The Sam Vadalabene Bike Trail, is a paved 21.5 mile biking/walking trail located in southwestern Illinois, located just north of the St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 core urban area.

The trail was named after Sam Vadalabene, a member of the Illinois Senate

Illinois Senate

The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from...

. The trail parallels both the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 and the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway

Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Route

The Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Route extends for in southwestern Illinois, traveling through the floodplain of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers. The route has been officially designated as a National Scenic Byway by the Federal Highway Administration...

 and was designated as a National Recreation Trail

National Recreation Trail

National Recreation Trail is a designation given to existing trails that contribute to health, conservation, and recreation goals in the United States. Over 1,000 trails in all 50 U.S. states, available for public use and ranging from less than a mile to in length, have been designated as NRTs...

 in 2006 . The trail is included as part of the Confluence Greenway

Confluence Greenway

The Confluence Greenway is a system of parks, conservation and recreation areas located in the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area. Various parks, trails, and attractions are located along forty miles of both the Missouri and Illinois banks of the Mississippi River and Missouri River.Points of...

.

The south end of the trail is located at Piasa Park

Piasa

The Piasa or Piasa Bird is a Native American dragon depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs above the Mississippi River. Its original location was at the end of a chain of limestone bluffs in Madison County, Illinois at present-day Alton, Illinois...

, located about five miles northwest of Alton

Alton, Illinois

Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois...

, and the north end of the trail is located at Pere Marquette State Park

Pere Marquette State Park

Pere Marquette State Park is an 8,050-acre protected area in southwestern Jersey County, Illinois, United States. It is located near the city of Grafton, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Illinois River...

 near Grafton

Grafton, Illinois

Grafton is the oldest city in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. It is located near the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 674. Prior to the Great Flood of 1993, Grafton had enjoyed a stable population of nearly...

. Other attractions along the trail include the village of Elsah

Elsah, Illinois

Elsah is a village in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. census, the village had a total population of 673. Cyrus Bunting is the the village's current acting mayor.Elsah is a part of the Metro-East region and the St...

, Chautauqua

Chautauqua, Illinois

Chautauqua, Illinois is a private gated summer resort that started as a 19th century tent settlement. The name Piasa is taken from a nearby Native American painting of a mythical bird, called the Piasa Bird, which was painted on the bluffs high above the Mississippi River...

, the city of Grafton, limestone bluffs rising up to 250 feet (75 m) high, and the Marquette

Jacques Marquette

Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...

 Monument.

The original fifteen miles of the trail were completed in 1979. At the south end of the trail, connections can be made to both the Confluence Trail

Confluence Trail

The Confluence Trail, part of the Madison County, Illinois Transit bikeways network, is an 18.6 mile bike trail between Granite City and Alton, Illinois's Russell Commons Park. The majority of the trail is paved asphalt on top of the Mississippi River levee system. The trail is part of the St...

 and the Katy Trail

Katy Trail State Park

The Katy Trail State Park is a recreation rail trail that runs in the right-of-way of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The nickname "Katy" comes from the phonetic pronunciation of 'KT' in the railroad's abbreviated name, MKT. The trail, widely known as the Katy Trail, is a Missouri...

.