The River To River Trail runs from the Ohio River to the Mississippi River in southern Illinois, and runs through lands owned by both the State and the Federal Government, as well as some portions which are privately owned. (The owners have given hikers permission to use the trail)
According to the Shawnee Forest Service, the trail runs 160 miles and includes a variety of habitats.
On this edition of WSIU InFocus, we visit with Chris Benda, a Botanist who teaches a plant identification course at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
In December of 2018 Chris Hiked the entire length of the trail and after the adventure, he came to the studios of WSIU and talked about his adventure.
You can download very accurate maps of the River To River Trail, provided by the non-profit, River To River Trail Society by browsing to: https://www.rivertorivertrail.net/home/trail-information/river-to-river-trail-guide-2018/
To learn more about the trail, go to the Shawnee National Forest's website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/shawnee/recarea/?recid=28006
To watch Chris Benda's daily video blog of his hike, go to: http://illinoisbotanizer.com/
