Explore the best rated trails in Centralia, IL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Arches Rail Trail and MCT Schoolhouse Trail. With more than 14 trails covering 159 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The Carlyle Lake Bike Trail is located in one of Southwest Illinois's most popular recreational areas, just 50 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri—not far from that area's abundance of great trails, as...
The MCT Quercus Grove Trail begins in Edwardsville at its junction with the MCT Nickel Plate Trail. It begins on city sidewalks and alleys near Edwardsville's historic downtown area and very quickly...
Hesse Trail connects two neighborhoods and a park in the city of O'Fallon with plans to extend and connect it to other trails in the large Metro-East area. It is a short, completely tree-covered...
This trail gets its name from the MetroLink Red Line train track it parallels through eastern Belleville and (briefly) the village of Swansea. It is a classic rail-with-trail configuration, where...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Nature Trail goes through richly varied surroundings of city, farm and wood. In the west, it begins at beautiful Wilson Park in Granite City. From there, it makes its...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Nickel Plate Trail is the longest of the county’s trails and perhaps the most diverse in its offerings. On the west, it begins at a junction with the MCT Nature Trail,...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Goshen Trail is a namesake of the old Goshen Road that was built in 1808 to supply salt to the first permanent settlers of Madison County. The modern bike trail...
The Delyte W. Morris Trail lies entirely on the campus of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE). It is named for the university's president at the Carbondale campus in the 1960s who helped...
This trail along Richland Creek is in two discontiguous sections that must be accessed separately. The northern section goes by the thick and quiet woods of Centennial Park, where there are also very...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Schoolhouse Trail offers a 15.5-mile flat, paved route through the eastern suburbs of greater St. Louis, Missouri, between Madison and Maryville, Illinois. Along the...
The Madison Count Transit (MCT) Watershed Trail is all about trains, bridges and waterways. It follows an abandoned rail corridor built in 1868, the first to serve the city of Edwardsville, itself the...
The Rend Lake Bike Trail, in the heart of southern Illinois, goes around nearly half of the second-largest man-made lake in the state. Along the way, trail-goers will enjoy picturesque views of the...
You can make connections all over the countryside from the Madison County Transit (MCT) Ronald J. Foster Heritage Trail. The paved path travels 12.2 miles between the villages of Glen Carbon and...
The MCT Quercus Grove Trail begins in Edwardsville at its junction with the MCT Nickel Plate Trail. It begins on city sidewalks and alleys near Edwardsville's historic downtown area and very quickly...
The Carlyle Lake Bike Trail is located in one of Southwest Illinois's most popular recreational areas, just 50 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri—not far from that area's abundance of great trails, as...
This trail along Richland Creek is in two discontiguous sections that must be accessed separately. The northern section goes by the thick and quiet woods of Centennial Park, where there are also very...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Schoolhouse Trail offers a 15.5-mile flat, paved route through the eastern suburbs of greater St. Louis, Missouri, between Madison and Maryville, Illinois. Along the...
Opened in the Fall of 2012, Arches Rail Trail continues to be improved by an active local support group. It lies between Butler and Hillsboro, Illinois, along a section of an old 1850s route that...
Hesse Trail connects two neighborhoods and a park in the city of O'Fallon with plans to extend and connect it to other trails in the large Metro-East area. It is a short, completely tree-covered...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Goshen Trail is a namesake of the old Goshen Road that was built in 1808 to supply salt to the first permanent settlers of Madison County. The modern bike trail...
This trail gets its name from the MetroLink Red Line train track it parallels through eastern Belleville and (briefly) the village of Swansea. It is a classic rail-with-trail configuration, where...
The Delyte W. Morris Trail lies entirely on the campus of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE). It is named for the university's president at the Carbondale campus in the 1960s who helped...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Nature Trail goes through richly varied surroundings of city, farm and wood. In the west, it begins at beautiful Wilson Park in Granite City. From there, it makes its...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Nickel Plate Trail is the longest of the county’s trails and perhaps the most diverse in its offerings. On the west, it begins at a junction with the MCT Nature Trail,...
The Madison Count Transit (MCT) Watershed Trail is all about trains, bridges and waterways. It follows an abandoned rail corridor built in 1868, the first to serve the city of Edwardsville, itself the...
The Rend Lake Bike Trail, in the heart of southern Illinois, goes around nearly half of the second-largest man-made lake in the state. Along the way, trail-goers will enjoy picturesque views of the...
You can make connections all over the countryside from the Madison County Transit (MCT) Ronald J. Foster Heritage Trail. The paved path travels 12.2 miles between the villages of Glen Carbon and...
The MCT Quercus Grove Trail begins in Edwardsville at its junction with the MCT Nickel Plate Trail. It begins on city sidewalks and alleys near Edwardsville's historic downtown area and very quickly...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Schoolhouse Trail offers a 15.5-mile flat, paved route through the eastern suburbs of greater St. Louis, Missouri, between Madison and Maryville, Illinois. Along the...
