JUNCTION (WSIL) -- We hit the trail with Steve Melville, Owner of Rim Rock's Dogwood Cabins, whose business is named after the famous
"Well this is Rim Rock Recreation Area with a great little trail. It's a great hiking area. A lot of people come down to see Garden of the Gods and just completely miss this place. We're going to take this lower right trail down through this hollow over here and then we may walk over the Pounds Hollow and back which is about a half mile. Otherwise we'll circle back up around through the squeeze area up here, where the steps are and then circle back around. It's about a mile and a quarter here plus a half mile over to Pounds Hollow if we want to do that," explains Melville.
Rim Rock National Recreation Trail is located in the Shawnee National Forest near Junction, IL and there are multiple ways to explore area.
"There's a lot more to explore on this side. I feel if you go around the other way and you're coming up this hill then you're not going to explore around as much. Now we're kind of getting down more into the hollow. Now that we're down in here a little bit, you can see the bluff line across the other side and these big rocks down here. The creek after it rains, there are nice water falls and stuff," says Melville.
The hollow and beautiful bluffs aren't all the trail has to offer. It'll take more walking but there's even a place to cool off.
"We're at the trailhead over to Pounds Hollow. It's about a half mile over to the beach. It's a nice short hike over to Rim Rock whether you start here or there. A lot of different kinds of mushrooms and flowers grow in this area as well," states Melville.
Once you arrive at Pounds Hollow Lake there's more outdoor activities to explore.
"Well there's the hiking lilke we just did. People can park here and swim and fish and then you can take the hike over to Rim Rock from this direction. It's a super clean lake. You can bring Kayaks and Canoes. It's nice to just paddle down to the other end of the lake and kind of be by yourself down there," says Melville.
Melville says his favorite part of the hike is the squeeze. "Yeah this is sort of the main attraction area, green hallways."
The trail also offers over looks and bits of history along the way.
"So this is Ox-lot Cave here. In the early 1900s they were logging this area and they had a big corral around here and then this is like a natural spring that they use. It's like an automatic water for the animals. There's an old one of those stone fort walls that the Indians use to use back in the day as like a defensive position. They don't think they ever lived there but they think that they'd seasonally hunt there," elaborates Melville.
If you're looking for a get away just across the street from the trail offers 6 cabins on 77 acres with more private trails to explore.
