Yesterday I hiked at Trails of Tears State Forest north of Jonesboro, IL. It is about a 45 minute drive from Cape Girardeau, MO. Here is a link to my GPS track and other information on the hike.http://alltrails.com/tracks/trail-of-tears-state-forest-main-street-north-ft
If you are interested in other trails I have hiked (and not posted on this blog). You can view other trails and tracks at
The state has a good map that clearly labels all the fire trails (abbrev FT) in the forest (easy to follow). Here is a link to that map:
The fire trails at this state forest provide many options for short or longer hikes (loop, out and back, point-to-point). The fire trails are wider forest roads with some connecting trails.The connecting trails typically drop down into the hollows and then climb back up to the ridge top to connect with the fire trails. So you can hike 1/2 mile or plot a 12+ mile route. The forest is awesome (yea I know overused term) with old growth (huge trees). I hiked in August, so the views were not that spectacular but the that will change in the fall and winter.
I hiked north on FT 31 (also referred to as north main) and then onto the Lost trail which looped back to hickory hill trail and then to red shale hill trail. Red shale dropped into the creek valley (down about 300 ft). The trail along the creek was over grown (which is typical in this area during the summer) but well marked with trail signs so you could follow it. I did miss a connecting trail to the hickory hill trail and looped back to the top of red shale (no problem). I put a link in the trail information to the park map. The fire lanes are clearly marked (at least they were on north main). I will hike the south portion of the main FT in the future and provide a track. I estimate that will be another 6 mile loop. So if you combined both loops, you could do 12 miles. Be sure and bring all of your water. I did not see any water sources at the park facilities. The bottom drainage of the hollows may or may not have water depending on the amount of rain.
If you are looking for trails to hike, I would recommend going to http://www.alltrails.com. You can join for free. This site has been a great incentive for me because it lets me keep track of my hikes and I enjoy tracking trails using GPS and my iPhone.
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” — Frank A. Clark
