Explore the best rated trails in Northbrook, 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 126 trails covering 4995 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.
This trail continues for 10 miles , 20 miles round trip. I start the trail at Belmont ave by Clark Park and continue thru new connection over Addison Ave continue thru Horner Park . You can travel on Manor Ave to enter the trail at Lawrence Ave and connect to the trail on Argyle. I continue the. Trail thru Green Bay Road . I am able to ride the trail their and back usually in 90 to 100 minutes . Excellent trail not very busy , I have been riding five times a week for 3 months Lou
A great place for walkers, hikers, bikers, and families. It’s been wonderfully restored and brings nice surprises during each season.
Rode from Ballou to Manhattan, 2p mile round trip. TraIl is in excellent condition. Yrsil has a nice wind break on both sides of the trail for almost all of the ride. Will rode again.
They just replaced the first 4ish miles that start in Willow springs to the bridge, a serious game changer, the last three miles near lemont have bumps in the trails but that’s what happens when you build on a wetland near a river. freeze thaw expansion… the brewery at the end the best part
I had ridden the northern end of the Prairie trail & saw the sign forg the Hebron trail so decided one day to check it out. Rode from the Prairie Trail junction to the “trail end” at Lange Road & back again. About an hour round trip but that included stopping to take photos. It’s a well groomed trail, plenty wide for comfortable passing of others. West of Keystone Road crossing is pretty much straight & flat but scenery still varies.
This trail is a nice one if you are looking for something other than a super straight rails to trails corridor. I parked at the nearby and beautiful DuPage County St James Forest Preserve and took a connecting trail to the start of the officially named West Branch DuPage River Trail that heads south. Most of the route is in Forest Preserves, alongside the West Branch of the DuPage River.
Once you come upon the spectacular Naperville Riverwalk, north of downtown Naperville which does not allow bikes, you must use city streets. That provides a nice variety. South of downtown the trail is again in parks. One can travel all the way south into Will County, with more options for connecting trails.
In the Chicago suburban area, the Salt Creek Trail, at 27 miles long, is a great trail for what I like to do, which is cycling wayfinding. It’s not a rail to trails so the trail stiches together a variety of different segments in different surroundings: paved paths in forest preserves, separate paths along highways, gravel paths, subdivision roads and even a wood chip path. There are many connecting paths, so don’t expect a sign for every turn and that’s where wayfinding comes in. Use your TrailLink downloaded map and find your way. I made a few wrong turns but that’s part of wayfinding. I parked at Edgewater Park and did out and back rides, first to the south and then to the north. A fine 54-mile ride on a beautiful fall day. I even found two updates that are needed to the TrailLink map, which I will send to Rails to Trails Conservancy.
I started from the south entry point and only made it a few miles in before deciding to just take the roads back south. It hadn't rained for a few days and the bridge underpasses were still full of pooled water and soft mud. I don't even know if I'd ride through them on a mountain bike unless I was really looking to get nasty.
The Milwaukee County Parks, Oak Leaf Trail webpage says the extension of the South Shore Line segment is open to Bender Park. It is not yet show on the TrailLink map. On my September 2022 trip up to the Oak Leaf Trail, to do the original South Shore Line and the Oak Creek Line, I decided to see what the new extension was like. Yes, it is open with routing signs in place and a creek bridge constructed. But the surface is made up of 1-inch sized crushed stone which is typically used as a base layer under asphalt pavement. Even though I have a gravel bike, from Drexel Ave I only made it down to Pennsylvania Ave and gave up the going further. It’s just too rough. I made the trip back using highways. I searched on the internet, and it seems that the funding grants describe a 2023 completion. I hope what is the case is the asphalt paving will be done in 2023.
On my third trip up to the Oak Leaf Trail I did what I call the Southeast Quadrant. I parked at Greenlawn Park and did the trail and spurs down to the Racine County line and up to Cupertino Park near the Lake Michigan Ferry. What I liked about this trip was the variety in the trail. Segments consisted of rails to trails (with powerlines), trail in parks, separate trails on arterial streets, the parkway roads, and rural highways. The long, southerly segment in the forest on the bluffs along Lake Michigan was the prettiest segment of my three trips on the Oak Leaf Trail. The north segment along Lake Michigan was closer to the water and gave a nice view of downtown Milwaukee.
One concern is the trail is being extended to Bender Park, which is popular but what about funding of maintenance of the trail that already exists? This section had some of the asphalt showing its age with the periodic shrinkage cracks giving that frequent bothersome bump. One hidden path bridge at the bottom of a hill had plywood covering over rotted deck boards, which at speed was very rough. But none of these maintenance issues should stop any one from coming to use the Oak Leaf Trail. I do recommend stopping at the coffee/ice cream store the trail parkway passes at Chicago Ave.
I am sure the rail to trail segment from Greenlawn Park was the former North Shore Interurban Line (to Chicago) that my folks took on their honeymoon to Milwaukee in 1944.
The hills and areas of trail traveling through evergreen trees make this trail very unique for metro Chicago. However, as others have mentioned, I felt this was really more of a hiking trail than biking. So be prepared for a hilly gravel ride and arrive when it's not busy as it can get very busy with hikers on weekends.
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