Find the top rated trails in Cedar Lake, 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 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...
Although just shy of two miles, the Veterans Memorial Trail provides a wooded, paved trail experience for residents in the Chicago suburbs of Romeoville, Lemont, and Woodridge. Those seeking a longer...
The Oak Savannah Trail takes its name from the unique ecosystem that it runs through. Once pervasive throughout northern Indiana, the oak savannah is a transitional zone between forest and prairie,...
The Orland Park Bikeway provides a great connector across the Chicago suburb of Orland Park. On its southern end, the trail begins at W. 159th Street and winds its way through Centennial Park, which...
The Chesapeake and Ohio Greenway (also referred to as the C&O Trail) offers a short, paved route through Merrillville, a town just a few miles south of Gary and the southern tip of Lake Michigan. The...
Located east of Lakeshore Drive, the Chicago Lakefront Trail is an 18.5-mile linear park along Lake Michigan that includes beaches, volleyball courts, playgrounds, baseball diamonds, tennis courts and...
Indiana's Panhandle Pathway links Winamac to Kenneth and communities in between, 21 miles of paved cycling, skating and walking. This spectacular rail-trail passes through bucolic Midwestern farmland,...
The Palos Heights Bike Trail offers a north-south route through residential and commercial areas on the west side of the community. It's also a key connector between two regionally important...
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 Erie Lackawanna (EL) Trail represents the longest contiguous trail in Northwest Indiana, running 17-miles from Crown Point north to Hammond. This trail passes through wetlands and open space on an...
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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 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...
As the name suggests, the Lake George trail travels along the north shore of Lake George, turning north at Calumet Ave/US 41 to skirt the east shore of Wolf Lake. From Lake George the trail also heads...
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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...
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The Tinley Creek Trail is currently in two segments. This southern segment is within the South Green Belt Forest Preserve between Flossmor and Matteson, just west of I-57. The trail traverses wooded...
The Dunes Kankakee Trail is a 3-mile walking and bike path that begins in the Indiana Dunes State Park and travels south to Chesterton. It connects the Calumet Trail, which is also in the state park,...
The Commonwealth Edison Bikeway is a short paved trail that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison, the local utility company—hence the trail's name. While lacking...
The Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) is one of the country's first rail-trail conversions. It consists of five connected trail segments with three main branches that converge at Volunteer Park in Wheaton....
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The Monon Trail in Lake County, Indiana—not to be confused with the trail of the same name in Indianapolis—links the two Chicago suburbs of Hammond and Munster. The paved trail occupies an abandoned...
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Illinois’ Centennial Trail runs through parts of three suburban counties from Willow Springs Road to Romeo Road/135th Street southwest of Chicago. The trail occupies a thin strip of land between 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 Dunes Kankakee Trail is a 3-mile walking and bike path that begins in the Indiana Dunes State Park and travels south to Chesterton. It connects the Calumet Trail, which is also in the state park,...
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 Chesapeake and Ohio Greenway (also referred to as the C&O Trail) offers a short, paved route through Merrillville, a town just a few miles south of Gary and the southern tip of Lake Michigan. The...
The Orland Park Bikeway provides a great connector across the Chicago suburb of Orland Park. On its southern end, the trail begins at W. 159th Street and winds its way through Centennial Park, which...
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 Fermilab Trail garners its name by running though the campus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the former home of the Tevatron particle accelerator. The 3.9-mile particle...
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...
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...
Just 1 mile long, the Valley Line Trail—also known as the Sauganash Trail—extends between Bryn Mawr Avenue and Devon Avenue in the Chicago neighborhood of Sauganash. Two bridges allow for safe...
The beautiful North Branch Trail is named for the North Branch of the Chicago River, along which it winds. At its northern end, the trail begins at the south end of the Chicago Botanic Garden and...
The Erie Lackawanna (EL) Trail represents the longest contiguous trail in Northwest Indiana, running 17-miles from Crown Point north to Hammond. This trail passes through wetlands and open space on an...
The Thorn Creek Trail offers a paved 17-mile route traversing woodlands abundant with wildlife through several communities on the southern outskirts of Chicago. The trail travels from Brownwell Woods...
The Kankakee River Trail is fairly wooded and runs primarily through Kankakee River State Park. Walkers, bicyclists, and cross-country skiers can enjoy more than ten miles of trail along the north...
Illinois’ Centennial Trail runs through parts of three suburban counties from Willow Springs Road to Romeo Road/135th Street southwest of Chicago. The trail occupies a thin strip of land between the...
The trail system in Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve makes a loop around the entire park. The preserve is geologically significant, featuring glacier-carved rock ridges, ravines and wetland potholes,...
The Iron Horse Heritage Trail in Portage, Indiana, runs for 5 miles between Max Mochal Road (SR 149) at the east end and County Line Road near US 20 at the west end. The trail passes through a...
The Palos Heights Bike Trail offers a north-south route through residential and commercial areas on the west side of the community. It's also a key connector between two regionally important...
The Monon Trail in Lake County, Indiana—not to be confused with the trail of the same name in Indianapolis—links the two Chicago suburbs of Hammond and Munster. The paved trail occupies an abandoned...
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....
This regional trail connects two of DuPage County's forest preserves—Herrick Lake and Danada—on a crushed stone pathway nearly 6 miles long. Together, the preserves cover more than 1,600 acres of...
