Explore the best rated trails in Glendale Heights, 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 107 trails covering 1036 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 Skokie Valley Trail in Cook County parallels active train tracks in the Village of Skokie, providing easy access to both the Oakton–Skokie and Dempster–Skokie stations on the CTA’s Yellow Line....
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 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 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 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...
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...
The Struckman Boulevard Path is just over a mile long, stretching between Bartlett Road and State Route 59, (although the path narrows from the end of Sunset Park up to the end on SR 59). That said,...
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...
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...
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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 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,...
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,...
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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 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 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 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...
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 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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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...
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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 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...
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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,...
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...
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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 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 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...
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 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 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 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...
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 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 Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) was one of the nation’s first rail-trail conversions. It consists of five connected trail segments with three main branches that converge at Volunteer Park (West...
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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...
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 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...
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 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 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 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...
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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...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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...
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 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 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 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...
The Cal-Sag Trail (or, Calumet-Sag Trail) is currently under active construction. As of early 2018, it has a competed section of about 13 miles, stretching from near its western terminus at the John...
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 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...
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 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 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...
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...
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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...
I'm pretty new to the area and haven't read all the other reviews here, but have enjoyed riding portions of this trail and will finish the whole thing soon. If you ride at night it gets dark because most of it is unlit wooded areas and there are few street lights. Only complaint is that as of Summer 2020, there are quite a lot of tree roots buckling the asphalt and even broken through in some spots. I have a road bike and any cycling enthusiasts know how harsh it can be to hit those anywhere above 15 mph without big tires or a suspension. There are also some bridges with uneven planking that will make you feel like you're dual-wielding two machine guns as you cross. A great trail overall but road bikes are in for a mild thrashing.
I recently walked this trail, and I loved every moment of it. The scenery is great and I have seen people fishing, taking pictures, and talking as they walk.¿¿
I recently rode the trail south from Indiana Welcome Center. The pavement has developed deep bone-jarring cracks that are bad enough to potentially damage wheels. It's especially bad south of downtown Griffith. I recommend you avoid until they rehabilitate what otherwise would be an enjoyable ride.
This is a nice smooth trail for all types of bikes, but it's hard to find and follow. And you'll run into construction on Calumet Avenue in Indiana.
Best Trail in northern chicagoland by far. you get a taste of the woods, the suburbs, wild life ... and the cherry on top is the Botanic Garden. Ride Safe.
Absolutely beautiful and electric trail
This trail is ok for a slow ride. I wouldn’t use it to work out as it’s short and crowded most of the time. Late night ride is empty and well lit but there have been assaults etc in the past on this trail. I’ve used it to avoid having to ride armitage/north ave from west to East but on a nice day, I found its faster dealing with car drivers on the road.
Nice, well maintained trail. Lots of shade. Lots to look at. Access to other trails at one end. Some fun scenery along the way. Be forewarned, there are some hills. And the shade wanes once you cross silver glen. One other note for those on road bikes - it is not 100% asphalt. There’s a decently long section of lime screening - it’s fine when dry, but could be a little sloppy/tricky when wet.
This trails continues to be improved so that with the exception of one section, you can ride 9.7 miles from a start in the Evanston Arboretum to end in Clark Play lot Park at Belmont Street in Chicago. It is all paved, and almost all at grade, travelling along 3 under paths, 2 bridges, a lovely arboretum and modern outdoor sculpture garden. There are a traffic lights at all but one street the path crosses. Almost any section of this trail will impress you and all of it will delight. Popular with locals and visitors alike; it highlights the wonderful diversity of the urban trails.
NOTE: Please update R-T-T's description of this trail , it's much more in 2020.
The route is very scenic but the quality of the trail isn’t great. At the start in Aurora, there are too many street crossings. That goes away in about 2-3 miles but the asphalt hasn’t been kept maintained so lots of cracks. Recommend for hybrid not great for serious road biking.
This starts at the Glenview Public Library and Glenview Metra. It links to a wide-sidewalk trail along Chestnut that goes to the Glenview Park Center and Attea Jr High and the Glen Town shopping center. It goes by the North Glenview Metra station, then turns east to Techny basin, a 1.25 mile path around a large detention pond. Note the path continues up through Richardson Park, continues up Westleigh/Founders Dr, and with a short sharrowed stretch along Techny Rd goes through Techny Prairie Park in Northbrook, past the Velodrome and hence to downtown Northbrook. This part is not as well marked as it could be.
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