Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail From Seneca to LaSalle
This multi-purpose trail offers visitors scenic hiking and bicycling, combined with the opportunity to experience LaSalle County’s natural resources and historical sites.

Walk or bike the canal tow path where horses pulled passenger boats from 1848 until 1852 and mules pulled the heavy freight required to build Chicago and northern Illinois. Follow the footsteps of famous Illinoisans such as Abe Lincoln, “Wild Bill” Hickok, and Chief Shabbona along the shady canal across LaSalle County from Seneca on the east to LaSalle on the west. Enjoy the turtles sunning themselves or spy many varieties of birds. Check out a restored lock at the LaSalle access, the Fox River aqueduct at the East Ottawa access and the restored grain elevator in Seneca.

Seven access points in LaSalle County provide parking and access to the 10 foot wide crushed limestone trail. The 61.5 mile trail will take you all the way east to Joliet. For more information, visit canalcor.org

For access in LaSalle County:
LaSalle: I&M Canal Lock #14 Access - Rt. 351 (Joliet Street).
Utica: Parking west of downtown on Canal Street / Dan Carey Park.
Ottawa/Buffalo Rock: Access Dee Bennett Road.
West Ottawa: Boyce Memorial Drive.
East Ottawa: Fox River Park. Park at lot on Superior Street.
Marseilles: Main St. and canal intersect. On street parking.
Seneca: Main St. and canal intersect. On street parking. Parking also
available at the M.J. Hogan Grain Elevator, 124 W. Williams.

Buffalo Rock State Park
RR 1 • Ottawa • (815)433-2224
One of the most prominent displays of outdoor sculpture anywhere exists here in a collection called the “Effigy Tumuli,” executed by artist Michael Heizer. Park has ball diamonds, picnic areas, biking, bird watching, canoeing, hiking, snow-mobiling and cross-country skiing.

Catlin County Park
Ottawa, IL
333-acre park acquired in 1970 by the LaSalle County Conservation District. The park’s well-organized trail system hosts 14 distinct trails plus numerous connector trails. These trails course throughout the park’s habitat, including its various streams and ponds. The park’s horse trails are also recognized as some of the best trails in the central area.

Hopalong Cassidy River Trail
& Canoe Launch Area
Route 18 • Streator, IL
(815)672-2055
Visitors can follow this trail through an urban forest of mulberry, hackberry, oak, and maple. Fish, hike, canoe from state-funded canoe launch area on the Vermilion River.

Illinois & Michigan Canal Lock 14
Canal Road by Rt 351 • La Salle
Restored to its 1848 condition, this lock is representative of the mid 19th century canal locks. Lock 14 was built with local limestone, and possesses massive white oak gates and swing arms. This site also provides visitors with an idea of the scale of canal boat operation. Only a short distance further downstream of Lock 14 along the Illinois and Michigan trail system, visitors can view the canal’s confluence with the Illinois River. Bike trail to Utica. For more information
call Canal Corridor Association at (815)588-1100­.

Illini State Park
2660 E 23-50th Road • Marseilles
(815)795-2448
LaSalle County birders mention this park as one of the best sites in the county for viewing migrating vireos, warblers, thrushes, and other songbirds in Fall. 500 acre park with songbirds, waterfowl, wildlife, ballfields, fishing, hiking, biking, cross-country skiing and more.

LaSalle Lake State Fish & Wildlife Area
2660 E 2350th Road • Marseilles
(815)357-1608
2,058 acre lake with a rocky
shoreline. Wildlife refuge, fishing, bird watching, picnicking, power boating.
Matthiessen State Park
RT 178 • Utica
(815)667-4868
The spring wildflower show at Matthiessen is spectacular, especially on the bluff forest, featuring the magenta-colored blooms of shooting star, the brick-reds of columbine, the pinks of spring beauty, and the pastels of hepatica. Five miles of hiking trails into a canyon and around the bluff. Hiking along the Vermillion River.

Mitchell Grove Nature Preserve
LaSalle Township • LaSalle
A 184-acre wooded site donated
to the IL Department of Natural Resources in 1998. Mitchell’s Grove was right in the middle of heavy glacial action, especially during the last (Wisconsin) of the Pleistocene glaciation events.

Sandy Ford Natural Area
(815)672-2055
This beautiful 200-acre site, located on the east bank of the Vermilion River, possesses 2 creeks, a floodplain forest, dry bluffland forest, hill prairies and sandstone cliffs.

Shabbona County Park
East 16th Road, North of Harding
(815)792-8801
(Open May – October)
Picnic areas, open fields, several shelters (many with electricity) and fishing ponds are featured at this county-owned park on the banks of Indian Creek. The 21st century tranquility sharply contrasts with the bloody, violent clash of cultures that earned the park its place in American history. A monument has been erected in memory of the 16 men, women and children slain by Native Americans in the Indian Creek Massacre. Two teenage sisters who were taken prisoners were released a week later. The park is named for the Potawatomi Chief Shabbona, who tried to protect the white settlers.

Starved Rock State Park (view ad)
Rt. 178 • Utica IL 61373
(815)667-4906
The 2816-acre park complex is one of the premier publicly held natural areas in all of Illinois. The Park displays 18 distinct canyons, cut by the Illlinois River and made of St. Peter sandstone. Hiking rails,canoe rental, boat rental, boat rides. Lodge, camping, guided hikes, and visitor center.

US Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois Waterway Visitor Center
Dee Bennett Road • Ottawa
(815)667-4054
Area to see operating lock and dam. “Illinois Watchable Wildlife” site, book store, history displays.