Explore the best rated trails in Washington, IL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail and Hennepin Canal Parkway. With more than 11 trails covering 4035 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.
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Note: This developing route is not yet fully contiguous – it is just over 50% complete. Please refer to the Trail Map for more information on the existing sections of trail, as well as the online...
One cannot travel this trail today without remembering the iconic highway on which it is built. The city of Lexington saw two alignments of Route 66. The earliest, which served from 1921-1944, went...
The Hennepin Canal Parkway, administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as a state park, follows an old towpath along a canal opened in 1907 and quickly abandoned due to competition...
The sprawling Constitution Trail covers nearly 42 miles throughout the Bloomington-Normal area. The trail was officially named and dedicated in 1987 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the...
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Caution:Beginning November 15, culvert replacement on the Rock Island Trail at Chanute Road will begin. This will involve removing the temporary bridge. This closure will last between 4 and 6...
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Running from East Peoria to Morton, The River Trail of Illinois was resurfaced in summer 2011. From East Peoria, the hiking and biking trail travels southeast along the old Illinois Terminal Railway...
The Towanda Route 66 Parkway is the longest and most developed of the Route 66 trails in northeast McLean County. Its centerpiece is the well-appointed, community-sponsored linear parkway within the...
Time spent on the Chenoa Route 66 Prairie Trail is time shared with history. As rail-trails are ones built over the railbeds of earlier train lines, this “road-trail” is one built directly over...
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The El Paso Walking Trail runs along part of an old railroad right-of-way through the town of El Paso, beginning at the city park on the south side of town and ending at a creek north of town among...
The Pekin Park Bike Trail traverses more than 4 miles between Allentown Road and the Illinois River at Pekin bridge. The trail does a loop in Coal Miners' Park and passes through Mineral Springs Park,...
One cannot travel this trail today without remembering the iconic highway on which it is built. The city of Lexington saw two alignments of Route 66. The earliest, which served from 1921-1944, went...
The El Paso Walking Trail runs along part of an old railroad right-of-way through the town of El Paso, beginning at the city park on the south side of town and ending at a creek north of town among...
The sprawling Constitution Trail covers nearly 42 miles throughout the Bloomington-Normal area. The trail was officially named and dedicated in 1987 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the...
Caution:Beginning November 15, culvert replacement on the Rock Island Trail at Chanute Road will begin. This will involve removing the temporary bridge. This closure will last between 4 and 6...
The Hennepin Canal Parkway, administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as a state park, follows an old towpath along a canal opened in 1907 and quickly abandoned due to competition...
Time spent on the Chenoa Route 66 Prairie Trail is time shared with history. As rail-trails are ones built over the railbeds of earlier train lines, this “road-trail” is one built directly over...
The Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail follows the eponymous waterway alongside the Illinois River. It traverses the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, designated in 1984 and the first...
The Pekin Park Bike Trail traverses more than 4 miles between Allentown Road and the Illinois River at Pekin bridge. The trail does a loop in Coal Miners' Park and passes through Mineral Springs Park,...
The Towanda Route 66 Parkway is the longest and most developed of the Route 66 trails in northeast McLean County. Its centerpiece is the well-appointed, community-sponsored linear parkway within the...
Note: This developing route is not yet fully contiguous – it is just over 50% complete. Please refer to the Trail Map for more information on the existing sections of trail, as well as the online...
Running from East Peoria to Morton, The River Trail of Illinois was resurfaced in summer 2011. From East Peoria, the hiking and biking trail travels southeast along the old Illinois Terminal Railway...
Running from East Peoria to Morton, The River Trail of Illinois was resurfaced in summer 2011. From East Peoria, the hiking and biking trail travels southeast along the old Illinois Terminal Railway...
The Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail follows the eponymous waterway alongside the Illinois River. It traverses the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, designated in 1984 and the first...
Note: This developing route is not yet fully contiguous – it is just over 50% complete. Please refer to the Trail Map for more information on the existing sections of trail, as well as the online...
Time spent on the Chenoa Route 66 Prairie Trail is time shared with history. As rail-trails are ones built over the railbeds of earlier train lines, this “road-trail” is one built directly over...
The Towanda Route 66 Parkway is the longest and most developed of the Route 66 trails in northeast McLean County. Its centerpiece is the well-appointed, community-sponsored linear parkway within the...
