Explore the best rated trails in Elk Grove Village, IL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail and ComEd Greenway. With more than 125 trails covering 4881 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Lake Arlington is an artificial lake and popular recreation area in Arlington Heights in Cook County. The park features amenities to interest visitors of all ages and it is a local favorite for family...
Lake Renwick Preserve is home to an artificial lake of the same name that was created from former quarries where aggregates for concrete were once mined. Today, the lake is a recreational amenity in...
The Long Prairie Trail journeys across the width of agricultural Boone County for nearly 14 miles on the railroad corridor previously used by the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, later known as the...
The KR Trail is a new addition to Kenosha County’s growing bike-ped network. The trail picks up where the Kenosha County Bike Trail leaves off, in Petrifying Springs Park. From the northwest corner of...
The Root River Pathway uses a combination of off-road trail and on-road route to form a crescent around the City of Racine. The trail closely follows the bends of the Root River, making it a great...
Note: Erosion caused by surging waves off Lake Michigan has caused the trail to collapse in sections. The eastern half of the trail along Lake Michigan is closed indefinitely. See the Chicago Park...
The Gary Green Link Trail is part of the Buchanan Street Green Gateway project and follows the Grand Calumet River starting at Bridge Street on its way to Broadway at City Hall. It is about 4.4 miles...
The Chicago Lakefront Trail is aptly named; it spans 19 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan, going right through downtown Chicago and passing many cultural and tourist attractions throughout the...
Prairies and dunes are just two of the natural features you’ll experience on the Prairie Duneland Trail, located just a few miles south of the Lake Michigan shoreline and the Indiana Dunes National...
The Pike River Pathway is a paved, multi-use trail that runs along both sides of the reconstructed Pike River through the Village of Mount Pleasant and unincorporated parts of Racine County. The path...
The Major Taylor Trail is named after legendary African American cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor, who was one of the most celebrated bicycle racers of the late nineteenth century, setting several...
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...
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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...
Although just shy of three 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...
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...
About an hour northwest of Chicago, the beautiful Grant Woods Forest Preserve spans more than 1,000 acres, offering an outdoor respite of prairie, woodlands and marshes. The crushed limestone pathway...
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...
The Prairie Crossing Bike Path is a hard surface trail connecting Mundelein to Grayslake in central Lake County, Illinois. The trail is perpendicular to the 30-plus-mile Millennium Trail, which it...
The Randall Road Bike Trail offers a 4-mile paved north-south route along its namesake roadway in a suburb west of Chicago. A highlight of the journey is the trail's passage through the LeRoy Oakes...
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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 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 Hebron Trail rolls across the northern Illinois prairie through the former corridor of the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, known as the Kenosha Division Line at the time of its demise in 1939....
The Kuhn Road Trail starts on Lies Road, at Glenbard North High School and continues south along Kuhn Road, past single-family homes and Friendship Park. The trail officially ends at Barbara O'Rahilly...
About an hour northwest of Chicago, the beautiful Grant Woods Forest Preserve spans more than 1,000 acres, offering an outdoor respite of prairie, woodlands and marshes. The crushed limestone pathway...
Prospect Heights has very few sidewalks, so biking, inline skating or walking are moved to the streets or in the parks. Don't underestimate the Prospect Heights Bike Path which is over four miles of...
The Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve is a natural gem hidden in an high-income neighborhood of Lake Forest, Illinois. Those 600 acres are home to perhaps the best-preserved example of the rare...
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 Virgil L. Gilman Trail travels from quiet forest and prairie lands to bustling neighborhoods in just 11 miles, linking a woodsy community college campus with the eastern Chicago suburb of...
Turkey Creek Trail is a short but sweet walk or ride through the beautiful Ivan Gatlin Nature Preserve in the northwestern Indiana community of Schererville. This wetland area provides the opportunity...
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 Waubonsie Trail links Boulder Hill and the Village of Oswego via a greenway corridor within a residential community. The eastern trailhead is in Jaycee Park, which offers a playground, picnic...
The Buffalo Creek Trail makes a loop around the scenic Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve in Long Grove. The crushed-gravel trail provides access to facilities throughout the park. Along the way, you’ll...
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 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...
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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 Erie Lackawanna Trail connects Crown Point and Hammond, two former rail junctions whose early fortunes were tied to the tracks carrying people and goods to and from Chicago. Despite traveling...
The 9-mile Green Bay Trail runs parallel to Chicago's Metra commuter rail line north of the Chicago city limits. Stretching through North Shore towns such as Kenilworth, Winnetka, Highland Park and...
Prairies and dunes are just two of the natural features you’ll experience on the Prairie Duneland Trail, located just a few miles south of the Lake Michigan shoreline and the Indiana Dunes National...
The Gary Green Link Trail is part of the Buchanan Street Green Gateway project and follows the Grand Calumet River starting at Bridge Street on its way to Broadway at City Hall. It is about 4.4 miles...
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 Deer Grove Trail is one of several great Chicagoland trails located in properties of the Forest Preserve of Cook County. Deer Grove is the oldest of all the Cook County preserves. It's comprised...
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...
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 Hickory Creek Bikeway offers nearly 4 miles of paved pathway through a wooded preserve. On its western end, the trail begins at Hickory Creek Barrens Nature Preserve and Lincolnway Road; on the...
The Millennium Trail currently spans just over 30 miles in two disconnected segments, but there are plans to extend it to 35 miles and connect it to the Des Plaines River Trail. The trail goes through...
