You’re more likely to hear the birds here than you are to see them, but the local rabbit population is everywhere. Entering the Shawnee National Forest, you’ll find a stunning landscape, with a high tree canopy that shades a trickling brook on the right. The remaining 543-foot tunnel is pitch-black inside, so be sure to carry a flashlight or bike light so you don’t scrape the wall or run into another visitor.īack out into the light, you’ll find a fully stocked trailhead on your right in the town of Tunnel Hill, where the remaining 33-mile ride to Eldorado begins. A section of the tunnel collapsed in 1929. That’s why they dug a tunnel, originally 800 feet long, through the hill here, 6.7 miles past Bloomfield, instead of going over the top. The railroaders tried to keep these slopes as gentle as possible to save fuel and time. In 3 miles, you’ll probably notice the grade steepen just outside Bloomfield. A trailside park in Vienna, 10.5 miles past Karnak, is a good stop, and cafés and groceries are available in town.

About halfway to Vienna, look for the ghost town of Forman to your left. You’ll pass the Heron Pond–Little Black Slough and Cave Creek Glade Nature Preserves. In Karnak, where a trailside campground opened in 2016, the Tunnel Hill State Trail bears left and picks up the railroad corridor. It passes through the swampy Cache River State Natural Area, which is home to giant cypress trees, some 1,000 years old. The first 2.7 miles to Karnak run on a former spur line of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad. It’s a good idea to refill water bottles when you can. Several small towns and ghost towns are on this route, but services aren’t always available.

The first sections of trail opened in 1998.īeginning at the Barkhausen-Cache River Wetlands Center, you’ll encounter a gentle, uphill slope for 22.5 miles to the tunnel, where the trail crests and begins a downhill run toward Eldorado. Over the years, the railroad went through a series of ownership changes, and the tracks last belonged to Norfolk Southern Railroad, which turned the corridor over to the state in 1991. This gem of Illinois rail-trails was built on the former Cairo and Vincennes Railroad, which was completed in 1874 and hauled coal from southern Illinois mines, as well as produce and timber. A dark railroad tunnel and two dozen trestles crossing streams and rocky ravines welcome visitors to the scenic Tunnel Hill State Trail as it travels 55 miles through forests and farmland in sparsely populated southern Illinois.

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