Find the top rated trails in Evanston, 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.
_134498_st.jpg)
_134986_st.jpg)
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...
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 Pennsy Greenway is currently open in three segments between Calumet City, Illinois, and Schererville, Indiana. The northern portion begins at the southern end of the Burnham Greenway in Calumet...
The Burnham Greenway is composed of two distinct portions that both run along a former railroad corridor between Chicago and Lansing, Illinois. There are plans to extend and connect these short...
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...
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 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 popular Rock Run Greenway Trail is a balanced mix of natural areas and cityscapes that alternate over the length of the trail. The natural areas are frequented by recreational users. The...
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 Prairie Point Trail is a scenic neighborhood route that connects twice to the longer Grove Road Trail. While never far from houses, the trail offers surprising scenery, including a stretch along a...
_0_sc.jpg)
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 Pike River Pathway is a short trail on both sides of the reconstructed Pike River in the Village of Mount Pleasant. The path is convenient to several neighborhoods in the community. Birds, frogs...
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,...
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 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 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...
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...
_136547_sc.jpg)
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...
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...
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 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 Robert McClory Bike Path is notorious for its conglomeration of names over the years. At any given time—and depending on whom you ask—it has been called the Green Bay Trail and the North Shore...
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 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...
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...
The Virgil Gilman Trail travels through forest and prairie, from a quiet, rural community college campus all the way into suburban Chicago. The trail's namesake, Virgil Gilman,was director of the Fox...
Traveling along the Wauponsee Glacial Trail, you'll be surprised just how quickly you can move from an urban environment into the rolling fields of the Midwest. Starting in Joliet, within shouting...
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...
The North Shore Bike Path runs for nearly 8 miles between Lake Bluff and Mundelein, paralleling State Route 176 for the path's entire length. The trail is one of dozens in the Chicagoland area, all of...
Prospect Heights Bike Path runs between Woodland Trails Park and Country Garden Park, paralleling the commuter rail tracks on its northsouth leg. The trail provides a nice off-road route through the...
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 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 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...
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...
The Grove Road Trail parallels the local thoroughfare in the Village of Oswego, located near the southwestern edge of the Chicagoland metropolitan area. In the north, the trail begins on the east...
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 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...
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...
_119089_sc.jpg)
The Prairie Trail—not to be confused with the Illinois Prairie Path—runs border-to-border, entirely within McHenry County, Illinois, and is managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. It is...
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,...
_76589_sc.jpg)
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 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 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 Burnham Greenway is composed of two distinct portions that both run along a former railroad corridor between Chicago and Lansing, Illinois. There are plans to extend and connect these short...
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...
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...
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 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 Grove Road Trail parallels the local thoroughfare in the Village of Oswego, located near the southwestern edge of the Chicagoland metropolitan area. In the north, the trail begins on the east...
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 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...
_111257_sc.jpg)
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...
_0_sc.jpg)
Racine’s southeastern neighborhoods are home to the North Shore Trail, which extends south to the Racine–Kenosha county line. Because Racine County standardized its signs several years ago, you won't...
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...
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 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 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 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 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 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...
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
My husband, son and myself rode this trail May 24, 2017. We started at the Lake Avenue, Wilmette trailhead. We quickly ran out of both path and trail signs when we got to Cumnor Road at the end of a section traversing Townley Field in Winnetka. We used Google Maps on our phone to find the trail again by turning left on Cumnor, right on Melrose, left on Abbotsford, left on Ivy Lane, and looked for the trail on our right. North of there we had no troubles following the trail.
We passed several playgrounds and parks, some rustic areas and others which had been re-planted with native flora, as well as easy access to several North Shore downtown areas.
When we reached the crossing at Lake-Cook Rd we turned left (west) and rode past the Turnbull Woods and McDonald Woods Forest Preserves to reach the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Entrance is free and the Gardens are extensive. There is a charming cafe at which we refreshed and relaxed before returning to our starting point in Wilmette.
This is a trail to which you can return again and again, and take many fun side trips.
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
_138551_st.jpg)
_49791_st.jpg)
_135428_st.jpg)
_132697_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
_119089_st.jpg)
_76589_st.jpg)
_136547_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
_122211_st.jpg)
_111257_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
