We discovered 3 great, paved trails in our own backyard!

Great River Road in Alton, IL has an adjacent paved bike path called Sam Vadalabene Bike Path (www.greatriverroad.com/vadalabene.htm) which departs from downtown Alton and goes north to Pere Marquette State Park for 20 miles (40 roundtrip).

If you park in downtown Alton and ride south, you can pick up the mostly paved MCT Confluence Greenway (www.confluencegreenway.org/map.php) and ride approximately 14 miles to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge--a part of the original Rte 66 (www.trailnet.org/trail_main.php). We took a wrong turn and went past the Chain of Rocks and had to go back. However, our plan was to cross over and pick up the Riverfront Trail, which we will do next time.

Riverfront Trail is an immediate left after crossing over the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. It is 11 miles of paved path into downtown St. Louis, ending at the Arch.

Detailed info and pics to follow.