Find the top rated trails in Cary, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The H.U.M. Trail (a.k.a. the Huntley-Union-Marengo Trail) was planned to link all three of its namesake northern Illinois towns, but so far only connects Marengo and Union. Interestingly, the...
From Main Street and Elevator Road in Roscoe, the scenic Kinstone Recreational Path winds its way northeast through woodlands along the north branch of Kinnikinnick Creek to the Stone Bridge Trail....
The WE Energies Trail, so named because it uses a Wisconsin Energy Corporation utility corridor for much of its route, links Racine and Oak Creek in Racine and Milwaukee counties. Despite the presence...
The North Branch Riverwalk is a 0.6 mile biking and walking trail located on Chicago's northside along the North Branch of the Chicago River, nestled between Gordon Tech High School and Lane Tech High...
The White River State Trail is composed of two separate segments: a 12-mile stretch that runs between Elkhorn and just west of Burlington in Walworth County, and a 7-mile section that connects the...
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An excellent example of land use in greater Chicago, the entire Skokie Valley Trail corridor is a rail-with-trail, paralleled by double tracks that sit about 40 feet to the west of the trail surface....
This path runs along Mitchell Road, starting in Machesney Park. The trail heads north and then travels east where it terminates at Sunny Meadow Drive outside of Russ Park. This short path is just...
The Bauer Memorial Path provides a short route through residential and commercial areas of Machesney Park, a northern suburb of Rockford. The trail begins at the Harlem Community Center and travels in...
The Williamson Parkway Bike Path offers a pleasant, paved route through a residential area in southern Rockton. The mile-long trail follows its namesake roadway from Freeport Road (also known as S....
The Kenosha County Bike Trail is open in two sections separated by dense neighborhoods in the City of Kenosha. The northern segment runs northeast from 35th Street in the city to 1st Street at the...
El Paseo runs through the vibrant Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen, once home to a large Czech population but now the center of the Lower West Side’s Latino community. The neighborhood is filled with...
The City of Franklin Hike and Bike Trail follows a corridor originally used by the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light, an interurban railroad in southeastern Wisconsin. The corridor was later acquired...
Racine County's eastern edge is home to the MRK Trail, a rail-with-trail that extends north from the City of Racine to the Village of Caledonia. Because Racine County standardized its signs several...
The 20-mile Old Plank Road Trail travels over the original Michigan Central Rail Road (MCRR) line, a railroad started about 1850 that ran from Lake Station in East Gary to Joliet. The rail was...
The Chain O' Lakes Bike Path is a paved trail that runs between E. Grand Avenue in Fox Lake and Grant Woods Forest Preserve to the east. The trail parallels the railroad track and Rollins Road/CR 31,...
Although the Phyllis Harmon Path is short, it's an important connector in an east-west bike/ped route between Arlington Heights and Glencoe. Following Dundee Road, the paved trail goes from the Des...
The Perryville Path runs nearly 7 miles, connecting the communities of Loves Park and Rockford, not far from the northern border of Illinois. A pleasant place to begin your journey is Rock Cut State...
The East Northbrook Trail is a 1-mile route through a wooded corridor adjacent to an out-of-service rail corridor in the Village of Northbrook. The trail provides access to residential neighborhoods,...
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The Bloomingdale Trail, part of “The 606” park system, is a 2.7-mile, elevated rail-trail on Chicago’s northwest side. Built on a former rail line, the trail sits nearly 20 feet above four of the...
The Riverside Recreational Path begins as a gravel lane at the base of Riverside Park on the banks of the Rock River in Roscoe. From there, it continues along Rowena Street, paralleling State Route...
The Duck Lake Nature Area Trail follows the southern side of Lake Como between Lake Geneva and Como, Wisconsin, not far from the Illinois state line. The trail is more rustic than most rail-trails and...
The 20-mile Old Plank Road Trail travels over the original Michigan Central Rail Road (MCRR) line, a railroad started about 1850 that ran from Lake Station in East Gary to Joliet. The rail was...
The Pecatonica Prairie Trail, formerly known as the Pecatonica Prairie Path, is a 12.5-mile rail-trail extending from the western edge of Rockford to the Winnebago–Stephenson county line west of...
The Kishwaukee-Kiwanis Trail winds through the northern Illinois town of DeKalb, coursing along a river, through woodlands, among open spaces through parks and through suburban back yards. The trail...
The Kishwaukee Riverfront Path winds nearly 7 miles through downtown Belvidere, east of Rockford in northern Illinois. As its name implies, the paved scenic trail follows the waterway for most of its...
The Paul Douglas and Crabtree Preserve Trail System connects two large nature preserves in northwestern Cook County. The trail begins at the Old Stover Trailhead in the Crabtree Preserve, near the...
The DuPage River Trail spans nearly 30 miles across two counties: DuPage and Will. It's currently open in several disconnected segments mainly in parks and forest preserves beginning in Warrenville...
The East Northbrook Trail is a 1-mile route through a wooded corridor adjacent to an out-of-service rail corridor in the Village of Northbrook. The trail provides access to residential neighborhoods,...
