Illinois trails · Sentry Bluff Trail
Sentry Bluff Trail
A 2.8-mile out-and-back in Illinois, with 83 ft of climbing. Reaches Bell Smith Natural Bridge.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 165 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Bell Smith Natural Bridge (arch)
Heads up
Getting there
Bell Smith Springs — parking nearby, restroom. About 47 min drive (22 mi, 1 of them unpaved) from Harrisburg. 37.51844, -88.65550 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:35 a.m., the sun rises at 7:01 a.m. and sets at 6:19 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 6:45 p.m. (CDT) — 11 h 17 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 5.6-mile round trip takes roughly 2 h 10 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 9:11 a.m. — 9 h 08 min before sunset.
Loop options
- BELL SMITH SPRINGS + Sentry Bluff Trail — 5.1 mi loop, 1,019 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Bell Smith Springs — 0.5 mi
- Bay Creek — 2.7 mi
- Lusk Creek — 6.7 mi
- River To River Trail — 9.4 mi