Palatine to Davenport

 

Heading to RAGBRAI

The last week of July is the RAGBRAI ride across Iowa. This year's ride starts in Sioux City and ends in Davenport. Having completed the northern portion of the Grand Illinois Trail last month, I decided I would start my RAGBRAI adventure by riding to the ending town. This will take me across the southern portion of the Grand Illinois Trail. I have a bus seat reserved to take me from Davenport to Sioux City at the end of the week. The plan is for two easier days on either end and a couple of long days in between.

Palatine to Naperville

Day 1: 40 miles, 1000 feet of elevation gain. I have a friend who lives in Naperville, so I'm very familiar with this route. It's almost all bike trails from my house to his. The route includes the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, Poplar Creek Forest Preserve, the Fox River Trail, and the Batavia Spur of the Illinois Prairie Path. The Cook County and Kane County parts are paved. The DuPage County trails are mostly gravel.

The forest preserves are very nice and rarely crowded. Depending on the time of day, you can see a variety of wildlife, including deer and occasionally turkeys. There are sometimes deer along the Fox River Trail south of South Elgin. I saw a coyote once on the Batavia Spur.

The Fox River Trail is always nice. I met a couple once who drove out from Evanston (an hour's drive) to ride along the Fox River. They preferred it to riding along the lakeshore. You can ride the Fox River Trail north from Elgin to Algonquin and then pick up the Prairie Trail and go all the way to Wisconsin. Riding south, you can go down to Oswego. The only part I don't really care for is going through downtown Elgin by the riverboat casino. It's okay, it just has several street crossings and tends to be more populated with pedestrians.

The most interesting thing I saw on this trip was a horseshoe throwing competition in Batavia. They had four games going at the same time and official scorekeepers with clipboards to record the points. The trip was otherwise uneventful. It's a nice ride.

Naperville to Illini State Park

Day 2: 79 miles, 1,300 feet of elevation gain. The most surprising thing about this ride is the extreme variation in trail surfaces and views. Some parts are typical gravel trails. Some parts are paved. Some parts are two-track. Some are single track. Some are dirt. Some are sandy. Some are grass.

The views include everything from rivers to old canal channels, woods roads, prairies, corn fields, and swamps. It was much more diverse and pleasant than I was expecting.

I was able to find food and water every 15 to 20 miles along the way. The only things to watch out for are trail conditions. There are some washed out spots east of Joliet and a lot of deep muskrat holes around Channahon.

Illini State Park is larger than I expected. I selected a campsite at the far end, which meant 2 miles round-trip to the camp office and shower, and 4 miles round-trip to town. Water was about a quarter-mile away. The site was quiet, with just a few neighbors in this section of the park.

Illini State Park to Hennepin Canal

Day 3: 82 miles, 1,900 feet of elevation gain. Today was a race against the wind. Calm early but 15 mph headwinds with gusts to 25 mph by mid morning. So I got up early and made as much progress as I could before then. It helped, but not enough. It was still a long day into the wind.

The rest of the I&M Canal is not canal so much as it is woodland and a dry riverbed for long stretches. It's nice and the trees did help block the wind. The canal trail ends in La Salle. From there you cross the canal and head west on the road. There is a really interesting historical display at the end of the canal describing its history and the history of La Salle and Peru.

The road west is busy with several steep hills. Then I came to a detour with a bridge out. I looked at the map and tried to go around the detour but ended up having to climb back up a mile long hill and then reroute 25 miles on road. I picked up the Hennepin Canal trail just before the Welcome Center. The Welcome Center was closed but I found a water spigot outside and filled up. There is no potable water on the Hennepin Canal after that point.

The Hennepin Canal is a nicer surface than the I&M Canal. More paved or limestone, less gravel and dirt. But it also has some occasional sand to make up for the difference. There is camping at several spots along the Hennepin Canal. My recommendation is to view a Google map carefully. Some camping spots have a lot of space to spread out. Some are more confined. I stayed at Lock 23, west of the parking lot.

I stopped at Mick's Bar and Grill in Annawan for dinner first. It was just a couple of miles out of the way, and well worth the effort. Then I went six miles up the trail and set up camp. I was just about settled for the evening when a family of 10 moved in and set up virtually beside me. So I moved my tent down beside the lock instead.

I think you're technically not supposed to camp by the lock, but it was an amazing experience. The sound of the water rushing over the lock doors drowns out most everything else, including a family of 10. As I went to sleep, I looked up and saw lightning bugs floating over the tent, my own personal shooting stars. I realized I've never seen that before, because anywhere I would have been able to lie down and see lightning bugs would have included mosquitos.

The sound of the water rushing did not stop the owls from making a ruckus. At least I assume it was an owl in the middle of the night. I heard it on both sides of the canal, a really scary nighttime sound. I eventually yelled at it to make it go away. It seemed to work and I got back to sleep afterwards.

Hennepin Canal to Davenport

Day 4: 50 miles, 950 feet of elevation gain. From a Hennepin Canal perspective, this was more of the same, and with a sandy section. Once in East Moline it is mostly side roads over to the Great River Trail, and then 12 miles down to the bridge over to Davenport. I stopped at the Captains Table restaurant for food along the river and it was very good.

Camp was in Centennial Park next to a water park. After getting set up, I dropped off my bike. Unfortunately that was two miles up a long hill, and I forgot my bike tag, so I got to make the trip twice. We camped about 100 yards from the train tracks, and there were trains all night long, including one that parked beside us for about a half-hour. It was a very long night.

Epilogue

251 miles over four days. This ride completed the southern section of the Grand Illinois Trail. The thing I was impressed most by on this trip is the extensive infrastructure that was built to make Chicago a city of commerce and transport goods west and down the Mississippi River. The I&M Canal is not very well maintained anymore. The Hennepin Canal seems to receive better care for the most part. While this trip is perhaps passable on a road bike, a gravel bike is the better choice. If you have a gravel bike and the time, it's worth the effort to experience this part of Illinois' history close up.