Find the top rated birding trails in Lincoln, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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This is a nice straight path. Mostly covered by trees so it’s nice and shady! Very beautiful! Wish it were longer!
Lexington has done a great job holding onto its Route 66 charm! It’s small town Midwest Americana at its best! The day we were there to ride the trail, we had a great lunch at Kelly’s on 66, where we talked history with the owner and admired all the highway memorabilia from yesteryear. We were going to drive through downtown on Main Street, but found it blocked off and filled with a Homecoming Carnival. I didn’t know small towns even had these anymore! We’ll be going back again – for trail and town. Looks like there’s lots of Lexington events related to the Mother Road.
We rode this trail on 7/6/18. Started at Centennial Park and rode north. This is a great trail to ride on. Outstanding bridges, very well maintained! We will be back to ride this one again. If we had more time we would have done 2 loops on this one.
My wife and I rode the trail on 7/5/2018. We started from Pana and rode north to Tayorville. The trails is in pretty rough shape in areas and in need of some maintenance. We should have brought our hybrids instead of our road bikes. It would have made for a much nicer ride.
I rode this trail from Morton to East Peoria on Thursday June 7. 2018. As the previous poster notes, there's a section of the trail that's closed and there was no marked detour when I was there. Finding the alternative route wasn't difficult. It's along a mostly parallel road. I measured it at about a mile, not three, and traffic was pretty reasonable in terms of volume and speed.
Other than the closure, the only issue I had was the large number of road crossings but that's the nature of this kind of trail as it passes through a somewhat developed area. Pavement was good as was signage. The trail is popular as I came across a lot of people both on foot and bikes. Lots of people walking dogs, too. I presume they live along the trail. Overall, a nice experience and an easy way to get into Peoria from the suburbs.
We took the trail on bikes from Morton to East Peoria along with a couple young children (7 & 8 years old). Between Morton & Pleasant Hill Rd. we passed several Park District maintenance people cutting grass and none of them nor any sign warned us of a closure in the trail about 1 mile past Pleasant Hill Rd. The trail was barricaded and closed at a point that was near impossible to turn around and go all the way back up the hill to Pleasant Hill Rd. with the small kids. So we had to find our way off the trail and over to Bloomington Rd. and travel the rest of the way (3 or 4 more miles) riding bikes with small children on the weaving road with cars speeding by. For the life of me I cannot figure what kind of demented mind would close a trail a good mile or two from any easy entry or exit point without posting any signs to warn people well in advance who were heading in that direction, forcing people to finish their journey on a main thoroughfare with traffic. But then, this is East Peoria, and I have seen idiocy like this before. Next time we will take the trail in Peoria instead.
We parked in the parking lot of the park at Lake Taylorville to avoid the closed bridge and rode to Pana and back. I admit it was mid-day on a Thursday, but we only saw one other rider the whole time.
The cracks in the blacktop made for a not very smooth ride. Add to that all the small branches and twigs to get caught in your spokes AND all the hickory nuts (?) in places and it wasn’t our best ride, but it was a ride and I can mark this trail as ridden.
We rode from Toulon to Dunlap and back. It was a beautiful day and the trail setting is very nice with a mix of woods and fields. The trail was in pretty good shape but you need to be alert for ground squirrel burrows. In the wooded sections there is a fair amount of debris so you need to watch out for the larger branches. It's fun riding but if you get too relaxed you may be jolted back to alertness by a branch or a hole.
The DNR web site lists several closures but there is really only one north of Princeville. Like the previous reviewer we rode around it on county roads to the east and it was no problem. The Toulon to Wyoming section has the worst trail conditions (but is perfectly rideable in spite of the trail closed signs) and we will probably start in Wyoming if we do it again.
We ride hybrids with reasonably wide tires and I'm not sure how much fun it would be on a road bike.
I rode from Wyoming to Toulon and back, then continued south to what used to be Stark, now a small group of homes, returning to Wyoming. The next day I rode from Wyoming to Peoria.
The trail was wet from rains both days, softening the low spots and leaving a few puddles. The rides were enjoyable, with a mix of farm and woods. Signage through the towns was adequate to find my way. Each town has stores that provide a snack or a restroom.
Wyoming has a great coffee shop that makes great baked goods and lunches in addition to their coffee. Next door is a gift shop worth a peek.
I detoured around the washout in the Rock Island Trail Nature Preserve by riding the paved township roads east of the preserve.
My 14 year old son and I rode the trail from Pana to Taylorville and back, nearly the full distance twice for the boy scout cycling merit badge (50 miles). About a mile before reaching the end of the trail in Taylorville, there is a bridge that is closed and there is no easy way to detour around it. The pathway has a few places where the pavement has separated or had tree roots have raised it, but they are marked with white paint. Some of the cracks have been filled with tar and others with very fine gravel. The northern half of the trail is mostly shaded with trees on both sides of the trail (so there are some leaves and small twigs on the trail) whereas the southern half is mostly without shade. There are two small towns where you take a short detour from the otherwise very straight trail. The elevation is slightly higher on both ends of the trail with the middle about 150 feet lower (but it is a very slow, gradual change in elevation). We drove an hour to get to the trail head and it was definitely worth it!
Great warm weather ride. Most of the trail passes through a heavy tree canopy on a flat and level path.We started from the IDOT trail head off Dirksen Parkway and road east to Rochester. Just off this end of the trail is a great little place called Walnut St. Winery. Stopped in for a bit of wine and cheese before returning back down the trail.
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