old Illinois Central rail bed, Polo, Il

[rusty1]

...couple pics of where I ride a lot, the old Illinois Central railroad bed that runs for about 8 miles south of Polo, Illinois.

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Absolutely beautiful!

Be careful though, those are the kind of roads where Bigfoot is typically sited.

Cheers,
Dr. T

[aka_locojoe]

Is it officially a rail-to-trail or just abandoned? Doesn't appear to have been surfaced with anything. Looks like a nice place to ride.

[rusty1]

...it had been abandoned for years since the IL Central went out of service.
the Dixon, Il park district bought up what they could and turned it into a bike/walking path. It's never been surfaced, just rails/ties removed and smooth graded gravel. The Dixon park district mows and maintains it.

one nice thing are all the trees; in the Summer it's nice and cool, in the cold months they serve as a nice windbreak, especially where the rail line was cut out and has the higher earthen sides. There are a lot of areas where there are steep sides dropping down; I'll get more pics.

[rusty1]

...here's a few more pics...

[Onewheelsqueel]

Looks like a nice place to ride.