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Print Friendly MapThe Perryville Path runs nearly 7 miles, connecting the communities of Loves Park and Rockford, not far from the northern border of Illinois. A pleasant place to begin your journey is Rock Cut State Park, a beautiful forested area abounding in recreational opportunities such as swimming, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, picnicking and camping.
Continue south on the paved pathway alongside Perryville Road through residential, commercial and business areas. Conveniently, the trail also passes the Rockford Bicycle Company, one of the largest bike shops in city. The trail ends not far from a shopping and dining complex situated between Argus Drive and East State Street, and future plans include extending the trail southward to the CherryVale Mall to connect residents to more shopping and dining amenities.
Mid-trail, there is parking available at the Peace Plaza (at E. Riverside Boulevard & McFarland Road).
At the northern end of the trail, there are two places to park inside Rock Cut State Park (7318 Harlem Road):
1) The park's horse camp parking lot is about 200 yards east from the Perryville Path and is on Hart Road, which sees little vehicle traffic.
2) The park's dam parking lot is about 1.5 miles east of the Perryville Path. It's located at the Lake View Trailhead and picnic area on the west side of Pierce Lake; from there, you can take the Willow Creek Path to the trail.
Note that the park closes at 10 p.m. during the spring and summer and 5 p.m. during the winter. Visit the park's website for details.
This path is in decent shape North of Harlem Road, but is in horrible shape South of it. The path is cracked throughout and has grass growing in it which lends to a very bumpy ride, especially on bikes that don't handle bumps very well. There are several busy intersections that need to be crossed. This path would be great for walking, and mountain biking or climbing training, but just isn't terribly fun due to the state of the path.
This path isn't as well kept as the other local paths. The cross signals at the streets rarely seem to work. I usually ride with my flashing light on front so that cars will see me at the cross streets, particularly at Riverside. Connecting to Midway Village is a nice ride, though the bugs are pretty bad in the wooded section near the Village. There are some hills near Rock Cut, both north and south of Harlem Rd. that provide a bit more workout. Definitely not a crowded path, to the point that cars don't look for path users when they pull up to Perryville Rd.
No issues with the path itself. Not a lot of fun though with the noise, breathing exhaust fumes, and several busy intersections. You obviously know all that going in. Again, the path is fine it's just that with the MANY other choices in and around Rockford I'm not sure why you would choose to regularly use this particular one.
The section of this trail I have hiked a couple times is along the west edge of Rock Cut State Park. It is a nice paved trail with good views of the park and mostly screened from Perryville Road, even though it is adjacent to this busy road. I like walking on this section of the trail. Saw a deer along the trail one time.
South of the park it is just a paved trail that runs along the road, without any screening at all. Not my cup of tea.
It is well maintained, and was recently resealed.
Parking is available inside the park about 200 yards east of the Hart Road entrance. You could probably park at Home Depot at the south end.
It gets a fair amount of jogger, walking, and biking use. I drive by it everyday on my way to and from work. There is almost always someone there if it is light enough to see, until the snow comes.
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