River to River Trail Thru Hike Episode 1: Grand Tower to Alto Pass
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- #thruhike #rivertorivertrail #shawneenationalforest
On May 15th, 2021, I embarked on my solo thru hike journey of the River to River Trail across Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. This was the most daring physical challenge I had embarked on yet, where I pushed myself to walk 161 miles from the shores of Mississippi River to the Ohio River in just 7 days.
This first day on trail had me hiking just over 23 miles from the western terminus at Grand Tower, IL to some national forest land just north of Alto Pass, IL. I would pass notable features such as the Grand Tower Island, LaRue Pine Hills Research Area and Inspiration Point Overlook, Clear Springs Wilderness, and Bald Knob Wilderness.
I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds of this beautiful area that I am so grateful I got to experience and film!
Day 1 Details:
(Note: I used the REI Hiking Project App for my navigation of this trail, and all mile marker distances are reflected from its database.)
-23.31 miles traveled
-Camped at mile marker 137.69
-Campsite Coordinates: Lat: 37.588950 Lon: -89.311916
-Link to my GPS to search for my route from this day: share.garmin.c...
Main Gear Used on this trip:
-Zpacks Duplex
-Waymark Lite 50L Frameless UL Backpack
-Thermarest Neoair Uberlite
-Western Mountaineering Summerlite Sleeping Bag
Check out Devil's Backbone Campground here: www.greatriver...
Please subscribe to my channel to stay tuned for the remainder of this thru hike series!
Looking forward to the rest. The trail doesn't provide. HE does. Thanks for acknowledging Him.
Thanks so much for watching, Pop Pop! And you are very welcome! It’s a privilege to get to use my channel as a witness to the Good Creator we have who sustains us. Hope you have a great weekend!
Great part 1. Looking forward to part 2.
Thanks so much for watching! Excited to share the rest with y’all!
Awesome! I haven't heard of this trail until now. Looks fantastic! Good luck and I'll follow the vids!
Thanks so much for watching!! It’s a little hidden gem in Southern Illinois, for sure! Stay tuned for Episode 2 next week!
Beautiful ❤️
Thanks so much for watching! Stay tuned for Episode 2!
Your best video so far, Samuel! Thank you for the captions on the flora.
Thank you so much, Judy! I have had so much fun with this series, especially learning about these plant species! Stay tuned for Episode 2 next week!
Hello. It’s January 7th 2023. How many days did it take you from Pine Hills to Makanda? How many miles, and days did it take to get to Makanda Il? Will be starting this soon. Thank you
Hello! It was my second day of my R2R thru hike when I reached Makanda. I'm pretty confident that from Inspiration Point (which is on the western end of Pine Hills) to Makanda is about 23.5 miles. Keep in mind that that does not include the 11 miles from devil's tower at the Mississippi river to pine hills. I have the full series lumped into one video with all of the mileages I did each day in the link down below. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Be sure to subscribe! Thanks!
th-cam.com/video/gEpB406cM3Y/w-d-xo.html
Very well done video, enjoyed your epic hike!
Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to my TH-cam channel to stay tuned for Episode 2 next week!
I forgot about the stove drama! Man, I'm glad you figured that out before you started! Thanks for the shout out brother! Can't wait to see the next!
Yes, I quickly realized that it was more of a blessing than I realized to figure that out before I started! My hike may have ended sooner if not for that! No problem buddy! Excited to share the rest with you, and maybe one day see your footage from this trail 😎. Thanks for watching!
Another super awesome video! Your video talents have become IMHO, some of the best on TH-cam!! Your selection of music and your selection of clips to put it all together is definitely top notch!! 23 miles on day one, that is incredible! The way you listed the flora is very nice!! Great job as usual!!
Wow thank you so very much for these kind words, it means so much! I'm really glad to hear you enjoy the content on this channel, it is my goal to bless and inspire others through this footage I capture! Have a great weekend!
Great! Not only the videography, but the content. From naming plants to sharing faith, you offer a glimpse of the wonders and struggles of a 23 mile day through the woods. Such appreciation of nature and trust in its Creator makes all trails more doable and enjoyable.
It is always an event for us to join you on your hikes. With such great video production, we get a good feel for the journey... without the blisters. We can sit back and relish the beauty. It’s awesome to see another specimen of Backcountrii samuelus!
Thank you for your kind comment, beloved Senator. Enduring this duration of miles and filming shots like these are done with people like you in mind. I hope to continue journeying to allow my captures to bless others and glorify our Crestor. Klondoogus Bendoyalum!
Great video! Best editing to date and it’s only going to get better! I hope everyone catches on to this channel! You deserve it! #ToHikeIsToLive
Thanks so much, HBent!! Appreciate all the love and support. Make sure you hit me up when you get HBent Investing up and running, and we’ll do a YT collaboration! Best of luck at your new Gig! 🤙🏻
Great first episode 👍 Looking forward to the rest of the series. Lots of great shots including the flock of birds over the river, and the many water reflections throughout the day. Great job on the edit as well. I liked the plant IDs. Tons of wildflowers!
