Step One
Step Two
Step Three
Step Four. Voila!
Friday, August 28, 2015
The Start of the Illinois and Michigan Canal!
The canal waters go further west, but the actual path starts/ends further east.
Looking east...
Very exciting!
The Storm Between
Between the end of the Hennepin Canal in Bureau, and the start of the I & M Canal in LaSalle, one must detour on routes 29 and 6. A person could include some lesser treavelled side roads, or even travel entirely on tertiary roads south of the Illinois River by first heading into the town of Hennepin.
It has rained heavily the evening before and the weather had started to threaten again. Though a man in Bureau Junction had "warned" me of a tornado watch, another person assured me it was only a thunderstorm. Not one to wait, I headed out, making good time, enjoying long climbs up smooth asphalt followed by exhilarating descents.
When the rain caught up, I parked under a small tree that also, protected a mailbox and donned my rain coat. After the initial down pour, I could see that it would be drizzling for sometime, so I forged on. A few miles up the road, just before Spring Valley, the wind and rain increased dramatically. I returned a few yards back to take cover against the side of a hill, cutaway by the road. The rain came down so heavily even the walnut trees above couldn't keep the water away for long. The ditch quickly filled with water and I was thoroughly soaked. Cars continued past, their wipers working furiously. I felt like I was in a trench, with gale winds blowing over, inches above my head. At least I was in a better spot if a tornado came. There was little way I could pedal my way out of this one.
Eventually the storm died down enough I could ride on, I could see the clouds clearing out and in a few minutes the sun peaked out.
I found a yard to camp in. The owner turned out to be a biker and made coffee in the morning.
It looked like it could rain again, but like I said, I don't like to wait for too long...
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
The End of the Hennepin
You can see that the canal, on the right, is higher than the natural waterway on the left.
The Hennepin is a hundred miles long and I recommend it to anyone. You can camp for free on many places, the people in the visitors center are great and you can spend a good amount of time in the solitude of nature!
From whence I came...
At the end of the path the canal continues on into the Illinois River.
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