Find the top rated trails in Franklin, 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 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...
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The Lake to Lake Bike Trail takes you through the beautiful terrain of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. It is a newer, well-maintained trail, with a wide, crushed limestone roadbed. It is used daily...
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The Prairie Trail runs the length of McHenry County and is managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. The rail-trail spans just over 26 miles from the Wisconsin border and the farms and...
The Sheboygan Interurban Trail follows the route of an electric railway that once ran between Milwaukee and Sheboygan from the early 1900s to 1951. The trail begins at Pebble Beach Road on the Ozaukee...
The Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
Janesville's Spring Brook Trail provides an important non-motorized route to many of the city's popular recreational amenities. The pathway begins just off the eastern terminus of the Rock River...
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...
The Racine-Sturtevant Trail runs for 3.5 miles from the western side of Racine to near the eastern edge of the Village of Sturtevant. The trail occupies an abandoned rail corridor for most of its...
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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 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...
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 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 Robert McClory Bike Path runs the length of Lake County, knitting together a string of communities on the north shore of Chicago all the way to the Wisconsin border. In 1997, the trail was named...
Moraine Hills State Park Trail offers a wonderful experience for any geology or nature aficionado. A moraine is an accumulation of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier....
The Glacial River Trail provides bikers, pedestrians, and in-line skaters with a 55.8-mile off-road/on-road rural route winding through farmland, prairie, wetlands, and woodlands as it passes through...
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...
The Wild Goose State Trail is a premier rail-trail, spanning approximately 35 miles in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties. If you are looking for a peaceful and beautiful place to visit, this trail has it...
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 Stone Mill Trail runs between Lawrence Road in Harvard and Maxon Road in Chemung. The 1.5-mile, paved trail mostly parallels County Highway 17 (Ramer Road) and active railroad tracks, and will...
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...
The Glacial River Trail provides bikers, pedestrians, and in-line skaters with a 55.8-mile off-road/on-road rural route winding through farmland, prairie, wetlands, and woodlands as it passes through...
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...
Meadowbrook Trail parallels Meadowbrook Road offering a useful and convenient off-road route through northwest Waukesha. It begins at a connection to Lake Country Recreation Trail, a 15-mile east-west...
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 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 Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
The Wild Goose State Trail is a premier rail-trail, spanning approximately 35 miles in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties. If you are looking for a peaceful and beautiful place to visit, this trail has it...
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 Brown Deer Recreational Trail runs through the Village of Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. The tree-line route parallels an active rail line through commercial and residential areas. Mid-way,...
The Muskego Recreation Trail follows a corridor originally used by the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light, an interurban railroad in southeastern Wisconsin. The corridor was later acquired by...
The Prairie Trail runs the length of McHenry County and is managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. The rail-trail spans just over 26 miles from the Wisconsin border and the farms and...
The Robert McClory Bike Path runs the length of Lake County, knitting together a string of communities on the north shore of Chicago all the way to the Wisconsin border. In 1997, the trail was named...
The Sheboygan Interurban Trail follows the route of an electric railway that once ran between Milwaukee and Sheboygan from the early 1900s to 1951. The trail begins at Pebble Beach Road on the Ozaukee...
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...
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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....
The Lake Country Recreation Trail runs from the western edge of Waukesha to Oconomowoc in Wisconsin’s Lake Country area. Most of the trail was built on a former Milwaukee-Watertown Interurban Railway...
Broad blue skies strung with white cloud wisps; gem-green fields harboring cattails and butterflies; canopied glens giving way to cavernous quarries. It's all part of the ride on the Bugline...
The Lake Geneva Bike Path runs through the scenic resort city, offering connections to many of the community’s amenities. The trail has five unique, color-coded segments. The Blue Route is the...
Kinnickinnic River Trail (called the KK River Trail by locals) runs just over 2 miles in southern Milwaukee, following the river through a densely populated and industrial corridor. The trail links...
The Eisenbahn State Trail gives a nod to Wisconsin’s German heritage in its name—Eisenbahn is German for “railway.” The strict translation, “iron road,” refers to the iron rails originally used as...
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 Oak Leaf Trail is the jewel in the crown of Milwaukee County’s extensive trail system. The trail meanders for more than 120 miles in and around the city of Milwaukee on a changing terrain of flat...
The Sheboygan Interurban Trail follows the route of an electric railway that once ran between Milwaukee and Sheboygan from the early 1900s to 1951. The trail begins at Pebble Beach Road on the Ozaukee...
The paved New Berlin Recreation Trail runs straight as an east–west compass bearing for 7 miles through the western Milwaukee suburbs, from New Berlin to Waukesha. While it is void of trestles,...
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 Eisenbahn State Trail gives a nod to Wisconsin’s German heritage in its name—Eisenbahn is German for “railway.” The strict translation, “iron road,” refers to the iron rails originally used as...
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 Lake Country Recreation Trail runs from the western edge of Waukesha to Oconomowoc in Wisconsin’s Lake Country area. Most of the trail was built on a former Milwaukee-Watertown Interurban Railway...
The Seven Waters Bike Trail is a scenic corridor stretching more than 17 miles northsouth between Burlington and Muskego Lake into Waukesha County. The trail was originally three trails, locally...
