Links
Illinois Trails Information
The Hennepin is part of a linear state park. There is also a visitor center near Sheffield, IL, that is right on the canal. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources administers the Hennepin canal / park:
http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R1/HENNPIN.HTM
Friends of the Hennepin Canal has information on the canal and much useful information:
http://www.friends-hennepin-canal.org/
Information on the Illinois-DNR Illinois & Michigan canal:
http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/Parks/I&M/Main.htm
Further information on the Illinois and Michigan canal from the Canal Corridor Association:
http://www.canalcor.org/
Other resources:
I&M Canal area travel information: http://www.heritagecorridorcvb.com/index.cfm
The Old Plank Rail Trail is a paved biking trail running eastward from Joliet, IL:
http://www.oprt.org/index.html
Bibliography
Hochgeang, Jim and Sheryl Devore. Hiking and Biking the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, Roots & Wings, 1998
Hoven, Ray. Bicycle Trails of Illinois, American Bike Trails, 2005
Johnsen Dave. Biking Illinois, Trails Media Group, 2006
Villaire, Ted. Best Rail Trails Illinois: More Than 40 Rail Trails Throughout the State, Falcon, 2010
American Bike Trails, Hiking & Biking the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, 2006
Svob, Mike. Paddling Illinois, Trails Books, 2007
Volker, Todd. The Complete Grand Illinois Trail Guidebook: The Midwest's Biggest Outdoor Adventure, First Serve Press, 2004
(Dave Johnsen has some samples available online at http://www.bikingillinois.com/ -- see the pages on "Riding the White Elephant" and "Trail to Tampico", as well as link to http://www.djrider.com/git/index.html )
The League of Illinois Bicyclists has helpful information, including turn-by-turn street navigation from the east end of the I&M Canal to the western end of the Old Plank Rail Trail:
http://bikelib.org/index.htm
http://bikelib.org/mapstrails/iandmmaps.htm
The Hennepin Canal, I&M Canal, and OPRT are part of the Grand Illinois Bicycle Trail. A previous version of one of the websites incorrectly discusses part of the Hennepin trail as being grass--the towpath is either paved or crushed gravel for its entire length. Since I first began looking in to riding or skating the canal a few years ago, both organizations below have created excellent, detailed cue sheets:
- League of Illinois Bicyclists: http://www.bikelib.org/git/index.htm
- Openlands: http://openlands.org/Greenways/Projects/grand-illinois-trail.html
The Illinois Dept. of Transportation publishes a series of detailed street maps that show which streets (and trails) are relatively better to ride upon
http://www.dot.state.il.us/bikemap/state.html
The Grand Illinois Trail, including the Hennepin, form a portion of coast-to-coast route of recreational trails known as the American Discovery Trail.
http://www.discoverytrail.org/
Ice Skating Links / Outdoor Ice Skating
New York Times article on the Elfstedentocht
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/world/europe/26skating.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Information and equipment for sale about nordic skating and long distance ice skating
- Nordic Skater http://www.nordicskater.com
- Marathon Skating Internationalhttp://www.marathonskating.org
Speed skating and skating equipment
- Special Equipment Co. http://www.specialequipment.com
North American websites and interesting miscellaneous links on long distance ice skating, speed skating, and inline skating
- Yahoo Group on natural ice skating in New England http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VTNordicSkating/
- Yahoo Group on natural ice skating in the Midwest http://groups.yahoo.com/group/midwest_ice/
- Long Distance Ice Skating http://www.dermott.ca/ski/skating.html
- Zen and the Art of Speedskating http://andrewlove.org/blog/index.php
- Inline Skating http://www.inlineplanet.com
- Speedskate World http://www.speedskateworld.com
- Inline marathon skating http://www.marathonskating.com
- Speedskating ovals and clubs in Canada http://vorino.com/icespeed/
International links about natural ice skating and retail in Sweden
http://svenand.blogdrive.com/archive/32.html
http://www.slipspecialisten.se/index.asp
http://30000oar.se/index.asp?lang=UK
