-
Lincoln Trail Homestead State & Memorial is Open!
Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial is open for all to visit and enjoy We hope you will see the difference the removal of honeysuckle has made to the park as well as the new handicapped accessible toilet. We are reminding everyone the guidelines that IDNR has issued:-Park hours are 8:30 am to 10 pm.-Please carry all items out that were carried in. We want to limit contact with refuse as much as possible.-The pavilions are going to remain closed until further notice (both will be roped off prior to opening).-The playgrounds are going to remain closed until further notice (both will be roped off prior to opening).-Gatherings of more than 10…
-
USRC Labor Day Float Trip Great Success
This past Labor Day the Upper Sangamon River Conservancy hosted a group of river lovers on one of my personal favorite float trip routes. Like most of the USRC’s trips, this one was open for all with canoes and kayaks provided free of charge to any participant, first come, first served. We put in at the historic Hazen Bridge in rural Champaign County where County Road 2600N crosses the Sangamon River and ended 5 1/2 miles downriver at Champaign County’s Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. The Sangamon’s depth at the Fisher NOAA river gage registered 4.5 feet, which is really lower than I would recommend for this route. But…
-
Abe’s Race on the Lower Sangamon
The Annual Abe’s Race hosted by the Lincoln Heritage Water Trail Association was a great success for the 6th year! Enjoy a few images from the event. 2018 Abe’s River Race Slideshow from Treetop Productions, Inc. on Vimeo.
-
Biking in the Upper Sangamon River Watershed
Originally posted Monday, August 18, 2014 on the River Blog, this excerpt is reprinted here with permission from Scott Hays. As much as I enjoy kayaking and canoeing, I also enjoy cycling the Sangamon Valley’s bike paths and county roads as they weave their way through forests, prairies, cornfields and crisscrossing the Sangamon River all the way. One of my favorite routes picks up the Lake of the Woods Bike Path at its eastern terminus at Prairieview Road and then I ride the trail west. This 3.3 mile trail is, in my humble opinion, one of our Sangamon Valley’s greatest assets. Riding this surprisingly hilly, curvy trail end to end takes me…
-
Birding Locales in the Lower Sangamon River Watershed
Besides birds that can be seen and heard while floating on the river itself, birding is good at: Carpenter Park, Springfield Centennial Park, Springfield Lincoln’s New Salem Historic Site , Petersburg — several miles of interconnected trails through forest and along Sangamon River. Lincoln’s New Salem H.S. is located about 2 miles south of Petersburg (map). Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield (Jim Edgar) Panther Creek State Fish & Wildlife Area, with 16,550 acres of grassland and forest, three lakes, tributaries to the Sangamon River, and over 30 miles of trails, Panther Creek offers a fantastic variety of bird life.