Explore the best rated trails in Glen Ellyn, 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 116 trails covering 4810 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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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 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...
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 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 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 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 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...
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 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 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,...
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 Bull Valley Road Shared-Use Path travels along the south side of Bull Valley Road in the city of McHenry, Illinois. The paved path is suitable for non-motorized uses including walking, jogging,...
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...
The Fort Hill Bike Path trail sits on the north side of Peterson Road/ County Road 20. The trail peels away from the Prairie Crossing Bike Path at Midlothian Road and extends west, passing industries...
The Techny Trail links downtown Glenview, a charming village northwest of Chicago, with the Techny Basin, a scenic wetlands area adjacent to the West Fork of the Chicago River's North Branch....
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 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...
With farmland to the east and the Des Plaines River Floodplain to the west, this picturesque trail is a relaxing adventure on two feet or on wheels. The crushed stone trail runs from Prairie Springs...
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...
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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 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 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 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 2.3-mile multiuse trail wraps around Lake Andrea in Pleasant Springs Park. The trail is an easy walk, run or ride around the lake, and is accessible for a wide range of users. It also helps users...
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...
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...
With farmland to the east and the Des Plaines River Floodplain to the west, this picturesque trail is a relaxing adventure on two feet or on wheels. The crushed stone trail runs from Prairie Springs...
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 Bartlett Trail is a recreational trail in the Village of Bartlett, Du Page county. Though short, the trail is conveniently located as a space for exercise, while providing a safe route to school...
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 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 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...
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 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 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 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,...
The village of Palatine has connected many of its community assets with two long sections of off-road, multi-use trail. The more popular northern section is the one most references call simply and...
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 DeKalb-Sycamore Trail—also known as the Peace Road Trail—parallels the eastern side of Peace Road from DeKalb to Sycamore in northern Illinois. Along the way, you'll pass a mixture of residential...
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 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 Techny Trail links downtown Glenview, a charming village northwest of Chicago, with the Techny Basin, a scenic wetlands area adjacent to the West Fork of the Chicago River's North Branch....
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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....
Helping to forge a connection between the northern and southern segments of the Kenosha County Bike Trail, the Kenosha Pike Bike Trail also has plenty to offer in its own right, giving trail users a...
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...
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...
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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...
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 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 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 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 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...
Blackberry Trail follows a stretch of Blackberry Creek in Montgomery, Illinois. The trail is accessible from the forest preserve entrance at Caliendo Circle. Heading north, the trail reaches Mayfield...
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...
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 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,...
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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 North Branch Riverwalk is a 0.6 mile biking and walking trail located on Chicago's northside along the North Branch of the Chicago River, nestled between Gordon Tech High School and Lane Tech High...
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...
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...
Went from Wilmette to Highland Park where I just turned around and went home.The trail markings up to Highland Park were easy to read and came up often.In Highland Park, the trail markings became less often and confusing.I gave up and went home.The trail is flat and can give a feeling of being closed in at times,not a trail of open spaces.
A nice ride. The hub is a good place to start.
Started from the Bourbonnais side and did the entire thing as a loop. There's about three miles of crushed limestone which turns out is the most predictable part of the trail. The rest is asphalt, but it's just… ok. This entire trail is "just ok".
Let's start with the asphalt: it's not great. It's not terrible, but it's got some really bad root upheave throughout. There are a handful of actually dangerous potholes in there as well. Because so much of the trail is partially shaded it can be difficult to spot any of the rough spots (if it was fully open or fully shaded your eyes could adjust, but the dappled light makes it impossible to ever fully acclimate).
Then there's the overall design of the trail. While it has some interesting hills and turns, they're often innundated with blind curves. Even some of the straight sections have overgrowth encroaching on the trail making this even worse.
Finally this trail is seemingly used by people who don't seem to have a lot of shared trail experience. People walk on both sides of the path. Announcing yourself will have people moving in lots of unpredictable directions; instead of moving to the right, they may act startled and actually move LEFT. One person who knew I was coming up and I approached very slowly from behind didn't even acknowledge me – instead they just started, very slowly, moving to the left side of the trail until they were OFF the trail. On shared paths you want every person to move predictably. This was not a thing on this trail apparently.
What this adds up to is that you end up having to constantly be on extra high alert and you're not going to be going very fast. You'll maintain a medium speed, and any time you really want to push it, the conditions of the trail will quickly make you dial it back.
The scenery was ok. Some good glimpses of the river, but nothing dramatic. A lot of similar looking woods. A few breaks in the woods as you go through the park system, meaning picnic shelters and overlooks. No real meadows or fields or even sections right up next to the water. The trail did provide good shade from the sun, so if it's a hot day, this trail should be fine temperature-wise.
The crushed limestone section was the best part of the trail, primarily because it was (as mentioned above) the most predictable. Far less traffic. No weird asphalt cracks / root upheave / holes to deal with. They were fine even on my narrow 700x23 tires.
This trail is really designed for recreational riders, and it's fine for that. If you want to go faster look elsewhere. Probably decent for a recovery ride. Not worth a longer drive than 30 minutes unless you're already in the area.
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.
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.
I started from the eastern trailhead off Hill Avenue. The parking lot is quite small – it can fit about six cars or so. There are other plenty of other access points with parking lots with more space, but the eastern side didn't seem to be nearly as busy as the other parts of the trail.
I will say this trail is pretty interesting from a road bike perspective. It goes through a decent amount of variety – everything from suburban backyards to country homes to pretty farmland to city parks to extremely dense forest, some of which was absolutely breathtaking. The western end was particular jaw dropping in this regard; as someone who's seen plenty of typical Illinois forests, this was something else. It was both lush and dense, but you could see far into the woods. This is the middle of summer so it was shockingly green – not just typical forest preserve green, but glowing green. In addition, there were a number of bridges to cross, either over roadways or bodies of water, ranging from ultra modern to some that looked positively rustic.
I split this trail into the eastern and western sections. The eastern section is a bit more rough – there's much more root upheave to the paved surface. It's not overwhelming (I'm looking at you Old Plank Road Trail), but there are enough that you need to be paying attention or some may sneak up on you and cause a crash. For that reason plus the fact that there are far more road crossings (that cars never seem to stop for you) on the eastern section, and it's a bit slower than the western section.
The western section has far fewer road crossings and allows you to pick up some speed and momentum. You can easily hit 25 MPH in some sections, especially off the bigger bridges. By the way, you should maintain control on the descent from those bridges; one has a rough patch of pavement (there are signs warning you about this), but more importantly, sometimes there are turns that sneak up on you. Speaking of which, there ARE a number of turns throughout that you may need to slow down, especially if you're riding it for the first time. It makes the ride interesting, but I'm so used to extremely straight trails here in Illinois that I was caught by surprise a few times. Not enought to cause an issue, but it did get my heart pumping a few times.
I did stop at Bliss Woods when it turns gravel and skipped the last half mile of the western section, as I didn't want to ride the crushed limestone of that part on my road bike. You could do it though easily with any bike though. Also note that there is a very small section that takes surface streets through an odd industrial / residential neighborhood and it's not well marked where you should turn when the trails dumps you there. Really there's only one way to go with one turn (which is marked) but it would probably be helpful to make a note of it. This happens going westward when you cross South Lake Street.
My suggestion is to start on the eastern side – you can use the rapid-fire road crossings and rougher surface to warm up and cool down, leaving the western section for a fun, speedy ride. Definitely a ride to hit if you're in the area.
Trail use to have a hard packed crushed stone surface. Was a great ride. Very beautiful route. New surface is large loose stone. Stone makes for a very slow rough ride. Some sections the stone is too deep and could cause a spill.
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