Skip to content

Signature Trail · 6 stops · Full Day

The Great River Road: Savanna to Fulton

Thirty-five miles of Illinois Route 84 between the Palisades bluffs and Fulton’s Dutch windmill: river overlooks, two railroad depots, a backwater campground and a working mill that still grinds flour. Drive it north to south with the Mississippi on your right the whole way.

OutdoorsHistoryCouples

← All trips & trails

The Great River Road runs the length of Illinois, but this is the stretch people come back for: limestone bluffs at the top, Dutch levee town at the bottom, and forty miles of backwater, barge traffic and bald eagles in between. Give it a full day, start early at the Palisades while the river valley still has mist on it, and eat twice.

This road-following itinerary overview is not turn-by-turn navigation. 6 of the 6 stops are pinned. Tap a pin for details.

North to south on IL-84. Every stop below is within a mile of the road; the whole drive is under an hour without stopping, which is what leaves room for all of it.

  1. Mississippi Palisades State Park

    2–3 hrsSavanna

    Start high. Twenty-five hundred acres of Driftless bluff country just north of Savanna, with Lookout Point, Ozzie’s Point and Louis’ Point all giving you the Mississippi from several hundred feet up. The overlook trails are short; the ones through the rock formations are not.

    Drive to the next stop: 6 min · 4 mi

  2. Savanna Museum and Cultural Center

    45 minSavanna

    Savanna’s attic, and better than that sounds: a Civil War gallery staged with more than a hundred uniformed mannequins, an HO-scale railroad, and cases from the Savanna Ordnance Depot. Open Saturdays and Sundays noon–4pm, May through October.

    Drive to the next stop: 1 min · 0.2 mi

  3. Frank Fritz Finds

    30 minSavanna

    Antiques and collectibles from the American Pickers co-host, tucked inside the Hawg Dog Bar & Grill on Savanna’s main street. Worth the stop even if you only came for the sign.

    Drive to the next stop: 2 min · 0.4 mi

  4. Muddy Water’s Cafe/Marina

    LunchSavanna

    Lunch on the water at Savanna Marina: specialty burgers and homemade pie, with outdoor riverfront seating in warm months and dockside service for anyone who arrived by boat.

    Drive to the next stop: 20 min · 11 mi

  5. Thomson Causeway Recreation Area

    45 minThomson

    A Corps of Engineers island campground threaded with backwater sloughs. Walk the Hidden Slough Trail or pick up the Great River Bike Trail here; in late winter this is one of the most reliable eagle-watching spots on the river.

  6. Thomson Depot Museum

    30 minThomson

    A late-1800s railroad depot moved and restored by the village in 1986, now full of Thomson’s own history. Free, donations accepted, open weekends 1–4pm between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The Whole Route

This road-following itinerary overview is not turn-by-turn navigation. 6 of the 6 stops are pinned. Tap a pin for details.

Loading map…