My roommate and I decided to hike Panther’s Den here in Southern Illinois a couple of days ago. While I’m no experienced hiker, that trail was the most confusing I’d ever been on. There was one message board at the front entrance, which was about a quarter mile from the trail, but it gave no specific information about Panther’s Den or the trail to it. In fact, I was told not to take the first trail, but to walk past a roped off part and take the trail up by this guys house. I think we may have been tresspassing, but I was told that was the only way to actually get to the rock formations. Apparently we took the wrong trail because we ended up getting lost and seeing way too damn many snakes. So, is who should I contact and ask about the conditions of this particular trail? Will anybody even pay attention to it? Also, I heard that if you take the trail up by the guys house then the trail is marked with arrows, but before you even get to that trail the guy has the path roped off and has quite a few signs that say “No Tresspassing” and “No Hunting”. How can the guy do this if infact there is a trail up there that has obviously been marked out for public hiking?
Thanks