Thanks so much for watching and your kind comment! This trail provided some incredible shots for me to capture, it’s a really beautiful national forest! Can’t wait to share the rest of the series with everyone. Cheers!
Really well done video! I love the plant identification! I am hoping to hit this trail westbound in 2023. Thanks for taking us along!
Thanks so much for watching!! This was a beautiful and super challenging trip, and I can’t wait to share the rest of it with everyone! Please let me know if you need any help preparing for your thru hike of the R2R, always happy to help! Happy hiking!
Wild start to your journey. Naming the plants was cool.
There’s always lessons to learn out in the woods. Really cool video my Kentuckian brother 👊🏻
Thanks so much for watching, Jason! It’s been really fun learning all these different plants while I edit the footage. Hope you’re doing well, man! Have a great weekend, and stay tuned for Episode 2 next week!
Congrats on completing your first video with Davinci Resolve! The editing is looking good! I’ve been looking forward to this one, and to seeing how you managed to do this crazy thing. This first day had a lot of excitement and a lot more variety than I would have expected.
0:40 I like the ambient opening before your introduction.
1:30 Those maps! They look good, and I like the way they fit together. I’m glad we figured that out, haha.
3:35 Man, I don’t know how you managed to hike 23+ miles after that morning and that long work day, but I’m impressed.
4:00 I love the shot with the birds.
5:33 You look like you’re in some prehistoric forest with those ferns.
7:00 This is a unique spot, looking down on the floodplain with the roads and trains and water. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.
9:00 That was some Trail Santa-level trail magic! 🎅
9:20 I like the shallow depth of field and lighting here.
10:30 One of my favorites! The flower ID was a nice touch.
11:38 This might be the vineyard where I once stopped to ask for directions to the nearest gas station.
12:09 I just about fell out of my chair laughing when this big chungus came running up 🤣🤣
13:00 How hard was it not to stop in here for a pastie instead of your trail dinner? On second thought, it looks like it might have been closed…
13:38 Great shot of the creek, and a nice water source for your night!
14:45 The Lessons of the Day were one of my favorite things about your Sheltowee videos. I’m glad to see them again, and these were two good ones.
17:00 The archetypal Bluegrass Backcountry dinner!
17:25 The patter of rain is a nice little teaser for the next one.
Very nice work, as always. I like the one day/episode format that you’re going with. It will keep us in suspense! I’m really looking forward to seeing how this goes, even though I know you were successful, haha. I still can’t get over how fast you did this. Thanks for putting it all together and sharing it with us!
Dude thank you so much for taking the time to watch and comment on my video, especially with knowing you had a trip of your own to pack and prepare for! I hope it didn’t cause you to feel stressed or rushed! It means a lot to hear your thoughts and what stood out, both as a friend and a fellow creator who helps refine my skills. Your insights are invaluable!
-I’m trying to put in more ambient sounds in this series, am I’m happy so far with how it all sounds.
-Thanks again for all your help with teaching me this skill on DaVinci! It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do while editing, surprisingly. I had a great teacher help me fall in love with the fusion animations haha
-I still don’t know how I did all this, either. I think there was a lot going on in my life personally at that time, and so this hike was a way for me to vent through my problems haha.
-Hannah told me this clip creeped her out ever since I made her watch “The Birds” movie 😂
-I really love this fern shot too, I couldn’t believe how green everything was.
-Inspiration Point was truly inspiring! I wish I had my drone for this overlook.
-William came in clutch for me! I really hope he sees my video one day to know how thankful I am.
-I think I get alot of those shallow depth of field shot ideas from your channel, so thank YOU for the inspiration haha.
-Couldn’t believe Trilliums we’re still blooming there at the end of May!
-I wouldn’t mind going back and hitting up the Shawnee Wine Trail, I could have used a glass or two after all those miles!
-Luckily that Big Chungus was the nicer of the three 🤣🙈
-Man, if that place was open, I would have totally gotten a pastie or two for camp that night! It seemed closed or abandoned 😔
-This was a trip where camping near water was a luxury!
-I’m so glad you enjoyed the lessons from the Sheltowee, and I hope to do the same justice as that trip as to what I learned!
-Spicy Ramen FTW!
-Rain rain, go away! Please don’t break my trekking pole today!
Thanks again for your thorough thoughts and encouragements about this new series! I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds as I release them, as well as giving you the Thru hike bug! Hope the BSF is treating you well!
Anticipation is making me wait for episode 2😉!! Wonderful scenery plus the history of Lewis and Clark on the attempt to ford the river . Also the train was such a nostalgic reminder of when it used come here to the “Burg”. Proud of you! Love you !!
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it and are excited for the upcoming episode! I had no idea that that train ran from IL to Greensburg, that’s wild! Thanks for watching, love you!