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...
Meadowbrook Trail parallels Meadowbrook Road offering a useful and convenient off-road route through northwest Waukesha. It begins at a connection to Lake Country Recreation Trail, a 15-mile east-west...
Moraine Hills State Park Trail offers a wonderful experience for any geology or nature aficionado. A moraine is an accumulation of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier....
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 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,...
In 1957, baseball legend Hank “The Hammer” Aaron led the Milwaukee Braves to the first of two consecutive World Series appearances and a championship over the usually dominant New York Yankees. In...
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 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 53-mile Glacial Drumlin State Trail between Cottage Grove and Waukesha provides a glimpse into the past when glaciers bore down on southeastern Wisconsin in the last Ice Age. Those gigantic sheets...
The Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
The Brown Deer Recreational Trail runs through the Village of Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. The tree-line route parallels an active rail line through commercial and residential areas. Mid-way,...
I really like this trail and have ridden it now several times with both a road bike and a light hybrid. Pros: long, paved, scenic, uncrowded. Beautiful farmland and wildflowers, lots of trees for a shady ride on a hot day, wildlife and peaceful views. Stretches of the trail that are in great shape and a few key rest areas and comfort stations along the route. Excellent diner (Boone Co. Family Restaurant) right off the trail in Caledonia. Nicest long section is west of Caledonia. Cons: many parts of this trail are bad to downright treacherous, especially near bridges. You could easily catch your tire in a center crack while trying to avoid a pothole on your side of the trail. No mile or distance markers. Shady trail means debris is damp after a rain, and sketchy for road bikes. Some horrible bridge transitions. Trail is out east of Capron at the moment. Recommendations: Could be fabulous if better maintained. In current condition, better for a hybrid. OK for a road bike on a dry day. Either way, wear a helmet.
I wrote the entire length of the Sheboygan Interurban Trail . In general, it was an excellent trail to ride. However, As the previous person who posted earlier, the trail is about 50% on the road. That was disappointing. The road was good to ride and not full of potholes.
In town for a tri and rode the trail this morning. It’s really nice and well marked. I forgot I had ridden it once before years ago until I came across the quarry with the most beautiful blue water.
I had a very nice bike ride on the trail from Elkhorn to the west end of Burlington. Started at the well-marked parking lot just east of Elkhorn, the trail is relatively flat and hard-packed gravel. It passes through farm fields and rich tunnels of greenery. I enjoyed lots of colorful wildflowers and birds along the way. Even glimpsed a beaver that visited the trail near the White River bridge. The creeks and river are well marked, and there are plenty of benches to rest along the way. Took a little side trip off trail in Lyons and visited its veterans memorial at the flag pole, listing its local war heroes dating back to the Spanish-American War. There's a nice coffee shop in Springfield. I rested in its shady yard, but it's only open on weekends. Heading back from the Burlington trail head, I noticed the trail gradually goes uphill, or at least it seemed that way, as I completed the 24-mile round trip on a hot summer day.
Started at Dam No 4 Woods and walked to Golf Rd and Big Bend Lake , saw plenty of animals deer, squirrels , chipmunks and beautiful scenery along the trail. Nice peaceful walk plenty to see , nice surface to walk on not muddy saw 1 deer by the 294 underpass and south of Oakton St saw 2 deer in the woods about 20 feet away from me, what a beautiful sight to see a doe and her fawn took pictures of this. It was a beautiful walk and I had a lot of fun.
I love this trail for biking! Great forest and savanna scenery. Thankfully most of it is not parallel to roads, and none of it is old train tracks, which I find more boring. Really feels like you're moving across country under your own power.
We live near the southern section of this trail, so we have rode that portion multiple times. It is a night and day difference with the northern portion. The southern end is just not very pleasant. Trail is in poor shape, poor signage and due that section of river, the area is prone to flooding. Viaducts are usually impassable, flora is mostly invasive species, lot of trash , etc etc.
The north end however (maintained by Lake Co. as opposed to Cook Co.) is just great. Well groomed, tons of signage, usable viaducts, clean, etc. This section meanders through forest, open prairie , some farmland. The scenery is beautiful, especially mid summer with the plants in full bloom.
Highly recommend sticking to north of Cook Co. We plan on finishing the entire trail a section at a time until we hit Wisconsin!
Had a great time walking this section of trail saw 2 deer at Touhy and by the 294 underpass walked up into Des Plaines by Bender Road.
Not alot of open bathrooms near The Landing stretch. Oh yes they are marked on the map but locked 95% of the time. Very nice trail otherwise. Get some permanent port a johns please!!!!
Nice trail. Paved. Green tunnels. Pleasant even on a hot July mid-day. Lots of busy road crossings. 99% cars stopped for crossing, but never sure about that other 1%. DH and I ride a tandem recumbent trike with a wide turn radium and many corners were not wide enough for us in one pass.
My friend and I bike the whole trail. It was hot out but had a great breeze. There are lots of bridges, great scenery, mostly gravel, but paved on the west bend end. There are bugs so spray and you’ll be fine. Fun trail. If us, 2 old ladies and do it, you can too. We are over 70!
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