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Route: Tunnel Hill State Trail (IL)

Location
Illinois, US
Distance
47 mi
Vertical Gain
600 ft
Description

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.

Tunnel Hill State Trail stretches for 45 miles from Harrisburg to Karnak. 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.

(more here: https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/Parks/Pages/TunnelHill.aspx)

GPS Track
Tunnel-Hill.gpx9.18 MB

FKTs

Comments

shannon bryan
Sun, 04/26/2020 - 10:33am

I’m going after this FKT tomorrow using my suunto ambit3 run, I’ll be doing it solo without a crew

Crelatia
Fri, 06/26/2020 - 06:34am

Hi Shannon! I am sorry I missed this. How did it go? are you going to try it again? It is a lovely trail. Water can be scarce when the faucets are turned off.  I hope you are having fun adventures. Take care.

No worries it didn’t go as planned but yes I’m definitely going back possibly soon

Kevin Lashley
Wed, 09/02/2020 - 12:14pm

Going to start Friday morning 9-4-2020 either at 4am or 5am. Harrisburg to Wetlands Center and back.  I’ll have a couple Garmins with me as well as a suunto in case something goes wrong. I’ll also try and remember to take a short video at start, turnaround and the finish. The goal is unsupported but could turn into self supported. 

teitloff24
Mon, 05/24/2021 - 08:26pm

I will be going after the one-way FKT on this Saturday 5/29/21.  I will be starting in Harrisburg heading south to the Wetlands Center.  I will be doing this supported by my wife. I will be using Coros Apex Pro as tracking.