I&M Canal Trail Photo Tour
Starting in Channahon, Illinois

The start of our trip on the Illinois and Michigan Canal bike trail at Channahon. We took the trail about 35 miles west to Marseilles (and back) for the first part of this photo tour (photo pages 1-7).

Then quite a few years later we rode from Marseilles to Split Rock, just before Lasalle, Peru where the trail ends (heading west). See the links at the bottom of this page for photo pages 8-14 for the photos and ride report for that part of the trail.

One of the first bridges as we began our ride at Channahon. Although we have ridden almost the entire trail west of Channahon, there are also many additional more miles of the I&M Trail system north and east of Channahon.

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The photo above is one of the wooden bridges on the trail with a rubber looking sheet in the center of the bridge. I have seen this kind of structure before on other trails and I believe that the rubber strip is for a smoother ride (or maybe to protect your tires). I have ridden on the wooden parts too though with no problems.

This is a straight and flat view of the I&M Trail with a view of the canal on the right. Most of the time you will be next to the canal or the river on the I&M canal rides but there are times when you get a little further away from the water (although you are never too far from it).

The I&M Trail is almost all crushed stone but there was this paved part of the trail at this point. We are still east of McKinley Woods which is where there is a bend in the river and I believe it is where the Des Plaines River flows into (or actually becomes) the Illinois River.

A couple of deer we happened to catch just off the trail behind the gated entryway...