The Illinois and Michigan Canal

Several years ago I biked the Hennepin Canal and after that, I found out the I & M Canal had a similar trail. Two years ago, I took a Sunday and traveled down there on my motorcycle to follow the trail to see if it was any good. I don't recall making a post on it. I think I traveled the length (on surface streets) from Rockdale to Ottawa and saw the aqueduct over the Fox. 

So I set the goal last year to bike it. I didn't make it.  I think all I did was do the Tunnel Hill Trail. I was really disappointed with that year. I didn't feel like I did anything. So this year I set out to change all that.

After a bit of family drama, I set out on June 25th to do the path. Started about 7:00am from the Rockdale trailhead. 

Shortly after I began, I went up a rise and over some train tracks. You see so much broken infrastructure on these trails. There were no tracks to either side of the trail, just those on the trail itself.

I shortly came up to Channahon that has an interesting complex. There is a lock with a lockmaster's house still sanding at the one side of the junction with the DuPage River, a dam to set the water level, and another lock on the other side of the river back into the canal.

So, I went around the horn there, still no sign of Tracy, and where the Kankakee River and the DesPlains River meet, it becomes the Illinois River. I didn't know that before. I kept trudging along the path and saw a sign for the Dresden lock and dam. Evidently, there is also a ghost town there. So I took a few pictures. Tracy called me to tell me she was at Channahon and that I didn't have my location sharing on. So I fixed that situation and Tracy told me she'd meet me in Morris because there wasn't a whole lot of places where she could meet me otherwise.

After a little bit, you travel through Aux Sable that is a ghost town and has an aqueduct, lock, and lockmaster's house still intact.

I might add that this is a beautiful little park in the middle of nowhere. If you ever have an afternoon when you want to take a bit of a drive, I can't recommend this enough. It has a couple of picnic tables and bathrooms. I don't think you can enter the house.

The trail was excellent up to Morris. I can't complain about that at all. I had made it about a third of the way at this point (Morris). This was a great experience up to this point.  It kind of went south after Morris.

Case in point, there was a bridge out. So the path just stopped. No signs on where to go. So I had to use surface streets to get to the other side. And I saw this cool abandoned building.

The trail to Seneca was fairly nice. It was completely wooded and was only highlighted by what sounded like a shooting range. I could envision some Illinois militia shooting into the woods to take out the granola bikers on the trail. Luckily after investigation, it was facing the other way, so it was okay.

There was a nice little bridge I went under. 

There was a little park in Seneca and Tracy had a sandwich waiting for me. I was thankful, but I was also starting to get tired. The next path to Marseilles went bad quickly. It was an uncomfortable gravel road that transitioned to a two-track to a primitive two-track. No mowing. When it came out to a road, there was a small sign to the north to a section of path that was not maintained at all. There were trees over the path that I tried to move with no luck. I kept eying the road just to the south and why didn't they put the trail there. It was industrial, so maybe they didn't want people walking on it, but then take care of the path! 

Still, it was kind of interesting. The building had three railroad spurs that went directly into the work areas. I later saw on maps that it was a tubing manufacturing shop. I was curious if they did railroad work considering the cars I saw in there.

I had spent some time going through Marseilles a few years previous. It is a cute little town. There are a couple of locks located in the town with the canal mostly dry. The path was non-existent. It looks like no bikers had been through there for years.

The path from Marseilles to Ottawa was primitive. It was moist and dark. I think the path was actually in the canal at that point. 

Once into Ottawa, the path became maintained and soon the aqueduct over the Fox River came into view.

There was a park in Ottawa where Tracy met me. It was nice. I was starting to run out of steam, but I had 23 miles left. I wanted to do this. There were a couple of very nice locks along the path out of town. They were quite separated from the town but well maintained. I want to add that the trail at one point had potential. There were mowed sections where you could camp. There were a few shelters along the way as well as benches and garbage cans. It could have been something nice at one time. Clearly, the fact that the state is broke is hurting this kind of resource.

Then I struggled after this. The path went down to a 3 inch wide path. It had been mowed, it looked like last year, and was strewn with sticks and junk. After Buffalo Rock parking, there was an active "Mowing" sign. I now was riding on three inches of grass, sticks and all on top of the path. It was very hard moving. I did come across the tractor mowing. It was actually mowing the trees at that point. It had an articulated arm and could mow anywhere it darn well wanted. Still, it was miles of hard riding. 

Then...the path stopped. There was a fence across the path. All I could think of was having to ride back the last 5 miles to the road. I saw a little arrow pointing to the side. OK...it went down quickly. I squeezed the brakes hard before I went into the creek at the bottom. Crap. Do I have to wade across? Plus, it was a disgusting yellow color. For all I knew, it was toxic waste. Then I looked to the side and saw a wood footbridge. Barely. I edged across the path hoping the bridge wouldn't flip. I went up narrow path and up onto the main path again. More mowed crap.

The path eventually turned into a pothole-strewn road. It was horrible. Jarring. And then I got into Utica. No real signs as to where the path went. I was close to calling Tracy and tell her I was done. She was 5 miles away in LaSalle. I could see her on my map. I did find the park/trailhead and it was a road all the way to LaSalle. It was filled with potholes too, but someone decided to fill the potholes with pea gravel. That slowed me down and I was already running on fumes. I eventually got to the trailhead in LaSalle where Tracy helped me get the bike on the car. She must be used to me not being able to move after a ride. 

I did it. 63 miles. A personal best. A record I have no issues having stand for some time.