Explore the best rated trails in Steger, IL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail and North Judson Erie Trail. With more than 90 trails covering 889 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 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...
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...
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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 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...
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 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...
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 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...
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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,...
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...
Prairies and dunes are just two of the natural features you’ll experience on the Prairie Duneland Trail, located just a few miles south of the Lake Michigan shoreline and the Indiana Dunes National...
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 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 Prairie Point Trail is a scenic neighborhood route that connects twice to the longer Grove Road Trail. While never far from houses, the trail offers surprising scenery, including a stretch along a...
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...
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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....
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Illinois’ Centennial Trail runs through parts of three suburban counties from Willow Springs Road to Romeo Road/135th Street southwest of Chicago. The trail occupies a thin strip of land between the...
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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 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...
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 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...
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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 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...
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 Vale Park West Pathway is a multiuse trail in the Chicago suburb of Valparaiso. At 0.7 mile long, the trail passes through a mix of woodland and prairie, as well as over a creek on a 220-foot...
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,...
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 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 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...
Lake Renwick Preserve is home to an artificial lake of the same name that was created from former quarries where aggregates for concrete were once mined. Today, the lake is a recreational amenity in...
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 Judson Erie Trail occupies the railbanked right-of-way of the former JK Line Railroad, running 9 miles from downtown North Judson southeast to US 35 near Bass Lake. Eventually, the trail...
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...
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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...
The Dunes Kankakee Trail is a 5.5-mile walking and bike path that It exists in 2 discrete segments: one that is 2.4 miles paralleling County Road 25 East, and the other segment east of that that is...
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 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 Prairie Point Trail is a scenic neighborhood route that connects twice to the longer Grove Road Trail. While never far from houses, the trail offers surprising scenery, including a stretch along a...
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 Virgil L. Gilman Trail travels from quiet forest and prairie lands to bustling neighborhoods in just 11 miles, linking a woodsy community college campus with the eastern Chicago suburb 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,...
The Calumet Trail traverses the south side of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a unique ecosystem of forest, marsh, dunes and beach along Lake Michigan. This dirt and crushed limestone path...
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...
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 Orland Park Bikeway provides a great connector across the Chicago suburb of Orland Park. On its southern end, the trail begins at W. 159th Street and winds its way through Centennial Park, which...
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...
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 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 Vale Park West Pathway is a multiuse trail in the Chicago suburb of Valparaiso. At 0.7 mile long, the trail passes through a mix of woodland and prairie, as well as over a creek on a 220-foot...
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 village of Palatine has connected many of its community assets with two long sections of off-road, multi-use trail. The more popular northern section is the one most references call simply 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...
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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 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 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...
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 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...
Just 1 mile long, the Valley Line Trail—also known as the Sauganash Trail—extends between Bryn Mawr Avenue and Devon Avenue in the Chicago neighborhood of Sauganash. Two bridges allow for safe...
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...
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...
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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