I've been riding this trail since the early 90s and absolutely adore it. In high school I would ride from St Charles to Batavia and back every morning, and now I love doing 50 mile round trips from Oswego up to St Charles.

Absolutely scenic any time of year. As some have mentioned it can get busy on summer weekends, but nothing too bad. 99% of it is paved so road bikes should have no problems at all.

Tons of parks to take breaks at, lots of great restaurants and food stops as well. The trolley museum in Elgin, the Fabyan museum, Japanese tea garden, and windmill in Batavia are must-stops.

The FRT also links up to the Virgil Gilman Trail, the Prairie Path (one of its spurs), and quite a few others, so if you're really looking to rack up the milage you have a lot to choose from!

My wife and I road from Toulon to a little past Princeville and back to Toulon (30 miles) in the snow on our fat bikes. There was about three inches of snow. The tree lined trail was beautiful. Highly recommended for winter riding. We were the only set of bike tracks and saw three people in 6 hours.

Oct. 27, 2020 30 year anniversary and we wanted just to get out. It was cold but endurable... We were impressed by our 2 hour round trip ride from the route 29 entrance. In better weather being the kids... Do some fishing.... Watch for animals.

This well maintained trail connects the Rock Run Greenway Trail to the I & M Canal Trail. The trail passes through a quiet suburban area on the north and through a more wooded and somewhat industrial area on the south.

Particularly to the north the wide trail accommodates side by side riding easily.

Overall a nice addition to the two above mentioned trails albeit too many busy streets to cross for 5 stars.

We started at Gebhard Woods State Park. Lovely day for a fall ride. There was a big sign telling us how far to ride to Seneca or Channahan, etc. we chose to ride to Channahan: however barely a half mile down the road there was a fence and there was no way around it. So we went toward Seneca...the trail was crushed gravel and grass and narrow but easy to ride. Might be a challenge to pass for newer riders, but it was a fairly flat ride and wooded. We enjoyed the ride. We rode from the state park on the roads to downtown Morris (which was lovely) after our trail ride. Took about 5 minutes to ride there.

This is a nice trail but blocked by fences just west of Morris at the aquaduct. You can get around the fence but it is very difficult with a bike. This was the low point of a nice ride.

Had a nice time yesterday (9/28/20) on the stretch from Morris west toward Seneca. Note however that the part just west of downtown Morris that goes over Nettle Creek is closed in both directions; you can't proceed west if you start in downtown Morris and need to detour on city streets for awhile.

If you're starting from Morris and want to go west, a better bet is to park at Gebhard State Woods (but note that you cannot head east from there, just west).

In our pandemic times, I stay off the overused trails in & close to Chicago.
Because of limited access points, this trail fits the bill as sparsely used.
Closer to Rockdale, the trail is a bit overgrown, and there are a few spots with loose gravel. I wanted to ride to Gebhard Woods, but did not find the trail. (People in Morris want you to see their downtown.) But that was fine - I did ride around Morris before I returned to Rockdale. This was the flattest ride I have ever done!

Overall, this was a great trip. It's a towpath so as you expect, almost no change in elevation. Most of the trail is hardpacked gravel, with some pavement. I wouldn't recommend any portion of the trail after much rain, the trail would be too muddy (particularly between Utica and Ottawa). We were really impressed with the staff who seemed to be keeping the trail working. On Utica to LaSalle, there was a downed limb blocking the trail, but it was gone by the time we returned an hour later. Everywhere else, the trail was mostly free of litter except in some of the towns.

The western third from LaSalle to Ottawa is very scenic, with a few of canal, river, caves, flora, fauna, and sandstone cliffs. Someone created a small bridge at the washout between Utica and Ottawa. The middle third from Ottawa to Morris is not as nice, although the stops in Marseilles, Seneca, and Morris are nice. The trail in Seneca stops right next to a well kept Casey's with a clean bathroom, friendly staff, cold gatorade, and a free air compressor. Most of this segment the canal is gone and the trail is down to a small single file track, but still heavily wooded at least. Morris itself is really scenic, but you have to detour around another washed out bridge, I think the route was Ottawa to Fremont/Jefferson to Nettle. Morris to Channahon was our favorite segment, particularly around McKinley Woods and Channahon State Park. The woods and river views were beautiful and the canal waterway was in the best shape here. The section from I-55 to Rockdale was again not-so-nice, reasonably well wooded, but few amenities and not the greatest scenery.

There are few places to stop close to the trail east of Morris. Near Channahon State Park where the trail crosses US Route 6, there's a subway and gas station nearby.