The El Paso Walking Trail runs along part of an old railroad right-of-way through the town of El Paso, beginning at the city park on the south side of town and ending at a creek north of town among...
The sprawling Constitution Trail covers nearly 42 miles throughout the Bloomington-Normal area. The trail was officially named and dedicated in 1987 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the...
The Hennepin Canal Parkway, administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as a state park, follows an old towpath along a canal opened in 1907 and quickly abandoned due to competition...
One cannot travel this trail today without remembering the iconic highway on which it is built. The city of Lexington saw two alignments of Route 66. The earliest, which served from 1921-1944, went...
Caution:Beginning November 15, culvert replacement on the Rock Island Trail at Chanute Road will begin. This will involve removing the temporary bridge. This closure will last between 4 and 6...
The Pekin Park Bike Trail traverses more than 4 miles between Allentown Road and the Illinois River at Pekin bridge. The trail does a loop in Coal Miners' Park and passes through Mineral Springs Park,...
A nice ride. The hub is a good place to start.
This trail is in great shape. Easy riding and cute little photo ops along the way. Another plus-this is close enough to hop on from the Constitution Trail.
We took electric scooters and did 16miles of this trail was so beautiful seen 6 deer 5 turkeys will glad go back and explore more
Trail biked - I started at the east end in Bureau. The parking lot there has bathrooms and trashcans, and plenty of parking. I biked east to Wyanet, and back.
Bike used - a Specialized Sirrus hybrid.
Bike accommodations - hybrid to mountain bike mostly. Road bikes will not survive many portions of this trail. I was leery to ride my hybrid in some sections near Tiskilwa because of the mid sized gravel in spots.
The trail composition from Bureau to Wyanet varies. From Bureau to the Tiskilwa area the trail was a mix of dirt, small gravel and portions of asphalt..although those overed by cindery rocks. Some areas are nicer than others and I didn't see any areas that were unmanageable for my hybrid tires.
The trail composition greatly improved heading west of the Tiskilwa area. The trail becomes a powdery earth and can even accommodate road bikes. Until you get to this point, however, you'll need to keep both hands on the grips.
The trail follows a series of disconnected water canals that serve as nice scenery. Every so often you'll come across a lock, which are numbered, giving you an idea of how many away you are from your starting point. A river also carves the trail in many areas, offering some nice views. As for wildlife..I spotted several turtles in canals and one trailside (almost accidentally biked over him). I also saw a pair of deer and a ton of colorful birds (red, yellow, blue, orange, black, white, gray, brown). The Orioles were a rare treat.
In the stretch I took there were only a couple of places where I spotted benches. One is in the Tiskilwa area. Bridges span the lock areas which offer nice water drains to view and areas to sit on the edge for a break. During my two hour ride I saw a dozen other bikers, and this was on a 75 degree, cloudless Saturday in mid-June. Suffice it to say, there aren't many folks out here unless you count the occasional fisherman.
Other nuances, the trail offers a nice split of shade and sun, but more on the sunny side. I saw one parking lot with trail signs in my stretch.
Seeing as the trail quality greatly improved on the eastern outskirts of Wyanet, I would love to come back and continue biking west on this trail some day.
Cheers.
We rode from Toulon, through Wyoming, to just outside of the Stark area on our e-bikes. It was a fun & pleasant ride. The trail is mostly flat & packed gravel. The trail is well maintained, but you have to stay alert for ground squirrel holes. Trees line most of this section of the trail which makes it beautiful & shady. There is a beautiful long bridge just a few minutes outside of Toulon that is worth stopping at. We turned around just after a second bridge outside of the Stark area. The ride there & back took us 2 hours. Both Wyoming & Toulon have nice places to stop & eat.
Started at the Bureau Jct TH. Walked bikes across the bridge, started out and found the trail to be a combo of slightly paved, not paved, gravelly, sandy, and deep sandy. A real challenge but not advisable for a road bike. Lots of debris (rock, branches, husks, etc). However, there was no-one else on this section so privacy over crowds is the tradeoff. Saw at least 4 snakes on the trail - prairie kingsnakes and one trapped in the canal. Rode all the way to Lock 6. Nice trail except for the beginning. On the way back we bailed the trail and rode thru Bureau Jct to get to the TH.
We started at the Visitor Center, (very close to Interstate 80); headed west till we came to the feeder basin and headed north for 4 miles, turned around (due to poor conditions) and went back to the feeder basin to continue west for another 4 miles, then headed back to the visitor center. Total round trip around 27 miles.
