The photo above shows one of the stone and wooden bridges that cross the I&M Canal as we were on our way back (heading east now) from Marseilles to Channahon. There is actually a little side street here (in the foreground) that you can ride on for a short distance to get a break from the pretty rugged part of the trail at this point.
This is the F&W Flying Service sign that you see along the trail. Actually, I'm not positive if this sign is still here since this photo was taken quite a while ago (2003, and I am updating some of these photo captions after the fact).
Yes, this is still the I&M Canal Trail although it just looks like a gravel and grass road at this point. It's hard to tell if the IMC Trail has veered away from the actual canal here or if the grassy ditch to the left is all that is left of the canal.
A great scene that I missed on our ride west. There was a big open area (to the left in the photo above) with some lakes (or tributaries) off in the distance.
We crossed one of the canal bridges in Morris and found a nice place for ice cream and a break. At this point on our ride we had probably ridden over 50 miles and I can tell you that ice cream really tastes good after a long hot ride like that!
There was a nice decorative brick walkway here as we were getting back on to the IMC trail (at Morris) for the final part of our trip back to Channahon!
As you can see from the photo above, it was getting pretty late in the day and we still had quite a ways to go to get back to Channahon (about 10 to 15 miles on a crushed stone trail which is slower than a paved ride). It actually started getting dark just before we got back to Channahon but we made it.
This is the end of this part of the photo tour (our trip from August, 2003). The next part of the photo tour is from Marseilles (heading west) to Split Rock just east of Lasalle, Peru where the I&M Canal Trail ends. Fortunately, we had major improvements in our digital cameras and the photos from that trip are much better quality.
The photo tour of the I&M Canal Trail, from Channahon (going west) to Marseilles (August 2003).
I&M Canal Trail Photos 1 - Starting in Channahon
I&M Canal Trail Photos 2 - Passing McKinley Woods
I&M Canal Trail Photos 3 - Stratton State Park near Morris
I&M Canal Trail Photos 4 - West of Stratton State Park
I&M Canal Trail Photos 5 - Wetlands and Seneca
I&M Canal Trail Photos 6 - Near Marseilles
I&M Canal Trail Photos 7 - Back to Morris < You are here
Here are the fall photos of our trip from Marseilles to Split Rock ~ Just before La Salle, Illinois on 10/15/2012.
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 8 ~ Marseilles and Ottawa
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 9 ~ Locks 11 and 12
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 10 ~ East of Utica
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 11 ~ Into Utica
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 12 ~ Utica to Split Rock
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 13 ~ Ghost Bridge
I&M Canal Trail Fall Photos 14 ~ Back to Marsielles