This shared-use path runs east-west through the village of Carol Stream in Du Page county. Sitting on the grassy north side of Lies Road between Fair Oaks Road and Gary Avenue, the path is used as an...
The North Branch Trail follows the North Branch of the Chicago River over 20 miles through Cook County. The trail was originally a dirt path often used for horseback riding; though it’s now paved, an...
The Chicago Lakefront Trail is aptly named; it spans 19 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan, going right through downtown Chicago and passing many cultural and tourist attractions throughout the...
The Great Divide Trail sits is a one mile non-motorized trail through a negihborhood at the northern tip of Joliet, Illinois. The paved trail, which sits in the shadow of electric transmission lines,...
The Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail follows the eponymous waterway alongside the Illinois River. It traverses the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, designated in 1984 and the first...
The Ridgefield Trace is a multi-use pathway that runs through suburban Crystal Lake, Illinois. The trail takes its name from the original Indian trace that once ran along the route of what is now...
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 Union Pacific Recreation Path offers a short route through the Village of Lincolnwood's east side between Devon and Touhy avenues. Following the former Union Pacific Railroad, the rail-trail...
The Timber Ridge trail is located on the eastern side of the Timber Ridge Forest Preserve in west Chicago. The preserve offers several trails, fishing, picnicking, and is home to Kline Creek Farms,...
The Marquette Trail is part of the Marquette Greenway, which will one day span more than 50 miles through Northwest Indiana, connecting communities along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The...
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...
The Little Calumet River Levee Trail zig-zags east-west between Gary and Munster in Lake County, bringing residents to the river and its wetlands, and offering ample opportunities for birding and...
The ComEd Greenway is an asphalt multiuse pathway running north-south through the village of Bollingbrook. The trail's name is an abbreviation of Commonwealth Edison, the name of the electric utility...
First-time visitors to the Oak Savannah Trail might be surprised at the profusion of natural areas they’ll encounter as they travel the 9.5 miles between Hobart and Griffith in northern Indiana’s...
The Southern Dupage County Regional Trail connects multiple of the larger forest preserves in Dupage county together. Starting near the intersection of 75th st and Ogden Ave in Aurora, the trail runs...
Rode this train on 8/14/22. We did the entire trail, including the loop around the lake. There are several road crossings, but the busy roads have traffic signals to make it safe. This trail goes through dense woods, open meadows, small towns, and along Thorn Creek. The pavement was excellent and the trail was not crowded at all.
I initially did this trail, in the Cook County Forest Preserves maybe 3o years ago. On my recent return, I find that the trail has been extended both to the south and to the north. Totally paved trail in good condition. You will find a few bridges over major roads and the other street crossing were either at traffic signals or were at more minor roads. The nice part is the forest tree shading over the path that is very curvy and rolling. The south extension has a nice bridge over the double track railroad-probably why the extension took so long to fund the construction. At the north end, the trail does go thru the Chicago Botanical Gardens (when it is open) and now the new north extension connects east to the junction of the Green Bay Trail and the Robert McClory Bike Path. 43 miles out and back on a very nice day for riding.
A nice ride. The hub is a good place to start.
1. A bridge across the channel just north of Lincoln Avenue now connects the two main sections of the trail. This means you can go from Devon Avenue to Argyle Avenue with no street crossings.
2. The trail through the Evanston arboretum is now paved, so the west side path is continuous from Lincoln to Green Bay Road.
If you like roads then you'll like this trail.
Hit this trail in two different trips. Came on 7/21/2022 and started at Daniel Wright Woods and headed north, rode about 20 miles north. The trail was limestone and appeared to be in relatively good shape. Trail was a mixture of shade and sun. This part of the trail was well maintained and enjoyable. On 7/28/2022, we came back, started at the Half Way Forest Preserve and headed south. The first 5 miles were just like the week before, well maintained and after that things drastically got worse. There was a lack of signage and also the trail was very poorly maintained. We had to worry about going around so many mud puddles and also there were plenty of areas where it looked like rain at one time washed out the area and made nice sized gulley's. We got 11 miles in and the trail abruptly ends...no signage or maps at all to tell you where you need to go. Luckily, I had my phone and checked the traillink app, but we decided, that we had enough of the rough terrain, that we headed back. Such a disappointment.
One issue with this trail is the entry spur that parallels Bode road just west of Barrington. This section is full of tiny GLASS particles that are causing numerous flat bike tires.
Trail Connects some really nice smaller trails together and some larger trails as well like the Illinois prairie path. The connectors between a smaller trails generally run long busy streets and are not very well-maintained but if they were this would be an outstanding way to see some really nice trails that are scattered all out in the southwest suburbs.
This was not at all about prairies or dunes. It was nicely paved and shady suburban trail. Needed to be trimmed back some but over all very nice. Had more road crossings than we like but I would ride it again.
I agree with the other reviewers that the trail is generally much better in Lake county north of Lake Cook road. Although sections of the trail south of Lake Cook Road are rough, I did not have any problems riding it with my no suspension, narrow tire hybrid bike. The trail is also not well marked in Cook county. Some may consider those as negative but I actually liked that the Cook county portion was more natural and challenging. In some ways it was more enjoyable to ride than the well manicured portion further north.
I rode the Cook county portion in mid summer. I can see that sections may be flooded at times, especially in the spring.
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