Explore the best rated trails in Racine, WI. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Eisenbahn State Trail and New Berlin Recreation Trail. With more than 65 trails covering 769 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.
_172068_st.jpg)
_177758_st.jpg)
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 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...
Meadowbrook Trail parallels Meadowbrook Road offering a useful and convenient off-road route through northwest Waukesha. It begins at a connection to Lake Country Recreation Trail, a 15-mile east-west...
_163950_sc.jpg)
The Prairie Trail runs the length of McHenry County and is managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. The rail-trail spans just over 26 miles from the Wisconsin border and the farms and...
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 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 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...
Ridgefield Trace currently consists of two short segments open for use. The western section runs from McHenry County College on US 14 in Crystal Lake to just west of N. Oak Street. Active railroad...
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 Beerline Trail, so named because the corridor was once used by freight trains transporting the ingredients for beer to some of Milwaukee’s famous breweries, has contributed to the revitalization...
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 Brown Deer Recreational Trail runs through the Village of Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. The tree-line route parallels an active rail line through commercial and residential areas. Mid-way,...
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 KR Trail is a new addition to Kenosha County’s growing bike-ped network. The trail picks up where the Kenosha County Bike Trail leaves off, in Petrifying Springs Park. From the northwest corner of...
Although short, the West Allis Cross Town Connector represents an important start to a future link between three trails in Milwaukee County. Currently, the trail begins at a junction with the New...
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 Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
_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 52-mile Glacial Drumlin State Trail between Cottage Grove and Waukesha provides a glimpse into the past when glaciers bore down on southeastern Wisconsin in the last Ice Age. Those gigantic sheets...
The Muskego Recreation Trail follows a corridor originally used by the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light, an interurban railroad in southeastern Wisconsin. The corridor was later acquired by...
The Hebron Trail rolls across the northern Illinois prairie through the former corridor of the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, known as the Kenosha Division Line at the time of its demise in 1939....
The Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
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,...
Although short, the West Allis Cross Town Connector represents an important start to a future link between three trails in Milwaukee County. Currently, the trail begins at a junction with the New...
The Brown Deer Recreational Trail runs through the Village of Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. The tree-line route parallels an active rail line through commercial and residential areas. Mid-way,...
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 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 Pike River Pathway is a paved, multi-use trail that runs along both sides of the reconstructed Pike River through the Village of Mount Pleasant and unincorporated parts of Racine County. The path...
The White River State Trail is composed of two separate segments: a 12-mile stretch that runs between Elkhorn and just west of Burlington in Walworth County, and a 7-mile section that connects the...
The paved New Berlin Recreation Trail runs straight as an east–west compass bearing for 7 miles through the western Milwaukee suburbs, from New Berlin to Waukesha. While it is void of trestles,...
Meadowbrook Trail parallels Meadowbrook Road offering a useful and convenient off-road route through northwest Waukesha. It begins at a connection to Lake Country Recreation Trail, a 15-mile east-west...
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 Lake Geneva Bike Path runs through the scenic resort city, offering connections to many of the community’s amenities. The trail has five unique, color-coded segments. The Blue Route is the...
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 Muskego Recreation Trail follows a corridor originally used by the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light, an interurban railroad in southeastern Wisconsin. The corridor was later acquired by...
The Robert McClory Bike Path runs the length of Lake County, knitting together a string of communities on the north shore of Chicago all the way to the Wisconsin border. In 1997, the trail was named...
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...
Broad blue skies strung with white cloud wisps; gem-green fields harboring cattails and butterflies; canopied glens giving way to cavernous quarries. It's all part of the ride on the Bugline...
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 City of Franklin Hike and Bike Trail follows a corridor originally used by the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light, an interurban railroad in southeastern Wisconsin. The corridor was later acquired...
The Lake Geneva Bike Path runs through the scenic resort city, offering connections to many of the community’s amenities. The trail has five unique, color-coded segments. The Blue Route is the...
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...
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...
Racine County's eastern edge is home to the MRK Trail, a rail-with-trail that extends north from the City of Racine to the Village of Caledonia. Because Racine County standardized its signs several...
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 Racine-Sturtevant Trail runs for 3.5 miles from the western side of Racine to near the eastern edge of the Village of Sturtevant. The trail occupies an abandoned rail corridor for most of its...
