I&M Canal Bike Trail
Back to Marseilles

Fall Photo Page 14
(click on any photo to enlarge)

Continuing our trip back east on the I&M Canal Trail. Just east of Lock #11 (and west of the Fox River Aqueduct) is where you cross this sandy train track. The train in the distance was just parked there (not moving).

This is a view of the bridge at the Fox River Aqueduct in Ottawa. The Fox River Aqueduct was one of the most expensive sections of the I&M canal. This was quite an engineering feat and is a major part of history in this area.

I have been aware of the significance of the I&M canal on the development of Chicago, the mid west and actually of the entire United States for quite some time now but I wasn't aware of the significance of this aqueduct until I was reading the sign about it along the trail.

I have seen one of the trails that I've been on referred to as an "outdoor museum". I'm not sure if that was in reference to this trail but I am sure that it could qualify.

A view of the Fox River, through the chain link fence on the bridge, as we passed over the river just before sunset.

This was just an incredibly colorful (orange and green) tree that we passed just before getting back to where we parked in Marseilles.

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It was sunset (as seen above) as we returned to where we parked in Marseilles. I wished that we could have made it all the way to the end of the I&M Trail but as you can see here we really didn't have any time to spare and those extra few miles would have meant riding on a darker trail for even longer (which is usually not fun, and we didn't even have our bike lights with us).

Of course we were starved after riding over 40 miles so we stopped at a local restaurant (Bobaluk's) on one of the main streets in Marseilles. They had a great selection of food, were friendly and the pizza was excellent!