The Fermilab Trail garners its name by running though the campus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the former home of the Tevatron particle accelerator. The 3.9-mile particle...
The Commonwealth Edison Bikeway is a short paved trail that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison, the local utility company—hence the trail's name. While lacking...
The Orland Park Bikeway provides a great connector across the Chicago suburb of Orland Park. On its southern end, the trail begins at W. 159th Street and winds its way through Centennial Park, which...
The Erie Lackawanna (EL) Trail represents the longest contiguous trail in Northwest Indiana, running 17-miles from Crown Point north to Hammond. This trail passes through wetlands and open space on an...
The Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) is one of the country's first rail-trail conversions. It consists of five connected trail segments with three main branches that converge at Volunteer Park in Wheaton....
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...
Although just shy of two miles, the Veterans Memorial Trail provides a wooded, paved trail experience for residents in the Chicago suburbs of Romeoville, Lemont, and Woodridge. Those seeking a longer...
The Monon Trail in Lake County, Indiana—not to be confused with the trail of the same name in Indianapolis—links the two Chicago suburbs of Hammond and Munster. The paved trail occupies an abandoned...
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The Veterans Memorial Bikeway begins in Hebron in northwestern Indiana’s Porter County. From there, it follows the diagonal route of the former Pennsylvania Railroad for just over 8 miles through Lake...
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 Dunes Kankakee Trail is a 3-mile walking and bike path that begins in the Indiana Dunes State Park and travels south to Chesterton. It connects the Calumet Trail, which is also in the state park,...
The Kankakee River Trail is fairly wooded and runs primarily through Kankakee River State Park. Walkers, bicyclists, and cross-country skiers can enjoy more than ten miles of trail along the north...
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...
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The eastern segment of the Great Western Trail in Illinois follows 12 miles of an abandoned railway corridor through DuPage County, between Villa Park and West Chicago. There are plans to extend the...
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The Salt Creek Trail travels nearly 27 miles from the Brookfield Zoo to Busse Woods Forest Preserve. Along the way it connects several beautiful county forest preserves and other woodland...
The Calumet Trail traverses the south side of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a unique ecosystem of forest, marsh, dunes and beach along Lake Michigan. This dirt and crushed limestone path...
Illinois’ Centennial Trail runs through parts of three suburban counties from Willow Springs Road to Romeo Road/135th Street southwest of Chicago. The trail occupies a thin strip of land between the...
The North Judson Erie Trail occupies the railbanked right-of-way of the former JK Line Railroad, running 9 miles from downtown North Judson southeast to US 35 near Bass Lake. Eventually, the trail...
As its name implies, the beautiful Prairie Duneland Trail offers snapshots of the flora and fauna—from hardwood forest to remnant prairie grasslands—that once dominated this region. In spite of the...
My wife and I found this trail for the first time today. It was a beautiful, scenic 20+mile stretch which was immaculate and well kept. The asphalt had zero cracks and looked brand new. Bridges over the Tippecanoe River and Indian creek were very nice. Got to meet some of the volunteers - Friends of the Panhandle Pathway. Very Nice people!. Drove 2 hours from Dyer Indiana to get there. It was definitely worth the drive.
What a mess, needs some gravel, no signs pointing to where to go.
This trail is a pretty good shorter trail. I rode it in June, so views of the Kankakee River (which runs close to the trail) were limited because of the dense vegetation. But still, there are great wide-open views of the river in the State Park area, as well at as the Warner Bridge area, west of the park (the park has a great viewing platform right next to the trail that sits high above the river, great for photos). Be aware that there are some steep grades on this trail in spots. The section of the trail that I rode (from the state park westward) was completely paved and pretty smooth. There are nice brick washrooms in the State Park, right next to the trail.
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 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.
The directions to the difficult to find Southern trailhead is go to 600 W off of Hwy 24 and go North. 600 W is 4.5 miles West of the Hwy 29 exit on to Hwy 24/35. Once on 600 W go 0.25 miles to 50 N at the Pisgah Christian Church and go East another 0.25 miles to the trailhead. The trail starts 0.8 miles South of this trailhead at a dead end. From the dead end the trail heads North around 22 miles to another dead end at 11th Street in Winnemac. There are trees along the trail for about quarter of the way and it follows Hwy 35. The trail is flat and paved asphalt. The trail is very picturesque
as it travels through the small towns between Logansport and Winnemac. If you are looking for a getaway from Indianapolis, it is about an hours drive to Logansport. You won't be disappointed.
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
Essentially, worse than an unpaved road as we biked thru standing water with tadpoles swimming about.
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.
My friend and I love doing the I&M canal as it is mostly shade and flat. The path is crushed stone and covered with trees. The path comes close to the river once in a while, but don't come to this path expecting a nice river view. This is a remote path with few rural towns in between. I recommend the part between Morris and Channahon as this part seems to be kept up regularly. Also check for path closures on the I&M before you go. We have had to re-plan our trip a few times finding out the part we wanted to go on was closed. Currently west of Seneca is not kept up with over run grass on the path and around it, we just found that out.
I've only ridden this trail once, near Channahon (which has great parking at the State Park), and it was very good and interesting. Not paved, but still easy to bike or walk. In the area in which I rode, you have the I and M Canal on one side and the Des Plaines River on the other. As you ride, you go past historical sites of the canal which are a great bonus. Also, you can fish in the DuPage River at Channahon.
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