Parks & Trails

Great Places to Hike

Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve

This preserve largely contains sand dunes and blowout communities, and it is also home to many deer, skunks, and various birds.

French Bluff Illinois State Recreational Nature Area

This large forest area is an excellent birding site for interior forest birds, as well as a good site to view spring wildflowers.

Great River Trail

As Carroll County’s longest trail, it expands 62-miles from Savanna to the Quad Cities, and it has beautiful scenery in every mile.

Ingersoll Wetlands Learning Center

This 50,000-acre refuge offers trails to hike or bike. Picnic, explore the gift shop, and enjoy the wildlife observation.

Lost Mound Unit

A 7,000-acre nature preserve on the Mississippi offering sand prairie remnants, forests, wetlands, old military buildings, Indian burial mounds, scenic river overlooks and the largest sand dune in Illinois.

Mississippi Palisades State Park

2,400-acres on steep bluffs overlooking the Mississippi, with birding, camping, canoeing, fishing, hiking, scenic overlooks, and cross-country skiing.

Old Mill Park

Features a paved walking trail, tennis & basketball courts, a playground, picnic tables and restroom facilities.

Point Rock Park

This city park contains parking, frisbee golf, restrooms, and much more.

Spring Lake

An 8.7-mile trail rings this park and the lake it takes its name from. Scenic overlooks on the trail overlook the Mississippi and Spring Lake. Great spot for birding, fishing, hiking, and picnicking.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Thomson Causeway Recreation Area

This 64-acre preserve on the Great River Trail overlooks a 3-mile-wide Mississippi channel and the Potters Marsh wetlands. Excellent birding, camping, canoeing, fishing, and hiking; boat launches available.