The North Shore Channel Trail extends from the junction of Green Bay Road and McCormick Boulevard in northern Evanston to the junction of Lawrence Avenue and Francisco Avenue in Chicago. All but the...
The Des Plaines River Trail and Greenway traverses north–south along the route of its namesake river along its course through both Lake and Cook counties. The corridor protects 85% of the riverine...
El Paseo runs through the vibrant Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen, once home to a large Czech population but now the center of the Lower West Side’s Latino community. The neighborhood is filled with...
The North Branch Riverwalk is a 0.6 mile biking and walking trail located on Chicago's northside along the North Branch of the Chicago River, nestled between Gordon Tech High School and Lane Tech High...
The Dorr Road Bike Path begins at South Beloit Municipal Park and parallels the roadway for its entire length. The views are primarily residential. After about three-quarters of a mile (from the...
Baumann Park is adjacent to the Kishwaukee River in Cherry Valley, a community on the outskirts of Rockford in northern Illinois. A paved pathway runs through the park and loops around Baumann Park...
Swanson Park Recreation Path is sometimes known as the Cherry Valley Path as it's located in the Village of Cherry Valley on the outskirts of Rockford in northern Illinois. The paved path travels...
Although the Phyllis Harmon Path is short, it's an important connector in an east-west bike/ped route between Arlington Heights and Glencoe. Following Dundee Road, the paved trail goes from the Des...
The Rockton Main Street Path is situated off the Rock River on the southern end of downtown Rockton, a charming Midwestern village near the Illinois–Wisconsin border. It begins at Settler's Park,...
The 13.5-mile Lake Michigan Pathway keeps you in close touch with the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world as it links rail-trails north and south of the port city of Racine. Along the way, the...
The Rock Valley College Path is a paved route looping around and through its namesake campus in Rockford. At its southern end, it connects to the Spring Brook Road bike lanes that continue east to the...
Ridgefield Trace currently consists of two short segments open for use. The western section runs from McHenry County College on US 14 in Crystal Lake to just west of N. Oak Street. Active railroad...
Racine County's eastern edge is home to the MRK Trail, a rail-with-trail that extends north from the City of Racine to the Village of Caledonia. Because Racine County standardized its signs several...
The Long Prairie Trail began life as a section of the Kenosha Division Rail Line in the 1850s, when most small communities in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin were serviced by the...
The Kishwaukee-Kiwanis Trail winds through the northern Illinois town of DeKalb, coursing along a river, through woodlands, among open spaces through parks and through suburban back yards. The trail...
The Tall Grass Greenway Trail is a trail that runs along the right of way for ComEd powerlines. The trail goes mainly through neighborhoods in south Naperville, and meets up with the south branch of...
El Paseo runs through the vibrant Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen, once home to a large Czech population but now the center of the Lower West Side’s Latino community. The neighborhood is filled with...
Ridgefield Trace currently consists of two short segments open for use. The western section runs from McHenry County College on US 14 in Crystal Lake to just west of N. Oak Street. Active railroad...
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The Skokie Valley Trail in Cook County parallels active train tracks in the Village of Skokie, providing easy access to both the Oakton–Skokie and Dempster–Skokie stations on the CTA’s Yellow Line....
The Mel Anderson Memorial Path, named for a long-serving alderman of the Seventh Ward, stretches nearly 3 miles, connecting Lockwood Park, Searls Park, Bressler Park and Talcott-Page Park. Mid-way,...
This path runs along Mitchell Road, starting in Machesney Park. The trail heads north and then travels east where it terminates at Sunny Meadow Drive outside of Russ Park. This short path is just...
The Techny Trail links downtown Glenview, a charming village northwest of Chicago, with the Techny Basin, a scenic wetlands area adjacent to the West Fork of the Chicago River's North Branch....
The Joliet Junction Trail is a paved path that travels north–south through the west side of Joliet. It occupies an abandoned Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway corridor that in its last years was known...
The DeKalb Nature Trail provides a pleasant, tree-lined route in northern DeKalb. Near its western trailhead, it crosses the Kishwaukee River and passes through the Nehring Forest Preserve. Further...
The Oswego Prairie Trail is a short paved route that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison. The path forms a direct link between two parks in Oswego—Farmington...
The Puri Path is a paved route in Rock Cut State Park, a beautiful outdoor destination of more than 3,000 acres for the city of Rockford. The path runs through the heavily wooded northeast corner of...
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The 4.4-mile River Bend Trail is so named for the loop of Fox River along which it follows on its eastern end. It's here that you can connect to the scenic Fox River Trail to travel 43 miles along the...
The Cal-Sag Trail (or, Calumet-Sag Trail) is currently under active construction. As of August 2015, it has a competed section of about 10 miles, stretching from near its eventual western terminus to...
The Northerly Island Trail offers access to a vast, natural oasis in one of the largest cities in America. Chicago’s Northerly Island—actually a 91-acre peninsula—was designed by Daniel H. Burnham,...
The John Husar I&M Canal Trail is the northernmost trail developed on the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor. The Illinois & Michigan Canal provided the final link in the water route...
