Explore the best rated trails in Frankfort, IL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail and Tall Grass Greenway Trail. With more than 91 trails covering 888 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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In just a few short miles, the Wauponsee Glacial Trail leaves the urban confines of Joliet to bask in open farmland and reclaimed tallgrass prairie where the bison roam again. Named for a glacial lake...
Little Calumet River Levee Trail stretches from Munster to Gary, Indiana. The trail zigs and zags through a number of local parks including Riverside Park, Wicker Memorial Park, Homestead Park,...
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,...
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 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...
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...
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...
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 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 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,...
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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 Lincolnwood Valley Line Trail connects the existing Valley Line Trail (Sauganash Trail) to the Skokie Valley Trail in Cook County. Like the previous segments, this trail occupies a former Union...
Running between the suburbs of Chicago Heights and Joliet, the Old Plank Road Trail offers views of oak trees and sugar maples, prairie grasses, and wildflowers that peek up through the...
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 Poplar Creek Trail is a 9.5-mile paved loop around Poplar Creek Forest Preserve near Hoffman Estates. The trail has a couple of hills but is otherwise level and makes for a pleasant journey...
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 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...
The Busse Woods Trail system is located within Ned Brown Forest Preserve, a 3,700-acre property in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago. There are 11.2 miles of paved trails for cyclists, equestrians...
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 Stearns Road Bike Path is a dedicated sidepath traveling from Hanover Park to the Bartlett, in the Chicago suburbs. The asphalt path sits on the north side of Greenbrook Boulevard/ Stearns Road,...
The Vale Park West Pathway is a multiuse trail in the Chicago suburb of Valparaiso. At 0.7 mile long, the trail passes through a mix of woodland and prairie, as well as over a creek on a 220-foot...
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...
The Busse Woods Trail system is located within Ned Brown Forest Preserve, a 3,700-acre property in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago. There are 11.2 miles of paved trails for cyclists, equestrians...
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The western segment of the Great Western Trail in Illinois follows 17 miles of a former railway corridor through DeKalb and Kane counties, between LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve and the town of Sycamore....
The Pennsy Greenway stretches between Calumet City, Illinois, and Schererville, Indiana. The trail begins at the southern end of the Burnham Greenway on the eastern edge of the Forest Preserve...
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...
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The Bloomingdale Trail, part of “The 606” park system, is a 3-mile, elevated rail-trail on Chicago’s northwest side. Built on a former rail line, the trail sits 17 feet above four of the city’s...
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...
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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...
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 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...
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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....
Leave the cars at home: the Route 30 Bike Path gives users an alternative way to travel from the Village of Frankfort in the east, through Mokena to New Lenox in the west, a distance of over 7.5...
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...
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When complete, the Veterans Memorial Trail will stretch close to 12 miles, connecting a series of memorials honoring US veterans from every era. At present, 1.3 miles are complete and usable, located...
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 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 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 city of Joliet saw its electric utility corridors as a recreational opportunity. One such trail is the Fort Beggs Bike Trail, which starts on Theodore Street and heads northwest in the shadow of...
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...
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 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...
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The Fort Beggs Bike Trail (North) is a nearly mile-and-a-half long trail in Plainfield, Illinois. The trail shares the electric utility right-of-way, stretching from Fort Beggs Drive south to Spring...
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The northern section of the Tinley Creek Trail is a series of color-coded connected loops and spurs that weave through several forest preserves in Cook County. The 24-mile trail system is paved,...
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...
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 city of Joliet saw its electric utility corridors as a recreational opportunity. One such trail is the Fort Beggs Bike Trail, which starts on Theodore Street and heads northwest in the shadow of...
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 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...
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 Preservation Path is a two-mile paved trail in the community of Matteson, Illinois. The path begins on Vollmer Road and terminates at the Old Plank Road Trail. The trail is paved with center...
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...
In just a few short miles, the Wauponsee Glacial Trail leaves the urban confines of Joliet to bask in open farmland and reclaimed tallgrass prairie where the bison roam again. Named for a glacial lake...
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...
The Des Plaines River Trail runs alongside the Des Plaines River for just over 56 miles, protecting watershed habitat and forestland through much of Lake and Cook Counties. The trail is a natural...
Located in the west side of Illinois' second largest city, this flat, straight bike path sits on the side of Orchard Road. The trail passes by commercial, residential and natural areas, and crucially,...
The Marquette Trail offers picturesque views of Lake Michigan as it travels through the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. This scenic route follows an abandoned rail line through a variety of diverse...
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 Lily Cache Greenway travels east-west across Bollingbrook, from the ComEd Greenway to the Plainfield border. The trail more or less follows the course of its namesake creek, and is characterized...
The DuPage River Trail spans over 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 and...
This is a great trail for kids. My son and I went rollerblading. The trail is flat, so no big hills to manage. We had an awesome time!
We rode this trail today and loved the beautiful fall colors! We started at Danada off of Naperville Rd....loved the scenery, trail width and Herrick Lake! We then connected to Blackwell Forest Preserve via Butterfield for a longer ride (turning in just past Winfield Rd) Blackwell was beautiful, too! We found Two Brothers in Warrenville for lunch but used the GPS to find that and jump back on trail. 20 mile round trip...a great day!!!
We started at Gebhard Woods State Park. Lovely day for a fall ride. There was a big sign telling us how far to ride to Seneca or Channahan, etc. we chose to ride to Channahan: however barely a half mile down the road there was a fence and there was no way around it. So we went toward Seneca...the trail was crushed gravel and grass and narrow but easy to ride. Might be a challenge to pass for newer riders, but it was a fairly flat ride and wooded. We enjoyed the ride. We rode from the state park on the roads to downtown Morris (which was lovely) after our trail ride. Took about 5 minutes to ride there.
Well maintained forested trail connecting to the prairie dune land trail. Relatively flat and straight, the trail is forest covered and goes in short part through a subdivision where it is not marked that it continues after a short street ride. As mentioned, a short trail but if in the area worth biking.
I hesitate to write a review as of this well maintained trail because it's our "go to" on busy bike trail weekends where it remains relatively empty particularly on the east side. Relatively flat the trail follows the banks of the Des Plaines river and Sanitary and Ship canal. This bankside forested path is broken up by some water based industry that is also unique to observe.
On the north end of this well maintained trail you would not know your in the heart of a vibrant metropolitan city. At the north end be sure to add the Dan Ryan Woods circle path to extend your ride. As you ride south the landscape varies to urban in a favorable fashion. There's even a mead tasting room on the trail.
if you don't know about Major Taylor please look him up, as others have said, an American hero.
Have rode this trail 6 times and love it great surface to ride on trail is very well used and maintained very well . lol
I have placed and maintain 140 geocaches. Along this trail from Elgin south to south wheaton. Lots of shade and not too hilly. Perfect for biking.
Great trail that has over 80 geocaches hidden. Perfect way to enjoy the trail
This is a nice trail but blocked by fences just west of Morris at the aquaduct. You can get around the fence but it is very difficult with a bike. This was the low point of a nice ride.
Loved cycling this trail have rode from Bryn Mawr to Dempster in Skokie and had a blast doing.this.
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