck. from there you have several options, you can circle on back up to where you started, or you can follow both wooden and carved stone stairs through a large rock and down onto the floor of the hollow. Once down there, you find yourself looking at Ox Lot Cave, a big cave carved out of the rock face. There is a sign post saying what the cave was used for and why it was named Ox Lot. Back in the early 1900's, there was extensive logging in that area, and the log men would keep their Oxen and equipment in that cave as a shelter and feeding area while logging went on all around them. From Ox Lot, you can again circle up and around back to the starting point, or you can continue on to Pounds Hollow. We've been there twice, the first time circling back, the second time we followed it to the Hollow and swam afterwards. No matter which way you go, it isnt a long trail, and my three year old did it without too much complaining.
Shawnee's website rates the rail as "difficult" but there really wasnt anywhere I would consider it to have that kind of rating. I would call it moderate at best. The shortest route is .4 miles, but its a bit more than that if you continue to follow down to Pounds Hollow.

UPDATE:
We stayed again in April of 2010 with a couple of friends.  Even better time!  We each brought our dogs, which several people in the area had also done.  We were at a campsite at the end of a closed off road (leading to more campsites) where we scavenged for firewood.  We walked the trails again, and took more and better pics.  There's just so much to do in this area, and I don't want to eat it all up on this one post, but if your looking for a better campground this is it.