The H.U.M. Trail (a.k.a. the Huntley-Union-Marengo Trail) was planned to link all three of its namesake northern Illinois towns, but so far only connects Marengo and Union. Interestingly, the...
The Paul Douglas and Crabtree Preserve Trail System connects two large nature preserves in northwestern Cook County. The trail begins at the Old Stover Trailhead in the Crabtree Preserve, near the...
What a mess, needs some gravel, no signs pointing to where to go.
I road my bike from the 1800 block of Glenn Drive to 33rd Street in Zion and found it to be a tiring yet exhilarating experience.
North Chicago and Waukegan isn't as bad as some people think it is. I've never heard of anyone being mugged or assaulted while biking, walking, running or jogging through North Chicago and Waukegan. AVON runners do an annual run on the bike path from Milwaukee to Chicago in the name of breast cancer awareness and to raise money for research. Ragnar runners also come through on an annual basis.
There are some really parts to the trail once you get into Waukegan and beyond.
I rode this trail in June 2017. It is in the shape of a "T" and is completely paved and exceptionally beautiful, especially the "stem" of the T and the stretch running from the top of the "stem" to Perryville Rd.
Really a mud / dirt path with some gravel in places. Not good even for cyclocross bikes. I can't imagine why they say this is wheelchair accessible either. There are huge tire tracks in the mud/dirt making it difficult to ride. Too bad because it's nice running along the river and has lots of shade. Won't do this again.
Recently, I bought a comfort bike, and I've only been riding about a month before today's trek. I started at the western end, in Hebron. I was able to park in town without difficulty, and then walked the bike up to Church Street and rode on into the trail heading east.
In terms of the views, this is a very nice ride with plenty of trees, marsh, prairie, and farmland as the backdrop. There is a rough section with existing railroad tracks that had some confusing signage (eastbound), and riding on Lange Road a short distance to continue the trail. After crossing Keystone Rd., it is also signed as the North Branch, and at this point there are some hills that take you to its eastern end... a relatively flat portion of the Prairie Trail about a third of a mile south of the stateline.
For a starting bicyclist like me, I appreciate the width of the trail, the distance, the fairly flat terrain (excepting the North Branch concurrency), and of course the view. A weekday afternoon ride was fairly isolated, only encountering a couple of hikers and bikes on the trail. I found it to be a peaceful ride and a great way to enjoy a beautiful sunny day.
The primary negative is the trail surface. At times, it felt like I was riding in a sandbox. I had to work harder to keep momentum, which wasn't a bad thing. However, I was concerned that I could easily lose traction when I picked up speed or was taking a curve. (It felt like the bike could just slide out from under me...) Though even that was not as bad as the dirt track that runs next to railroad tracks just west of Lange Road. Fortunately, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, this goes for a short distance (100-150 yards); but even without a measurable rain in a few days there was mud and a few ruts that made this portion difficult.
I'm sure as I visit more trails and do more riding, I will have a better overview for the overall quality. I would make this trip again, so long as the weather is and has been dry for a few days.
Last fall, the FPD extended this trail to Forest Glen Park, near the Metra stop and across from the Chicago Canine Rescue. It is a wonderful addition and saves me the trouble of taking 1.5 miles of city streets to the trailhead at Devon & Caldwell. Others have covered this trail extensively. I just wanted to add that the total distance from Devon & Caldwell to the southern gate of the Chicago Botanic Gardens is just over 17 miles (not 20 miles as it says on Google maps and the FPD map). The 20 miles includes the entire circuit around Skokie Lagoon. You obviously wouldn't be riding around the entire Skokie Lagoon circuit in order to get to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Once inside the southern gate, it is approximately 1 mile to the main building at the Gardens. All together, it is about 19.5 miles from Forest Glen to the main building at the Gardens.
The trail is in decent condition, and the run along the river is scenic. Beware the geese, they can be aggressive!
The Lincolnwood connection to the Sauganash Trail mentioned in another review is now in place. The trail is now around 5 miles long, but has busy road crossings at Devon, Touhy, Lincoln and Howard. Also the photos on this page are of the Lake County section of the SV Trail. It will still be awhile before the two are connected.
Just spent an hour trying to find parking to get on trail in Lombard. Street parking limited to 1 hour and public parking limited to Lombard residents. Very frustrating. Web site should have been more helpful as should trailheads
The section beginning near Knock Knolls park in Naperville/Bolingbrook heading north into downtown Naperville is great. The path avoids most interaction with the nearby roads, allowing you to ride on smooth pavement, uninterrupted, for many miles until you hit downtown. The section downtown Naperville is a bit windy through some streets, but downtown is a great place to stop for some food and whatnot.
The trail from Knock Knolls to Lake Whalon in Bolingbrook is also great, with a lot of good scenery and wildlife along the way.
I have done this trail a few times with my friend. It was semi-open and is a nice easy flat ride. The view is nice to ride through but would not be my choice for a windy day for lack of protection. If you looking for a nice all day ride path this is it. Start on one side, do a nice lunch at the other side town and ride back. The path is not busy even on weekends so have fun with it.
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