Find the top rated running trails in Mattoon, whether you're looking for an easy short running trail or a long running trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a running trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
A very enjoyable trial to walk, run or ride. Terrain varies from level to slight but easy incline. Tree covered and fallows Sangamon River. Also links up with Mahomet township bike path that extends length. Rest rooms and water fountains easily found along the way. Points of interest at many areas to learn more about the area.
I really enjoy this trail, it offers wonderful scenery and it is very well maintained, it is a full concrete path with several wooden bridges including one over the little Wabash it offers some great hills and if you go down both forks it is about a 7 mile round trip.
I understand this trail is only currently 1/4th complete, so disregard after 2018 construction.
I took this trail from campus at UIUC and back on my day off. I thought it would be relaxing to get away from all of the traffic, so it was a little disconcerting to be right next to the highway with no trees to secure me from the road. This lack of trees meant no shade, and it was 90 degrees. I have quite a bad sunburn.
In addition, at this juncture there are only like three benches and no water spouts to refill my water bottle.
Because the trail isn't done, it ended quite abruptly in the town, which was a little awkward for me. I admit feeling a little out of place with my bike and my sack lunch with no place to sit. There did end up being a nice park, complete with benches and shade, northeast of town.
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.
This is the best trail I've seen.. for connecting all the major services of a small town. Kids and adults alike can get from home to school, to the library, to the park, and to shop – all over this safe, wide, and off-road concrete trailway.
The Lake of the Woods is a great facility, as is it's own bike path which my wife and I rode a few years ago. Now one can make a grand loop over both trails together. A great way to go over the river (twice!) and through the woods, any season of the year. And those river crossings? One over an old covered bridge and one over an old steel bridge. Nature lovers and dreamers of days gone by, take heart. And enjoy a day in the Village of Mahomet.
I read about this trail in the Winter 2016 Rails to Trails Magazine. So it was a real thrill to see it added to our great TrailLink list of Illinois trails, and to spend a morning checking out this first completed section. The construction and signage on the trail are excellent. At the mid-point of our ride out and back from Urbana, the wife and I had a good time exploring the downtown shops and neighborhoods of St. Joseph. We found it a friendly and still vibrant little Midwestern town, even though it's so close to the much larger cities of Champaign-Urbana.
This trail opened last week and we happened to be passing through the area, so we rode it one way. Trail is in excellent condition -- the groups pulling the funding together did an wonderful job. Couple of explanatory signs, good bridges, safe crossings. This first section of the trail is >90% exposed, so wind and sun will be a factor. It was great to see the community out in force today playing in their new linear park. Parking at the Western end (Urbana) is allowed at Walmart, which is a block or so from the official end. Thanks to them for granting use of their parking lot for the public.
Parking is available at the Far western part of the trail at the Walmart parking lot. Rode the trail prior to its official opening, about a week before very smooth compact surface like riding On Pavement. can't wait till they complete the the total Trail!
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!
Scenic and smooth. Great for a walker and a partner in an electric wheelchair. A wonderful way to share the outdoors together.
My husband and I rode 12 miles on this trail yesterday after not riding it for a year. We started in Pana at the parking lot. We ran out of daylight, otherwise we would have put on more miles. The cracks in the asphalt were patched. The weeds needed cutting from Pana to Millersville. Someone cut the weeds in Millersville. Someone cleared the area around most of the benches, and the benches themselves were in good shape. One of the bridges needs work, but is easily crossed. This trail is so much better than half a dozen other trails in Illinois, and yet we saw no one one it at a time of day (after work and school for many) when other trails begin to get crowded. We kicked the walnuts off the trail, and moved some dead branched. It is good to go.
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