Explore the best rated trails in Shipman, IL, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Arches Rail Trail and Benld-Gillespie Bike Trail . With more than 60 trails covering 638 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.
If you appreciate multi-day riding, site seeing, camping or “glamping” (BnBs, Hotels…etc.) the Katy Trail is one that doesn’t disappoint. Less than 3000’ feet of elevation, with the largest gradient being about 2%, this is a flat, fast, and easy to pedal trail with crushed hard packed stone comprising over 95% of the trail surface. Road bikes with larger tires (35-40mm) tires can be used on this trail. Lots of great place to stop, eat, and see along this historic byway. If you haven’t done the Katy, add it to your list!
10/2020. I parked at the Lee's Summit Amtrak station and started on the Rock Island trail. It's an easy grade, mostly straight, crushed limestone trail and you can see miles ahead which I find less than entertaining. Camping at the Roundhouse in Rockwood was my highlight and the scenery changed to rocky walls lining the trail. Pretty area. The west half has frequent water and toilets, then the water just stops. The tiny towns don't advertise at the trail heads so there's a lot to be missed unless you do a lot of planning. There are sections without cell service, so finding food, detours, and camping/lodging can be tricky. Town signs indicate camping is available ....somewhere.... with no further directions.
We brought along our bikes on our visit to Springfield to ride this trail - it was wonderful! We had beautiful weather. We started at Centennial Park and rode the entire trail. We enjoyed the variety of scenery riding through areas of housing/neighborhoods and rural areas. The trail was extra wide, completely paved and in excellent condition- very well maintained. Kudos to Sangamon County for maintaining this beautiful trail!
This is my favorite, hands down! My 11 yr old Grandson and I rode this today and continued to Glencoe. Fantastic trail and gorgeous scenery the entire ride! Loved it!
One of the plusses about rail trails is the gentle slope in grade .which was totally ruined after the MacArthur I72 interchange I don't know WHY a much simpler tunnel could have been made under the RR retaining the original trail alignment
Love riding the Katy, can't wait to do it again.
Tomorrow will be May 1st ride through Arnold Park for a bike ride. I was disappointed that the reviews are so old. Hopefully we can get these updated. I will definitely give my review afterwards for this year of 2024. I’m excited to check it out. ( I only rated the ride so I could post my review) hopefully my next review will be a 5 star.
Just love this trail. It was a beautiful fall day. Trail is very clearly marked. We appreciated the wide asphalt path. The bridges gave us some great views, you go from the sunny corn fields to the shaded tree covered areas. This is a trail that we will return to ride again.
Rode the trail the first week in October! Perfect weather, beautiful tree tunneled trails most of the way. Don’t have any more to add than has already been said. Only improvement would be more guaranteed water at the depot stops. Good job Missouri and Thank you!!
This is a very nice, scenic - absolutely beautiful trail and you can either start out or end up at Eckerts!
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