Back in March, I joined the True North Travelers group at my church, Grace Community Church for a 3 day backpacking trip in Southern Illinois.
We hiked along the River to River Trail inside Shawnee National Forest.
A couple of weeks before, we met as a group and discussed gear, food, tents and the like. We left early on Friday, March 20 and drove west for about 5 hours. As we were traveling, the spring equinox "happened" and we celebrated with spring flower window clings which we decorated the van windows with, butterfly tattoos (temporary!) and freshly baked muffins.
We met a lady named Sue at the post office in Herod, Illinois where we left the van and climbed in to her pick up for a shuttle to the trailhead. The weather was outstanding blue skies, sun shining and the temperature in the upper 50's.
We got started on the trail about noon and made our way leisurely along the trail to High Knob. Along the way we enjoyed the season's first daffodils and spent some time exploring an abandoned cabin. We set up camp just beyond the observation area at High Knob and got to work preparing dinner. A few of us set off on a quest for water and missed the pond, but ended up another half mile or so at a horseman camp where we found a fresh water spigot!
Dinner was great and the sunset was spectacular. The weather stayed good and soon it was morning. The day was overcast and it drizzled a bit when we set off in the morning but after a few minutes we were warmed up from the hike. We hiked through the Garden of the Gods Wilderness to a campground with fresh water and toilets! After setting up the tents we left our gear and hiked over to the rock formations which are designated The Garden of the Gods. We spent a couple of hours scrambling up, down and across them and then returned to the campsite for dinner and some relaxing time by the fire.
We woke to a beautiful morning and ate breakfast at leisure. We took our time packing up and headed east back toward Herod. The trail was beautiful and it was heating up as the day wore on. We stopped for lunch on a flat rockbed overlooking a valley. Before too long we were back at the post office and van, took off our boots and started on the drive home. We stopped at a Kroger on the way out of town and bought car snacks. We got back to Zionsville after dark and I drove home ready to see my family and especially my shower!
It was a great weekend of hiking with new hiking friends!
