Explore the best rated trails in Palos Hills, 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 110 trails covering 4763 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.
_183583_st.jpg)
_176080_st.jpg)
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...
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...
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...
The Thorn Creek Trail offers a paved route traversing woodlands abundant with wildlife through several communities on the southern outskirts of Chicago. The trail travels from Brownwell Woods in...
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...
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 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 Oswego Prairie Trail is a short paved route that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison. The path forms a direct link between two parks in Oswego—Farmington...
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...
_111257_sc.jpg)
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...
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 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...
_191267_sc.jpg)
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...
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 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...
_199151_sc.jpg)
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 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 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 Chicago Lakefront Trail is aptly named; it spans 19 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan, going right through downtown Chicago and passing many cultural and tourist attractions throughout the...
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 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...
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 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 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 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,...
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 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...
As the name suggests, the Lake George trail travels along the north shore of Lake George, turning north at Calumet Ave/US 41 to skirt the east shore of Wolf Lake. From Lake George the trail also heads...
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 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 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...
_194062_sc.jpg)
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....
This bike path sits on the east side of Almond Road between Washington Street and Fairfield Lane in Gurnee. The 8-foot wide asphalt path is used by residents as a spot for exercise and recreation, but...
The Paul Douglas and Crabtree Preserve Trail System connects two large nature preserves in northwestern Cook County. The trail begins at the Old Stover Trailhead in the Crabtree Preserve, near the...
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...
Note: This developing route is not yet fully contiguous – it is just over 50% complete. Please refer to the Trail Map for more information on the existing sections of trail, as well as the online...
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...
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...
_144630_sc.jpg)
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....
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...
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...
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 Tall Grass Greenway Trail is a trail that runs along the right of way for ComEd powerlines. The trail goes mainly through neighborhoods in south Naperville, and meets up with the south branch of...
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 Chicago Lakefront Trail is aptly named; it spans 19 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan, going right through downtown Chicago and passing many cultural and tourist attractions throughout the...
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 Timber Ridge trail is located on the eastern side of the Timber Ridge Forest Preserve in west Chicago. The preserve offers several trails, fishing, picnicking, and is home to Kline Creek Farms,...
_177065_sc.jpg)
The Monon Trail in Lake County, Indiana—not to be confused with the trail of the same name in Indianapolis—links the two Chicago suburbs of Hammond and Munster. The paved trail occupies an abandoned...
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...
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 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...
_183583_sc.jpg)
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 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...
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 Thorn Creek Trail offers a paved route traversing woodlands abundant with wildlife through several communities on the southern outskirts of Chicago. The trail travels from Brownwell Woods in...
The trail system in Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve makes a loop around the entire park. The preserve is geologically significant, featuring glacier-carved rock ridges, ravines and wetland potholes,...
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...
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 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 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...
Rode this train on 8/14/22. We did the entire trail, including the loop around the lake. There are several road crossings, but the busy roads have traffic signals to make it safe. This trail goes through dense woods, open meadows, small towns, and along Thorn Creek. The pavement was excellent and the trail was not crowded at all.
I initially did this trail, in the Cook County Forest Preserves maybe 3o years ago. On my recent return, I find that the trail has been extended both to the south and to the north. Totally paved trail in good condition. You will find a few bridges over major roads and the other street crossing were either at traffic signals or were at more minor roads. The nice part is the forest tree shading over the path that is very curvy and rolling. The south extension has a nice bridge over the double track railroad-probably why the extension took so long to fund the construction. At the north end, the trail does go thru the Chicago Botanical Gardens (when it is open) and now the new north extension connects east to the junction of the Green Bay Trail and the Robert McClory Bike Path. 43 miles out and back on a very nice day for riding.
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.
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
Map Search
_0_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
_208686_st.jpg)
_199151_st.jpg)
_198601_st.jpg)
_177065_st.jpg)
_207275_st.jpg)
_207962_st.jpg)
_140728_st.jpg)
_191267_st.jpg)
_144630_st.jpg)
_194062_st.jpg)
_179560_st.jpg)
_111257_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
