Find the top rated trails in Mount Vernon, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Southern Illinois' Tunnel Hill State Trail is a gem of a route, with 23 trestle bridges (including one that is 450 feet long), several ghost towns, a beautiful park, a comfortable trailhead in Vienna...
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 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 City of Eldorado Bicycle and Walking Path is an excellent example of trails as linear parks. The City of Eldorado and the Eldorado Garden Study Club both work to keep the landscaped trailway and...
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 City of Eldorado Bicycle and Walking Path is an excellent example of trails as linear parks. The City of Eldorado and the Eldorado Garden Study Club both work to keep the landscaped trailway and...
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...
Southern Illinois' Tunnel Hill State Trail is a gem of a route, with 23 trestle bridges (including one that is 450 feet long), several ghost towns, a beautiful park, a comfortable trailhead in Vienna...
Southern Illinois' Tunnel Hill State Trail is a gem of a route, with 23 trestle bridges (including one that is 450 feet long), several ghost towns, a beautiful park, a comfortable trailhead in Vienna...
The City of Eldorado Bicycle and Walking Path is an excellent example of trails as linear parks. The City of Eldorado and the Eldorado Garden Study Club both work to keep the landscaped trailway and...
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 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...
Rode the trail from Harrisburg 27 miles south to view the Eclipse right on the line of totality. I was expecting a packed trail but was surprised to see very few people. The trail surface was fine for my hybrid bike. Enjoyable scenery with the trestles and tunnel.
After viewing the eclipse I rode back in the heat. Even though there are plenty of trees covering most of the trail the mid day sun still gets through. Thank goodness for the small town stops with water so I could reload and refresh my water bladder. I hope to take this trail again to Karnak.
I probably could have gotten home faster to Bloomington (ordinarily 4 hours by car) if I had stayed on my bike. It took 10 hours in bumper to bumper traffic to get home!
I rode this trail end-to-end in 2005, and this was my first return visit for a ride on the northern half from Harrisburg through the tunnel and back, a total of 49.6 miles. Harrisburg has a paved 2.2 mile segment with numerous street crossings; the locals seemed very aware of the trail, and more than one driver stopped to wait for me to cross. While this is a kind gesture, it holds its own dangers. I always remind my riding companions to watch out for traffic in other lanes who are still coming through.
The next few miles were hard-packed stone, very smooth and easy to ride. After that the stone was still smooth but just a little bit softer packed. It was a good surface but I realized late in the ride that I had expended more energy than expected most of the day, and it caught me by surprise that at 35 miles my legs felt like they had done the full 50.
I spotted one ATV rider using the trail and noticed a few spots where someone's access road jogs for a few feet on the trail, but the surface was not damaged noticeably by these activities. There was one stretch of 100 yards or so with a lot of very loose gravel that had eroded or not been properly patched, but I was able to steer to the edge and get through OK.
There is a mix of sun and shade, an interesting rock cut to ride through, and the tunnel is short enough that a light is not strictly necessary. I would urge anyone without a light to walk their bike through the darkest part of the tunnel.
Johnson's Southern Barbecue operates from a mobile home with a separate screened dining tent at the Harrisburg trailhead. It looks intriguing, but I had leftovers waiting in the motel fridge and missed that opportunity.
I'll come back and ride the southern half of the trail again sometime. My memory from 12 years ago was that the last stretch from Karnak to Rago was not a rail trail and held little interest. The Barkhausen Wetlands Center was a nice place to end, but I spent most of my time in the restroom with the cold water running to cool myself on a 100 degree day.
My wife and I had a free Sunday in mid-summer so we took an impromptu trip to seize the Tunnel. We started our journey at Tunnel Hill State Park in Vienna. A very nice TH with a small museum, restrooms opened early and a nice place to picnic. Immediately heading north, we crossed a historic small span, steel sided bridge (one of many) which set the historic RR tone for the entire ride. The terrain in this section was truly a surprise; you’re biking in a sunken rail bed with rocky outcroppings on one side and the Little Cache Creek on the other. Two interesting things of note was the final resting place of an old International Harvester combine and an old barn with its original large stone foundation. Another surprise and a must stop is Sandburn Junction. You can take a shaded break and get a cold drink, snacks and ICE CREAM from the store on the honor system. The trail could be re-named as the Big Trestle Trail because when you think you have gone over the best trestle you have ever crossed you will ride over another better until you ride the marvelous 450’ span behemoth. Continuing riding uphill, we finally ran into the tunnel! We rode the through the tunnel without lights (check for oncoming riders first). You would think that it would never get completely dark because you can see the exit, but about mid-way it will become completely dark (only a couple of seconds in a very fun way). We continued toward New Burnside where the trail terrain completed changed. Now you have arrived at the Sugar Creek lowlands where the feeling was more like riding on a gravel road surrounded by raw nature. In the middle of this area you will ride upon a surreal/picturesque spot where there are the abutments to an old bridge….let your mind wander. Our return point was New Burnside; not a bad spot but no functioning water source or store but the restrooms were clean and operable. Our return trip, which seemed downhill all the way, was wonderful except for the 2’ copperhead in the middle of the trail. We came upon the snake in the lowlands before the tunnel and after much consternation, we decided to ride around the backside of the snake which was sunning and did not even move.
