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The Monon Trail is a paved rail trail that runs about 27 miles north from 10th Street on the east side of downtown Indianapolis to the town of Sheridan, following the old Monon Railroad main line toward Chicago. It passes the Indiana State Fairgrounds, crosses the White River and the Central Canal at Broad Ripple, slips past the woods of Marott Park, and then runs through the centers of Carmel and Westfield before reaching open farm country at Hortonville and Sheridan. Riding it is rail-grade flat with a long gentle rise northbound. The southern miles are busy city trail with frequent street crossings and plenty of places to stop; north of Westfield the trail turns quiet and rural.
Monon Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Monon Trail has about 88 to 139 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, running, walking, birding, and biking, with May, September, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Monon Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Monon Trail peaks October 23 to November 6, typically around October 30. The trail has 13% deciduous coverage, with the majority being silver maple, sugar maple, bitternut hickory, white ash, hackberry, American sycamore, American basswood, and black walnut.
The first train up this corridor ran in October 1882, on a line chartered as the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railway in 1865. Westfield was already there; Asa Bales, Ambrose Osborne and Nathan Parker had founded the Quaker town in 1834. The Louisville, New Albany and Chicago took control of the Chicago and Indianapolis Air Line in December 1881 and finished it as a second main line from Indianapolis to Chicago. Passenger service began in 1883. By 1889 four round trips a day ran north from Indianapolis, including an overnight train with sleeping cars. The road hauled limestone, coal, grain, lumber and cement. In Westfield the grain elevator and the Van Camp canning factory stood beside the crossing with the Midland line. From 1897 the company was the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, and in 1956 it officially took its nickname, the Monon. The Louisville and Nashville bought the Monon in 1971. Under Seaboard System the Indianapolis to Frankfort segment was abandoned in the mid 1980s and the rails came out. Indianapolis built the first ten miles of trail, from 10th Street to 96th Street, and completed them in 1999. Carmel opened its five miles in the fall of 2001. Westfield began extending the trail north in 2008. The Town of Sheridan finished the last 1.1 miles to the Hamilton and Boone county line on October 3, 2025, with a Next Level Trails grant. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy named the Monon to its Rail-Trail Hall of Fame in 2009.
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