Hiking the Hennepin Canal Trail, Part 1
Hiking the Hennepin Canal Trail Across Illinois from West to East | Geneseo to Annawan | April 2026
At what was supposed to be the end of Curtis’ busy spring work season, we found ourselves living in limbo as his job was considering sending him to Pennsylvania right after his assignment in the Quad Cities between IA and IL. This was making it difficult for us to plan what to do next. We knew that if we didn’t go to PA, his next assignment would be in exactly one month, right back in the Quad Cities. We had several ideas for month-long road trips that we could take in the Midwest, but we didn’t feel good about going too far away from the I-80 corridor in case we got the call that we needed to go East — and honestly we wouldn’t feel like we were ‘in the clear’ about that for another week. And of course gas prices were rising each week, so we wanted to be smart and intentional about the way we traveled, while still having a little fun and doing something new.
Before we truly felt ready, the job in Quad Cities was done and it was time to move out of the hotel. It was decision time for us, even though we still didn’t know if we would be taking a last minute trip to PA. And so in the midst of that chaos, we looked inward to what was it about this spring that had brought us the most joy. The answer to that was all the time we spent section hiking long distance trails across Illinois: the I&M Canal Trail between Ottawa and La Salle, and the Hennepin Canal Trail from Colona to Geneseo. We learned that camping is allowed at several trailheads along the Hennepin Canal, which would make finding places to sleep along the way very simple, and when we mapped out what we had left, we found that it was about 49 miles of the trail, which would be 98 miles for us since we would have to walk out and back. But that number didn’t scare us at all — the trail is mostly flat, the weather over the next week looked decent for mid-April, and barring a last minute call to go East, we had plenty of time to accomplish it. Or if we changed our minds, it would be no skin off our backs because it took no real prior planning to arrange this.
And so it was decided: we were going to attempt hiking the rest of the Hennepin Canal Trail that we had yet to hike. We packed up the van, checked out of our hotel, then stocked up on groceries for about a week. With that, we were off, driving a half hour into Illinois to where we’d be starting today’s walk. Any other details or things we had forgotten could be sorted out later…such as where would we fill up our water tank? You know, little things!
We drove to Geneseo, then went North to a small trailhead right next to the Geneseo Campground. Today was hot and humid — probably the most uncomfortable day we’d have for at least a few days, with severe storms predicted that evening. Between that and the fact that we didn’t arrive until early afternoon, today would be a shorter walking day. We started off by walking one mile West to the aqueduct where we had left off earlier that week, then back to the trailhead. We spotted some more turtles and some pretty purple wildflowers along the way. At the van, we had a brief break where we grabbed some snacks before walking one more mile in the opposite direction to lock 24. This is a bigger trailhead, complete with signs and outhouses, and of course the lock and bridge which were cool to check out.
After that, we returned to the van, satisfied with the small amount that we accomplished on this hot day. We drove across the canal to the campground and park on the other side, where Curtis looked for a letterbox and a water spigot, but was unsuccessful at both attempts. Instead, we drove South through Geneseo until we came to Richmond Hill Park, a spot we had stopped once before near the interstate. Here we found a water fountain which we used to top off all our water containers, which would hopefully tide us over until we found somewhere to fill up the van’s water tank. This park was listed as a spot where you could camp overnight on iOverlander, however a police cruiser came by later and let us know that it actually closes at 10 and camping isn’t allowed here. We did stick around throughout the predicted storms this evening, since it was a relatively safe spot away from trees and on high ground. I made dinner as we tracked the storms online, and soon the pouring rain and gusting winds arrived. It lasted for about a half hour, and we were thankful there were no tornadoes or hail in the area where we were. After the storms had passed, we moved on to one of the trailheads along the Hennepin where we could camp. We chose to go back to Lock 26, which we had already hiked around, but knew it would be a quiet spot away from the highway and interstate where we could spend the night. We did notice at least one fallen tree here, likely from the storm that had just passed through.
The next morning, the rain had passed and we emerged from the van to find a cool and breezy morning, much more comfortable for hiking. Which was a good thing because today we were beginning our trek in earnest, hoping to knock off a good chunk of our remaining 94 miles! We started our day by driving to a small trailhead off of East 1700th Street, East of Geneseo. We dressed in long sleeves with light jackets (something that would have been unimaginable yesterday) then set off on our first stretch of trail for today. To begin, we walked West back to Lock 24. This first walk was 5 miles round trip, and it seemed to go by quickly. It started off quiet on the trail but got a little busier as we approached the lock. We enjoyed spotting birds (an eagle and a heron) along the way, as well as more wildflowers. When we made it back to the van, we took off our boots, put our feet up and relaxed with some snacks. It was in that moment when I realized that having a van and taking this lazy approach to through hiking might be the thing that really gets me back into walking long distances. The fact that I could go walk for a stretch, then come back and immediately be in my home with all the comforts I could need made my attitude for this entire hike very positive, which I would consider to be a complete 180 from what I felt for maybe half of our last long distance backpacking trip on the Centennial Trail in South Dakota.
After about 45 minutes, we felt rested enough to go out for our second walk of today: another 5 mile round-trip walk, this time heading East. Before we had set out on this journey, I had starred all the places where we could legally camp along the Hennepin Canal, so on our breaks I would figure out how far we should walk so that we would split up the sections as reasonably as possible and have minimal driving between the different trailheads and camping spots. One thing that made this easy was that the entire Hennepin trail is on Google Maps, so I could tell exactly which spots were good turn around spots. With all this in mind, we set out heading East, and walked 2.5 miles to 1950th Street (which didn’t have a trailhead).
On this section, there were two highlights: one was seeing these large fish splashing in the canal, which both confused and entertained us, and Curtis later learned that they were Grass Carp and were probably doing this because of the spring spawn. The second highlight was that Curtis actually managed to find an old letterbox along this section, and while he was stamping in, another hiker stopped to say hello and we ended up having a nice conversation. We learned that he is in his early 70’s, lives near the trail, and he regularly walks 1 million steps every month! We talked a lot about hiking and travel before parting ways. I sure hope we’re still walking that much together when we’re in our 70’s!
Once we made it back to the van, we decided we still had some more miles in us, so I directed Curtis to another small trailhead off of 2200th Street. From here, we walked another 5 miles round trip, going 2.5 miles West to where we had just left off before retracing our steps back the way we came. Are there easier ways to complete the Hennepin without having to double the mileage? Maybe, but we were okay with how we were hiking it. We liked having our van and not having to go through the ordeal of getting rides in order to cut our hiking in half. This way, by the time we were done, we’d be able to say we had hiked the Hennepin twice! The highlight of our last 5 miles was seeing a raccoon climbing a tree. We noted how even though we were only 2 days in, we had already seen so much wildlife, more than we have on a lot of trails!
After our last hike, we drove to Annawan where we spent the night at the Bridge 23 campground. It was a bit noisier than the night before because of its proximity to the interstate, but mileage wise it made more sense to stay here. Camping on the Hennepin Canal Trail costs $8 per night, but you’re only charged if the ranger comes by, and he didn’t come here this evening (or the day before). We made an easy dinner, then put our feet up and took it easy the rest of the night.
In total, we hiked 15 miles today, and it wasn’t until the end of the last hike that we started to feel it. But that didn’t discourage us from continuing with our walk! We now had 79 miles left and were starting to think that this spontaneous decision was one of the better ones we’ve made.