We very much enjoyed the trail and thought it was well worth the 3-hour one-way drive. The next time we plan to make it a long weekend to ride the entire length of the trail and camp at Shawnee National Forrest to visit the Garden of the Gods and Cave-In-Rock.
I've been looking forward to biking this trail for a couple of years, but my ride on September 9th from Harrisburg to Karnak left me feeling rather underwhelmed. Much of the trail surface was rough from motorized vehicle tracks, wash-outs had been repaired with white rock instead of finely crushed limestone, and the bridge decks rode like rumble strips. There are mile markers on the trail which I assume correspond to the old railroad line because they were in the triple digit range, but they aren't printed on any map so are useless.
If I had it to do over again I would do an out-and-back between Karnak and Tunnel Hill. This section contains most of the trestles and of course the tunnel. Vienna has several restaurants; Jumbo's had a nice Sunday buffet and was only .6 of a mile off the trail.
I'm sure those who live within an hour or so enjoy using this this trail, but it really wasn't worth the 3 hours I drove to get there.
Great ride from Vienna to the tunnel and back. Bridges and tunnel are awesome and so is the scenery. First time on crushed limestone and I think it rides like pavement, although it will really dirty up your bike. Loved this trail and want to do more of it!
Parking and trail markings are the only reason this trail looses a star. Tried to park at the trail head on the map at a campground and was told to park further up the trail at the dam recreation site. No big deal except it cut 2 miles off the trail one way. The trail over the dam and is very scenic and wide where it shares the road with car traffic. After this the trail seemingly ends according to sign markings but a quick jog down a smaller road without a dedicated bike trail gets you to the levee portion which is more hard pack than asphalt. Easy to peddle on my hybrid though. Very beautiful country and flat grade made for a wonderful morning 16 miles!
Very accommodating staff, right off the trail across Rt 45. Great food,free water and places to charge your phone if needed it's the only water stop after Tunnel Hill! The water fountains in New Burnside and Stonefort are out of order!! Very clean establishment!
The City of Karnak has just opened a campground alongside the trail. Karnak is situated at the southern end of Tunnel Hill Trail (about 2.5 miles north of the Barkhausen Wetlands Center.) Current sites are only suitable for tents but they have plans to open up RV sites (water/elec)soon. $10 a night, no showers but there is water. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and the city provides the firewood. Several nice little cafes and a grocery store are within 2 blocks. If anyone is looking for a great weekend getaway to try out bike camping this is the perfect opportunity. To make a reservation call Karnak City Hall, 618.634.9311.
Actually road part of this back in August 2014. Started in Vienna, Il. and road up to the Tunnel Hill stop. Love the bridges and the shade. Packed a small cooler with me for lunch and water. Riding in the tunnel was freaky!! All you can see once you are in is the light at the end of the tunnel, literally! Plan on going back this year with the wife and do just a downhill part. This ride was my first 25 miler.
Father's day weekend we parked at the Wetlands Center, very nice center and extremely helpful staff. We left the center and headed for Harrisburg, trail condition was very good,solid, and smooth.The main complaint is the LACK of water. Vienna was the only trailhead with a working faucet.We spent the night at Eco lodge in Harrisburg. 60$ for the night,clean rooms.MORELLOS,was our choice for supper, very good food.Overall good trail.might do it again in cooler weather.
On June 29th 2016 I rode from Tunnel Hill to Karnak, at the southern end of the trail, and back. I got a rather late start so I opted not to do the short wetlands section going west out of Karnak. The temperature that day was in the low eighties with fairly low humidity which is not typical for this time of the year here - think subtropical! There are great lengths of trail in the deep shade and they were noticeably cooler after coming out of the sunlit portions.
The terrain is full of limestone outcroppings, heavy forests, and many small creeks and rivers running in deep cuts through the limestone bedrock. There are long stretches of trail with no road crossings and there are two cast concrete tunnels under busy roads. The trail has a very rural feel to it and one could imagine in many places that this is the way the country looked to the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the region. Vienna is at the midpoint of the southern half and has a beautiful park on the trail. It is also the only settlement of any size on the southern half.
The trail itself is paved with crushed rock and crushed limestone and is in very good condition. I had 32 mm touring tires on my single speed and had no handling problems what so ever. Experienced riders could use smaller tires with a little sacrifice in comfort.
Just south of the tunnel there is a bike rental place with water and cold drinks for sale. Take note that water stops can be far apart!
Also note that riding through the tunnel can be very disorienting. Coming into it out of the bright sun, even with a pretty good headlight, your eyes can't adjust quickly enough to see anything but inky blackness all around you, except for the other end of the tunnel which is large enough and bright enough to keep your eyes from readjusting. It was a strange experience and it would be very easy to scrape the tunnel wall or crash.
Aside from the many birds the only wildlife I saw that day were two small snakes and a turtle.
I really enjoyed Tunnel Hill Trail and look forward to riding it again soon.
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