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Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on March 10, 2009 at 8:35am

I'll assume you prefer camping-- although the weather could range from 10 to 70, snow to rain to hail.

1) S. Wisconsin is scenic and hilly. Take the Amtrak to La Crosse, down the Mississippi then along the Wisconsin River, until Madison area. Amtrak, Metra and Van Galder bus transit options exist, ride the whole thing is around 300 miles.

2) Down state IL. Amtrak to Carbondale (roll on service) and do a loop. Cave-in-rock, Metropolis, Garden of the Gods, Giant City. Very pretty & farther south.

3) Rock River. Van Galder to Rockford (or Janesville, WI), ride through Byron, Oregon, Sterling, Dixon, Grand Detour, Prophetstown. Catch the Amtrak back from Kewanee.

4) Starved Rock & Beyond. Ride or Metra to Joliet and take the I & M Canal trail though Chanahon, Seneca, Ottawa, Utica and LaSalle/Peru. Amtrak route parallel to the north.

5) Katy trail across MO. Never done this one, but I hear it's cool and fairly accessible by train.10

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Permalink Reply by burden on March 10, 2009 at 8:38am

We talked about Starved Rock recently. It's about two 60-mile days out from Chicago; you can camp at Channahon State Park, half way. It sounds like they've had some flooding out there, so you might call ahead and see what's still underwater next week.

Milwaukee is an interesting city, and just a couple of 50-mile days away. Illinois Beach State Park in Zion has camping at about mile 50.

You can ride across Illinois to Mississippi Palisades State Park in something like three 50-mile days or two 75-mile days. I don't know what the camping situation is between here and there.

Now I want a week off, too...

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Permalink Reply by Richard on March 11, 2009 at 9:30am

As mentioned before the I&M Canal Trail (camp at Channahon, Illini SP or Starved Rock) to the Hennepin Canal Trail (with camping west of Wyanet, Hennepin Canal SP near Sheffield and Geneseo). And if you go to Rock Island there is a cool campground, on the Mississippi River, north in Hampton. However flooding is an issue at this time.

Cross state the Mississippi Palisades? You can camp at Shabbona SP or county camprgrounds in DeKalb County. Around Amboy there are bunch of private campgrounds. I recommend Green River Resort, Mike let me camp there for free because I was a bicyclist. And there's Lowden SP on the Rock River just north of Oregon. I can set you up with a route if you need one.

http://www.bikelib.org/mapstrails/index.htm
http://www.dekalbcounty.org/Forest/forest_preserve.html

Richard

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Permalink Reply by terryg on March 16, 2009 at 8:03am

Great posts here. I think I just started planning my long weekends. Time to feed the wanderlust!

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Permalink Reply by E A on March 16, 2009 at 12:48pm

Kinda of off -topic, but it would be about a 5-day route: St Louis to Lexington. Any routing suggestions?

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