Hesse Trail connects two neighborhoods and a park in the city of O'Fallon with plans to extend and connect it to other trails in the large Metro-East area. It is a short, completely tree-covered...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Nickel Plate Trail is the longest of the county’s trails and perhaps the most diverse in its offerings. On the west, it begins at a junction with the MCT Nature Trail,...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Nature Trail goes through richly varied surroundings of city, farm and wood. In the west, it begins at beautiful Wilson Park in Granite City. From there, it makes its...
This trail gets its name from the MetroLink Red Line train track it parallels through eastern Belleville and (briefly) the village of Swansea. It is a classic rail-with-trail configuration, where...
Opened in the Fall of 2012, Arches Rail Trail continues to be improved by an active local support group. It lies between Butler and Hillsboro, Illinois, along a section of an old 1850s route that...
The Madison Count Transit (MCT) Watershed Trail is all about trains, bridges and waterways. It follows an abandoned rail corridor built in 1868, the first to serve the city of Edwardsville, itself the...
The Carlyle Lake Bike Trail is located in one of Southwest Illinois's most popular recreational areas, just 50 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri—not far from that area's abundance of great trails, as...
The Rend Lake Bike Trail, in the heart of southern Illinois, goes around nearly half of the second-largest man-made lake in the state. Along the way, trail-goers will enjoy picturesque views of the...
The Delyte W. Morris Trail lies entirely on the campus of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE). It is named for the university's president at the Carbondale campus in the 1960s who helped...
This trail along Richland Creek is in two discontiguous sections that must be accessed separately. The northern section goes by the thick and quiet woods of Centennial Park, where there are also very...
You can make connections all over the countryside from the Madison County Transit (MCT) Ronald J. Foster Heritage Trail. The paved path travels 12.2 miles between the villages of Glen Carbon and...
The Madison County Transit (MCT) Goshen Trail is a namesake of the old Goshen Road that was built in 1808 to supply salt to the first permanent settlers of Madison County. The modern bike trail...
It was an overcast, mid-forties day. Nice to hike if dressed right and bug free is a bonus on colder days. Met a few people using path but think maybe they were mainly locals using it as a means to get from one place to another. Definitely plan to do the whole length, by foot and bike.
MCT trails = 130+ miles of mostly paved rail trails.
I love riding this trail and the whole MCT system. Goshen is beautiful, interesting, and a perfect way to spend the day. Make sure you grab a map at the trailhead or keep one on your phone because none of their trails are marked well. Pay attention to forks in the road so you know which one to take to get back (or just do one of the seven loops). Trails are flat and fun. I’ve ridden during the week and on the weekend, and while the weekend was more crowded, there are so many trails so spread out that I never had a problem. Really fantastic ride!
I recently got to experience the MCT trails for the first time. They are AMAZING! I’ve ridden several of them, and my favorite so far is Goshen for it’s beauty and interests along the way. The trails are paved (with a few short exception areas), well-maintained and mostly flat and easy. For those going for distance, you can certainly ride all day throughout the system. The only negative point is the trails are not marked well at all, which is shocking given how nice they are. At each junction, there is sometimes a faded marking on the pavement and usually a trail map, but the first time I got lost as did a friend so be aware of which trail you are on and bring extra water/snack in case you get lost and it takes you longer to get back. There are free trail maps at the main building on United Drive in Collinsville can’t wait to check out more of these trails!
Scenery was marginal at best until the 3 or so miles near SIU edwardsville
We rode this for the first time today & loved it! The parking in OFallon was easily accessible and the paved path was well maintained for the full 19 miles! Enjoyed stopping at Global Brew Tap House on the return..it was right off the trail in Edwardsville. Only improvement would be to add restroom facilities. We saw 2 porta-potties (not well kept) but that was it!
Trail is in great shape. I was surprised to see a nice contingent of riders on a very hot week day.
I really enjoy riding this trail starting at Old Collinsville Road. I find the description above a bit confusing. It's described as "discontiguous" but you would never know that when riding, except for about 100 feet where the trail goes on a quiet neighborhood street. The path is clearly marked and crosses 161 with a push-button to stop traffic. Very foresty and leafy for the first half, before merging with the Metrolink trail for a short section (turn right and right again), then it goes down toward Belleville. Fairly flat and easy to ride with lots of cute parks to go through.
My husband & I just rode the new 3 1/2 mile section from Memorial Hospital station to Fairview Hts station. Loved the hilly curvy over the bridge & creeks to Fairview Hts station. He also rode the Eckert Orchards. Loved that as well. ¿¿
My favorite bike trail! So clean and scenic!
This is a wonderful trail and connects seamlessly with the other MCT Trails. We really enjoyed a cafe called "Taste of Country". Watch for the bright yellow bike with signs. The cafe is in a former vegetable stand at 4200 Hanfelder Rd, Granite City 62040. Worth a stop!
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TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
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