Explore the best rated trails in Canton, IL, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the River Trail of Illinois (Carl Bud Schmitt Trail) and Heritage Route 66 Bike Trail . With more than 5 trails covering 67 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
I walked the whole trail this past Saturday, starting in Toulon and heading south(ish) to Peoria. From a pedestrian perspective, this is two distinct trails.
From Toulon to Alta is a crushed limestone rail trail which runs mostly through farmland. Large portions of it pass through a beautiful tunnel of trees. Each town involves a short road walk, which offer good options for snacks etc. I'd certainly walk this 25 miles again.
From Alta to the waterfront in Peoria is a paved interurban trail that spends lots of time in suburban back yards. If you like miles of fences, apartments, etc, this section is for you. The trail is signed in this section, but I still found myself referring to a GPS map to make sure I was on track. The last several miles (heading south) are relatively steeply downhill to the waterfront. I would not walk this section again.
We started downtown Peoria and parked at the big lot at the park on Eaton Street. This parking lot has plenty of spaces and seemed to be safe. We do not live around here so all of this was new to us.
The trail was a tiny bit hard to follow in the beginning when we had to cross public streets and there was a good amount of traffic. If you want to avoid the public streets and traffic (especially if you are riding with children) then park closer to the zoo and go riding from that area. The trail does cross over many farm roads but these roads did not have a single moving vehicle on them when we were riding. There are stop signs and it is very safe to cross over these narrow two lane country roads.
We rode all the way to Princeville and then back.....I have to admit we RAN OUT OF BATTERIES on our ebikes. It was really hard to make it back the final 5 miles but we made it!
The trail is a mix of newer asphalt, ground limestone and crushed stone. There are a few spots that are pretty bumpy from tree roots pushing up the asphalt. You do have to pay attention to these areas because they are pretty bad. There were also a few spots where there was crushed stone that had some deep indentations from previous rain storms would be my guess. Your tires could kinda get stuck so just pay attention.
The trail is about 95% flat and very shady. There were spots that definitely had more people that were walking and riding and those areas where near the homes that back up to the trail in some areas. This trail seems to be very clean and safe for people of all ages.
We started the trail in Williamsville since it was so close to the I-55 exit. We parked at Williamsville High School and walked 2 blocks to the path. The town is adorable! The path was fabulous! Well maintained. Flat, no hills. Great asphalt! Part of the path is along farms and a rail road track. I-55 is on the other side of the rail road track. You can see and hear it but it is not bothersome. The other part of the path is wooded with a lake and amid some beautiful big homes. The trail head has ample parking and a clean out house. Path is half shaded and half sun.
Rose e-bikes from Alta to Wyoming. Ran out of power on way back, but worth the trip and experience.
Found this to be a beautiful trail for easy riding. Very nice parking lot at Sherman Trailhead. Scenic wooded areas open up to beautiful farmland views along the trail as one gets closer to Williamsville. While in Williamsville can ride a bit further into town and hop on another trail which starts at the high school and meanders along a residential areas to the lake. Can ride around the lake which is beautiful!
Gorgeous scenery. Like I’m not even in Illinois, my new favorite trail, it’s very smooth and wide. My only gripe (besides people not cleaning up their dog’s poop) is no water fountains. There’s plenty of neighborhoods & other areas that could get water to the trail. Not everyone bikes and can carry lots of water. I went for a 20 mile run and the water fountain@ Stuart Park was off. Ran out of water at 15 miles. Not one trail in this town has any access to water. I almost stopped at someone’s house to ask if they could refill my water bottles.
We started at the south end, from Centennial park. The first 1.5 miles are mostly in the open with a few road crossings and not much shade, but after that it is a beautiful shaded trail. Nice bridges along the way. Highly recommended.
We rode from Toulon, through Wyoming, to just outside of the Stark area on our e-bikes. It was a fun & pleasant ride. The trail is mostly flat & packed gravel. The trail is well maintained, but you have to stay alert for ground squirrel holes. Trees line most of this section of the trail which makes it beautiful & shady. There is a beautiful long bridge just a few minutes outside of Toulon that is worth stopping at. We turned around just after a second bridge outside of the Stark area. The ride there & back took us 2 hours. Both Wyoming & Toulon have nice places to stop & eat.
We ride a gravel tandem and the surface of this trail was easy to ride on. Mostly packed dirt that road bikes can handle (we saw a few). Yes, we did see a few "critter holes" in the trail, so there needs to be some attention paid there; however, there weren't so many as to be a pain - you do need to watch the trail surface, though. Our ride started at the Alta Trailhead and we turned around at the Princeville Trailhead, near the RR crossing. In the town of Dunlap, the trail transitions to local streets, but they weren't busy (we rode on a Thursday). The signage in town could be a little more clear at the transition points.
I started at Morton. The trail is well maintained and has a number of benches and tool stations. It was a little confusing going across two four lane roads. The trail goes under huge electric transmission lines. I went to the river and stopped there and didn’t go across the bridge. On the way back a very nice local biker ride with me and talked me through all the uphills back to Morton. He was an angel
Enjoyable trail, paved, bumpy in some spots and crosses quite a few streets. Have to closely watch the trail signs because of some road construction. Flat, not too steep hills and curvy, just what you like in a trail. Riding through Coal Miners park was quite a treat with open spaces and tree canopy covering other areas. Kudos to this small community trail!
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