Southern Illinois Backpacking

I received this message via email Tuesday, July 28, 2009. It represented the first, and to date, still the only feedback I have received from someone who has actually taken the Southern Illinois River To River Trail Pocket Guide onto the trail and used it as it was intended.

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Our group of four hiked the western 40 miles of the RTRT last week and found your guide indispensable. The trail is in very poor condition from Godwin trail head (Pine Hill) to Hutchins Creek due to storm damage. We met a trail crew in the wilderness area and their efforts to clear the area are greatly limited as they can only use hand tools. I would guess this section will not be cleared for months.

The trail entrance into the woods east of Alto Pass would have been very difficult to find without the GPS coordinates.

The short stretch from Highway 51 to Makanda would be impossible to follow without your guide as this section is almost unused and very poorly marked.

Again many thanks for the excellent guide...

James Carey

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So I wrote Mr. Carey and quizzed him some more about exactly how they used the guide and asked for any ideas on improving it.

Here was his response:

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Dear John,

I am happy to try to be of help. Of course you may feel free to quote me is you desire. Your guide was indispensable in accurately and safely following the River to River Trail.

Our party consisted of my wife and I and my brother and his son. I am 56 and a retired surgeon. My brother (43) is a Major in the infantry. We have been backpacking together since our teens. My wife and I have hiked extensively for our twenty years together. Photos included so you can know us better.

We are big believers in John Wooden’s maxim: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

We knew nothing of the trail except an article we had saved from a 1994 issue of Backpacking magazine.

I am not a techie but do have a Garmin e-trex Legend GPS. I had no experience with UTM coordinates but found it simple to change the settings on the unit solely using the instructions in your guide. My wife and I then entered the Waypoints on a National geographic topo map set on the PC and downloaded them to the GPS unit before leaving home. In addition, we made topo mapsets with the waypoints printed on them and carried them with the relevant pages of your guide on opposite sides of a British style plastic map case. Of course we also carried compasses as well. An interesting aside is that my brother’s primary compass had become reverse magnetized and pointed south. He kept disputing the readings of the GPS on the first day until he pulled out his backup compass and figured out the problem.

Here are some suggestions towards improving the guide:

Number the waypoints. This way they can be entered and plotted on mapsets and easily compared to your guide. We often had to count through the guide to match a point on the maps. We could have done this at home but it would be easier to have them in the guide. The East vs West format is good but the actual columns design could be clearer. You might consider splitting the second column into two placing the waypoint in between. The GPS column could be compressed by listing the two coordinates vertically instead of side by side. Then keep the mileage columns on the outer sides of the associated eastbound and westbound column. You could add the total mileage in parentheses to the point to point numbers already listed which would help quickly figuring distances between any two points. Your distances are far more accurate than those posted on the trail signs.

Add way points for all significant water crossings as this would aid campsite planning and resupply. The ones you did list were excellent.

Show waypoints on the map in your guide. Of course the map in the guide is not a substitute for a good topo but I think this would be helpful.

The ideal guide would also have sectional topo maps organized in order showing the trial, trail waypoints, towns, water, etc but this may be beyond the scope of what you intend.

The section on using the GPS could be referenced to a helpful site such as this one: http://www.maptools.com/tutorials.html

As a selling point, I would point out in your website that trails are always changing, signs disappear, weeds grow etc and that with GPS coordinates you can always find the given location.

Lastly, many thanks for your hard work which I am sure is motivated more by love than money. You saved our butts several times and I hope these few comments are helpful improving an already very useful guide.

Happy trails,

James Carey