As we left town we came across a washout sign describing how the City of Marseilles had been planned as an industrial center the picture below shows a bridge that was built over the canal during the planning that was never actually used as best as I could tell.
Interestingly enough the sign noted that the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) had built an 8 story packaging building in Marseilles. Rich and I had noticed the building the day before. It stood out because there are no other eight story buildings in Marseilles. We turned around and lo! there it was LOL.
It was a cool morning with just a hint of mist, so I needed to get moving to get some heat generating out of the old bod, so, off we went.
As we moved along, I came to the realization that we were now walking in the bottom of the canal as the berms for the canal were on either side. The path from Marseilles to Ottawa is apparently a very popular snowmobiling area and the path had a few more twist and turns in it than other sections of the trail with signs warning of sharp turns.
There is a lot of heavy manufacturing along this section of the Illinois river and though one could hear it, the trail is relatively well shielded from the factories view wise. There were several rail crossings along the way with quite a bit of activity.
As we continued along the path we came across an entrepreneurial attempt to take advantage of the trail activity.
Just an aside here. In our hikes overseas, particularly in Spain, it is not uncommon at all, and in fact, in my opinion, is one of the more endearing aspects of the camino, that every 8 to 10 kilometers there is always a little tavern or restaurant where one can take a break, have a hot or cold drink and pastry let one’s feet out of the boots for a few minutes to cool off and breathe and take a break. Such facilities were not evident in the UK along the Hadrian’s Wall path and this was the first we found here though there were ample opportunities, particularly further east on the trail, for someone to have done so. A missed opportunity in my opinion.
We continued on and started to get into the town of Ottawa.
It is always to me a little jarring to come back into a town after being in the hinterlands for a while. The noises just seem a little louder and more jarring and one has to be more aware of one’s surroundings versus the peace of letting one’s mind wander while hiking through the woods. Below, Rich caught me taking a break on the stairs of a pedestrian bridge that used to cross the canal. I think I am either replacing or retrieving my drinking water tube. I am not holding my chest LOL!
As we moved into town we saw the largest aqueduct on the canal, where the canal crossed the Fox River just before the Fox emptied into the Illinois.
Continuing on Rich and I found a toll collectors building with a section of the original siding still intact and there is an new effort to refill the canal from Ottawa back to Lasalle for tourism purposes.
As Rich and I moved into downtown to grab some lunch we came across the saite of the first Lincoln Douglas debate.
The interesting thing about this is that the town I grew up in, Alton IL, was the site of the final Lincoln/Douglas debate.
Rich and I then went into town for a bite of lunch. I highly recommend The Lone Buffalo brew pub. We had dinner there the night before and also lunch as it was the first restaurant we encountered off the trail. Good in house brewed craft beer and tasty sandwiches and entrees.
A bit of housekeeping. this entry will end the actual hike along the I&M. We called an audible and instead of hiking to Oglesby from Ottawa, which was the next and final leg of our trek, we decided to spend the day hiking in Starved Rock State Park. So, my next entry will be of our Starved Rock hike. After that there will be one more entry showing the staging of the hike and where we stayed in case anyone would like to take the trek. If this is the end of the road for some readers, thanks for joining me on this trek, I hope you have enjoyed this humble scrivener’s musings. Stay safe, Be well.
Lou Hikes? 