At one time, the rumble of freight cars reverberated through the narrow tunnel. Wooden trestles, with their system of slanted supports and horizontal cross pieces, spanned numerous bluffs and creeks. Passengers in Pullman cars clocked the miles with these and other landmarks as they traveled one of southern Illinois' most scenic routes.
Today, the railroad is gone. The route, known as Tunnel Hill State Trail, remains.
Tunnel Hill State Trail stretches for 45 miles from Harrisburg to Karnak, with 2.5 miles being managed by the city of Harrisburg. The trail continues on a trails spur for 2.5 miles from Karnak to Cache River State Natural Area - Henry Barkhausen Wetlands Center on the old Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad bed.
The 9.3-mile section between Tunnel Hill and Vienna crosses trails already known to outdoor recreationists: the River-to-River Trails, which extends from the Mississippi to the Ohio River; the unmarked American Discovery Trails, which in southern Illinois follows back roads and some of the River-to-River Trail; the U.S. 76 Bicycle Route, a part of the TransAmerica Bike Route; and the Trail of Tears, the primary route the Cherokee Indian tribe took in the winter of 1838-39 during their forced move from the Great Smokies to Oklahoma.
My wife and I took a little road trip to southern illinois to ride our bikes on the Tunnel Hill trail system and we were not disappointed. We started our journey from The tunnel Hill trail head and headed south towards Vienna. We had planned on starting the ride in Harrisburg but I felt the extra few miles to Tunnel Hill would allow us to see more of what the trail had to offer.
It was a fun ride for us, considering that we had never ridden long distances on our bikes before. The ride
started out really well, the tunnel is only .2 miles from the trailhead, so that was
a nice surprise. The scenery was wonderful along the trail, from just you basic rural farmsteads to entire cypress wetlands. I think we rode to the Belknap bypass before we turned back, which is roughly 15 or so miles from tunnel hill. The trail was closed off due to damage, so we had to take the detour down Belknap rd. We decided to turn around at this point because they had filled in the damaged areas with a heavier
gravel. It was not packed and was very hard to ride through. Not to mention I was worried about the larger stones puncturing our tires.
The ride back was an incredible challenge for us, either I'm crazy or the whole ride back seemed completely uphill. I had read about a 2% incline the railroads kept when they built them, maybe this was the case ? That or we were just completely wore down.
Needless to say, although It was an incredible ride with incredible natural and historical features, we were excited to finally reach our vehicle at the end of our journey. I would have to recommend this trail to anyone who loves to just ride free or enjoys the outdoors. There is a little something for everyone.
What a wonderful job the Illinois DNR has done.
Here are a few links to more info:
Tunnel Hill State Trail
DNR Info
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