Eagle Mountain Fire Road

Total Miles
5.1

Elevation

239.13 ft

Duration

0.5 Hours

Technical Rating

2

Easy

Best Time

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

Trail Overview

The Eagle Mountain Fire Road is a gravel service road through the Eagle Mountain area in the most northern section of the Hidden Springs sector of Shawnee National Forest. The road acts as a main artery road that most of the other trails in the area are connected to or even loop back to. It is mostly well-kept but has a few spots that have natural rock at the surface that needs to be navigated. Going north to south, it first snakes up into the mountain using a subtle switchback going up a steep grade with some natural terrain and loose rock in the roadway, then peaks at the 1.5-mile mark, where the road slowly goes back downhill into the bottoms on the opposite side of the mountain where it rides along the feeder branches of the Rose Creek at Dennison Hollow, here you may experience a few mild creek crossings with mild drops into the natural creek bottoms, lastly you go over one last mild grade, ending on the other side at Gape Hollow Road. Overall a generally easy, scenic, and fun road that provides access to several of the area's more challenging trails.

Photos of Eagle Mountain Fire Road

Eagle Mountain Fire Road
Eagle Mountain Fire Road

Difficulty

The difficulty of the Eagle Mountain Fire Road is in the maintenance of the northern uphill section and the amount of rain and water that is in the area near the Rose Creek. First the uphill grade on the north side has sections that are very natural with hard rock sticking out at the surface, making you pick what line would be most comfortable, to add to this these areas collect more course loose gravel and rock as well, creating low traction spots, momentum or 4WD is helpful here. Then there is the creek bottoms section of the road, there was specifically two spots that with a decent rain could pose deep water crossings, the two crossings both feature a mild drop into the natural loose creek bed rock below, you have to drive through them slowly, which could pose a threat if the water were to be up, on a normal day these creeks are at less than 1 foot of water, the max I could see them getting to is 2 foot, but this would be rare, but not impossible. All this said, the road is given a 2/10, being in the average maintained condition, in perfect conditions it might lean towards a 1/10, but in inclement weather or hard downpours, this could also lean towards a solid 3/10. It would achieve this with a good layer of snow on top of it.

Technical Rating

2

Access Description

From Harrisburg, IL at the intersection of US Route 45 and Illinois Route 13, at 37.74157, -88.52920, drive 5.1 miles east on IL-13, turn right onto College Rd, at 37.73987, -88.43832, drive .8 mile south, turn left onto Pebble Rd, drive .3 mile turn right onto Berry Rd, follow it for 1.7 miles, turn right onto Rocky Branch Rd, continue south for 2.6 miles, merge right onto Horseshoe Rd, continue south for .4 miles, turn left onto Stoneface Rd, continue for .3 miles, and the trail entrance will be on your left at 37.68343, -88.42824. From Herrod, IL at Illinois Route 45, at 37.58032, -88.43638, head north on Gape Hollow Road for 3.6 miles, turn left at 37.62548, -88.41137, and you are now on the trail.

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