Explore the best rated trails in Harvard, IL, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the New Berlin Recreation Trail and City of Franklin Hike and Bike Trail (Route of the Badger) . With more than 126 trails covering 1146 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.
I’ve been walking and cycling this trail for most of my life and it’s always a wonderful experience, such beautiful scenery along the river. It’s by far my favorite trail in the Chicagoland area.
Rode the Busse Forest trail on a busy, sunny Saturday morning in late June 2025. The surroundings are terrific but the asphalt has many cracks that made the ride a bit bumpy. Still it is a great ride and I encourage everyone to try it. There are elks there although I didn’t see any.
I did this trail on bike 2 years ago and I hated it, signage is terrible, at one point after Golf road, you literally come to an end and have to carry your bike over train tracks and active train tracks. No signs of any sort. You go through a campground that confuses you even more. I won’t do it again. To ridiculous.
I started on the West yellow loop. Two routes, either pavement which is terrible or lose gravel which is dangerous. The East side of Quentin is beautiful. New pavement and a nice meadow environment. Short though.
I enjoyed the south half but the part through the city was not well or marked at all. Route would be vastly improved with some signage.
Section between poplar grove and route 76 is getting worse by the day, the chipmunks are taking over and the sharp granite railroad balast is cutting into our tires. No money in illinois budget to repair bicycle trails, the only people enjoying the trail are on those motorized fat tire bikes.
Rode this a year or two ago, and although it was a bit rough, it was enjoyable. Now, not so much. The asphalt trail from the east trailhead to Capron has been replaced with "crushed stone". The crushed stone has baseball sized chunks of asphalt and rock mixed in with it, and 50% of the rest are chunks bigger than an inch across. Barely passable on a gravel bike, if you find the right rut on the path. No way a road bike is making it down this stretch. Once you get to Capron, it's back to asphalt for a short bit, then it changes to gravel / crushed limestone. Some of the bridge crossing can be bone jarring, but not overwhelming. It changes back to asphalt outside of Poplar Grove, and continues all the way through to Caledonia. Some potholes can be pretty harsh, but not terrible. At some point between Poplar Grove and Caledonia, it turns back to gravel for a stretch. Although not my favorite, this was done well enough for our gravel bikes. We usually do this trail either from the east trailhead to Caledonia, or Caledonia into Roscoe, as there's a rest stop & parking in Caledonia. If you park on the street in Capron, and skip the first 2 miles, you'll be a lot better off. Although there's no water / bathrooms in Capron, there's a Casey's just down the street from the trail.
When Tommy Tompson was the governor of Wisconsin the state trails were well taken care of, I like to pull a two wheel trailer to carry my tools , food, drinks and extra clothes, the trail surface needs to be mowed in many places, should be graded over with fresh limestone. sandy and washed out spots, this and most Wisconsin trails are no place for thin tire road bikes. They want you to pay to use the trails but do bare minimum and half assed maintenance. there are pit toilets at Albany and Monticello. Do not count on water spigots pack plenty to drink.
the 14.2 mile rail trail was a great trail 20 plus years ago, over the years a lack of state oversight allowed the trail to fall into a state of disrepair, the trail can no longer be roller bladed or skate boarded, about a decade ago they dug up the east section and most of it is crushed lime stone that the grass and weeds are now growing through, in places they ground up the asphalt and used it in place of limestone( horrible to ride on ). the section from route 76 to poplar grove was ground up last year and graded out and is now a section that will tear up road bike tires, there is sharp granite stones from the original rail bed mixed in with the ground up asphalt, the condition of this trail is only going to get worse due to the county not having two Nichols to rub together. If you put a child in a trailer behind you they will wind up with brain damage on the sections that still have pavement. I will say to politicians that it is asinine to allocate funds for new bike trail projects when they cannot provide funds for their future maintenance.
Started in McHenry and went south. Did 33 miles round trip. McHenry to Crystal Lake lots of ruts and bumpy. Just north of Crystal Lake becomes a new, very smooth trail, but is extremely hilly with lots of turns. After going through a small section of downtown Crystal Lake becomes not as hilly to Algonquin.
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