The Robert McClory Bike Path runs the length of Lake County, knitting together a string of communities on the north shore of Chicago all the way to the Wisconsin border. In 1997, the trail was named...
_0_sc.jpg)
Racine’s southeastern neighborhoods are home to the North Shore Trail, which extends south to the Racine–Kenosha county line. Because Racine County standardized its signs several years ago, you won't...
If you’re going to visit the historical communities that lie just west of Lake Michigan, why not use the former route of the venerable interurban railroad? The Ozaukee Interurban Trail stretches the...
The 13.5-mile Lake Michigan Pathway keeps you in close touch with the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world as it links rail-trails north and south of the port city of Racine. Along the way, the...
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 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...
Meadowbrook Trail parallels Meadowbrook Road offering a useful and convenient off-road route through northwest Waukesha. It begins at a connection to Lake Country Recreation Trail, a 15-mile east-west...
The Prairie Trail runs the length of McHenry County and is managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. The rail-trail spans just over 26 miles from the Wisconsin border and the farms and...
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...
Broad blue skies strung with white cloud wisps; gem-green fields harboring cattails and butterflies; canopied glens giving way to cavernous quarries. It's all part of the ride on the Bugline...
The Oak Leaf Trail is the jewel in the crown of Milwaukee County’s extensive trail system. The trail meanders for more than 125 miles in and around the city of Milwaukee on a changing terrain of flat...
Ridgefield Trace currently consists of two short segments open for use. The western section runs from McHenry County College on US 14 in Crystal Lake to just west of N. Oak Street. Active railroad...
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...
Biked this trail for the first time and it was great. I started at mile 29 and went north to mile 17. Took a break at Independence Grove. Nice picnic shelter and tables beside the pond. It was also my first time on crushed gravel and it’s definitely more physically demanding than pavement!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rode on a Friday (7/24/20) late morning. Started from the Tower Road parking lot, did the loop around the Skokie Lagoons and then rode south the full distance of the trail to Gompers Park, returning to Tower Road. It was not too crowded and I clocked the total distance on Strava at 38.5 miles. The path is well maintained and generally well marked. About 75% of the total distance is shaded. South of the intersection of Caldwell and Devon there are more road crossings, but north of that there are many long, uninterrupted stretches. There is some highway noise around the lagoons, but it's not too bad and trees and vegetation provide visual separation from the highway. Bathrooms are available at several of the parks through which the trail passes.
Overall, a great ride, and well worth the drive from the western burbs where I live.
Now that it links up to the Valley Line Trail, it runs from Dempster (8800N) to Bryn Mawr (5600N). If they'd pave the adjacent right of way from Bryn Mawr to near Foster, it would hook up directly with the North Branch. On the north, there are plans to run through Glenview and Northbrook to link up with the Skokie Valley Trail, which goes all the way up to IL 176 (Libertyville). Maybe in my lifetime!
I rode from Downtown Evanston and directions to the trail just stop at some point. It's not actually called the Channel Trail when it cuts through various parks. The ride itself is pleasant when you actually find the trail - I wouldn't even bother with the east side of the channel because it's not really connected to the west side. Simplest thing is to get on at Golf Rd or green bay on west side of channel and ride south. I didn't ride south past Oakton because spent so much time trying to figure out the trail. So directions and signage are my actual complaints. The ride through arboretum and sculpture park is pleasant. Hoping locals can improve signage because the quality of the trail is good.
I rode this trail in its entirety a few days ago. The portion through West Bend is paved, but the remainder is crushed limestone. A few portions of the trail have some plant growth, but it did not interfere with my ride. Only one small area on the gravel portion felt loose; the remainder of the trail was fine. I would recommend to plan your trip with needed supplies (sunblock, hydration, food, cell phone, and bike repair gear) as some portions of the trail are quite isolated for many miles. Overall, I did enjoy my ride and will likely be back!
Lived in Kenosha for 3 years and would go on this trail weekly. It's incredible on the lake
Excellent well maintained trail with bike air/repair stations along the route.
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails conservancy
(a non-profit) and we need your support!
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
Map Search
_0_st.jpg)
_163950_st.jpg)
_144630_st.jpg)
_40060_st.jpg)
