Outings

Jackson Holler

Ron and Carolyn on the hiking trail along this unnamed tributary to Little Bay Creek. The creek occupies a wide basin with steep walls.

Jackson Holler

The walls of the holler are steep sandstone bluffs. Huge chunks break off and slowly creep down the banks.

Evan and Ron tempt fate under eroded sandstone bridge.

Fiddleheads!

The ferns were emerging, unrolling these leafy stems. 

Trout Lilly

Trout Lilly is a small shade loving plant with beautiful mottled leaves. In the Chicago region, Trout Lilly has smaller, pale pink blossoms. These in southern Illinois are almost twice as big, and a bright yellow.

The holler hosted several other flowers in bloom, and a variety of fungi.

Jackson Holler

"Holler" is the southern Illinois word for "hollow," a sunken valley. The stream eroded through a crack in the sandstone like this, and gradually carried away all the sandstone in its valley. The edges of the holler are rimed with steep bluffs formed as ice breaks away the upper sandstone layer.

Jackson Holler

The trail turned south at the railroad tracks just ahead of this point. As we looked back we saw a group of riders on horses spelunking in the stream. Horse hooves cut the root structure in the soft soils along the creek, and their feces carry alien species into this sensitive habitat. The result is trails turned to ditches and mud, silted streams, and invasive plants. Horses are forbidden from this natural area, but commercial horseback operations in the area ignore the rules.

Jackson Falls

Crossing over the RR tracks, we hiked NE up another unnamed tributary to Little Bay Creek.

Carefully eliminated from the picture of this beautiful falls was a garish cluster of tents with boom boxes blaring into this wilderness scene. "Land of Many Uses."

We could not scale this bluff without climbing equipment, and were glad to get directions to a spot along the bluff that we could.

Wilderness Camp

Branching E from the creek above Jackson Falls, and a little to the S, we found this open area on the crest of a big hill, outside the natural area. The log in the foreground became our dining room. After dinner we sang to the coyotes and watched the stars compete with the moon.

We might have found our way out of the Jackson watershed more quickly if we had followed the illegal ATV trails, but we yearned for the wilderness experience.

Bell Smith Springs

We hiked 30°E of N to find the beginning of this creek as we crested the height of land into the Hill Branch Creek watershed. This valley lacked the bluff rim and stream-side trail that made Jackson Holler so inviting, and we carefully knitted our way to avoid getting stranded on a precipice. The creek offered several pools surrounded by flat rocks where we sat and dipped our hot feet in the chilly water.

Bell Smith Springs

The stream burst abruptly onto the bald rocks that characterize Hill Branch. It zipped and dived across in miniature rapids and pools.

Bell Smith Springs

This little pool was surprisingly deep.

Bell Smith Springs

Prickly Pear cactus!

Bell Smith Springs

The stream tumbles into Hill Branch of Bay Creek.

We hiked NW up this side of the Branch, and back down the other.

Bell Smith Springs

When we returned we climbed down to the base of the waterfalls to have lunch. The ledges provided cool shade, and the rushing water shushed away all sounds from beyond.

Bell Smith Springs

A blue-tailed Five Lined Skink squiggled along the rock face while Carolyn munches.

Ages from now, will this stream cut through the sandstone and part it to look like Jackson Holler?

Bell Smith Springs

It's always confusing figuring out which trail connects the Hill Branch trails to the road from the Redbud campground. After scouting a few of the choices, we picked the one that lead to this sign. It was a short hike from here up a trail to Redbud.

This pair were ideal wilderness hiking companions.