We are not from the area and were looking to break up a long car drive, this seemed like the perfect location. I must say the scenery is beautiful, we saw many wild animals, biked thru a patch of grasshoppers (hundreds of them), saw beautiful herons, a long nosed fish and a flock of wild turkeys - stunning!
But as for the path, well I could not tell any paved stretches. Most was light soft gravel or overgrown tire tracks, but the worst part was how overgrown the side brush was, covering 1/2 to 3/4 of the path, especially in the northern section. I was hit by so many branches (we were there in late August, it didn't look like any mowing or trimming had been done all summer). Between that and having to watch for obstructions in the path, it was not very enjoyable. To me the path was very "bumpy" and trying even a pace of 10 - 12 miles an hour was tough.
If you're out for a leisurely stroll, this may be a good path, but the section we rode needs maintenance. And it was very disappointing when we arrived at the Visitor Center on a Monday afternoon, for it to be all closed up, no maps, no bathrooms. The one bathroom we stopped at on the northern section was a mess.
This path has potential, it's a shame it seemed to me no one maintains it.
We ride a gravel tandem and the surface of this trail was easy to ride on. Mostly packed dirt that road bikes can handle (we saw a few). Yes, we did see a few "critter holes" in the trail, so there needs to be some attention paid there; however, there weren't so many as to be a pain - you do need to watch the trail surface, though. Our ride started at the Alta Trailhead and we turned around at the Princeville Trailhead, near the RR crossing. In the town of Dunlap, the trail transitions to local streets, but they weren't busy (we rode on a Thursday). The signage in town could be a little more clear at the transition points.
I started at Morton. The trail is well maintained and has a number of benches and tool stations. It was a little confusing going across two four lane roads. The trail goes under huge electric transmission lines. I went to the river and stopped there and didn’t go across the bridge. On the way back a very nice local biker ride with me and talked me through all the uphills back to Morton. He was an angel
Hi everyone-- did the trail July 31, 2021 on a Diamondback Insight Hybrid, 75 degrees and partly cloudy day.
The trail is...not bad. I wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars, so will round up here. I crossed the state --largely using I&M Canal + Hennepin along the way-- starting at Co. road 1200 E (NW of Wyanet) going all the way to Colona, near the Quad Cities. Generally, the further west you go the better in terms of trail surface. Where I started on the eastern portion it was like riding on 'crushed peat' -- grassy and narrow. The asphalt-ish surface starts around I-80 and goes northwesterly from there. There are a few spots that are 'large' gravel but I wouldn't get too worried about that.
I wish the Hennepin was more marked (mile markers, etc) like the I&M Canal. Not much you can do about the lack of services, so bring plenty of water, snacks and a fully-charged cell phone. Princeton and Geneseo are great bookend towns, so to speak, although Princeton is a bit north of the trail. Very peaceful ride, although a little monotonous after a while. The feeder basin area (where the Rock Falls spur branches off) is pleasant.
A hybrid or mountain bike is 'probably' the best way to go here...especially on a dry surface...which I had, thankfully.
Dreaming a bit here...but I think a fully-paved trail between the Quad Cities to the Indiana border, largely using the Hennpin, I&M Canal and Old Plank Road Trails would be amazing and a financial boon to towns along the way. But the cost of constructing such a thing.............
After riding Joliet to Morris the week before I was anxious to do the section from Morris to Marseilles with the expectation to go to LaSalle. This was a mistake.
The trail coming out of Gebhard State Park is okay for a few miles, then it deteriorates quickly. Long sections are single track with grass and weeds tall enough to catch you mid-shin. Once you get to Seneca the trail turns into a farmer's access/driveway, with large sharp gravel on hard dirt, so easy for punctures and rough to ride on. This carries on for a good mile or so, then turns into mostly grass until you reach Milton Rd. From there the trail dog-legs across the [dry] canal and is even worse. The only parts that are good are where the rail lines cross the trail. Here they have completely redone the grading and the crossing, but only for a few yards on either side. It's easier to just ride the street (Broadway) on the south side of the path. If it were allowed it'd be much better suited as an ATV trail.
Continuing west into Marseilles doesn't improve. Looking at the trail going west of Main street doesn't look any better. From that point I abandoned my ride and took country roads with additional miles all the way back to Morris just to avoid the harshness of the trail.
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