Biking Illinois :: Gorham Floodplain

Ride 53: Gorham Floodplain

Biking Illinois: 60 Great Road Trips and Trail Rides

Order here:

Gorham, IL July 19, 2005

Most of the terrain in southern Illinois is hilly, so this ride across the Mississippi River floodplain is a welcome relief... unless it's windy! Aside from a few small towns, most of the scenery is cropland.

I scouted this ride in December 2004 by car and found myself in a snowstorm.

I also shot this barn photo that day. I don't recall seeing it in July -- either it fell down or it was on a road I didn't travel that time.

Let's fast forward to a hot July afternoon. Drive into Gorham on a street that becomes so wide that you sense this was once a larger, more active town.

This is Fountain Bluff from a distance (see more at bottom).

This looks like some sort of coal transfer station to move coal from rail cars to barges. The conveyor belt goes across the road and the levee.

I think I took this picture of the Mississippi River from somewhere atop the levee.

If you thought Gorham was small, wait until you ride through Jacob.

Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob was built in 1906.

Although the ride in Biking Illinois doesn't go to Fountain Bluff, I visited to see the petroglyphs while I was in the area.