Explore the best rated trails in Zion, IL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the New Berlin Recreation Trail and Pike River Pathway. With more than 81 trails covering 968 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 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 Root River Pathway uses a combination of off-road trail and on-road route to form a crescent around the City of Racine. The trail closely follows the bends of the Root River, making it a great...
The 53-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 Lake Country Recreation Trail runs from the western edge of Waukesha to Oconomowoc in Wisconsin’s Lake Country area. Most of the trail was built on a former Milwaukee-Watertown Interurban Railway...
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...
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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 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 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 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...
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 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...
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...
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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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 Commonwealth Edison Bikeway is a short paved trail that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison, the local utility company—hence the trail's name. While lacking...
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 Pike River Pathway is a short trail on both sides of the reconstructed Pike River in the Village of Mount Pleasant. The path is convenient to several neighborhoods in the community. Birds, frogs...
The DuPage River Trail spans nearly 30 miles across two counties: DuPage and Will. It's currently open in several disconnected segments mainly in parks and forest preserves beginning in Warrenville...
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...
Prospect Heights Bike Path runs between Woodland Trails Park and Country Garden Park, paralleling the commuter rail tracks on its north–south leg. The trail provides a nice off-road route through the...
The Lake Country Recreation Trail runs from the western edge of Waukesha to Oconomowoc in Wisconsin’s Lake Country area. Most of the trail was built on a former Milwaukee-Watertown Interurban Railway...
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...
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 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 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 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 Seven Waters Bike Trail is a scenic corridor stretching more than 17 miles northsouth between Burlington and Muskego Lake into Waukesha County. The trail was originally three trails, locally...
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 Duck Lake Nature Area Trail follows the southern side of Lake Como between Lake Geneva and Como, Wisconsin, not far from the Illinois state line. The trail is more rustic than most rail-trails 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...
The WE Energies Trail, so named because it uses a Wisconsin Energy Corporation utility corridor for much of its route, links Racine and Oak Creek in Racine and Milwaukee counties. Despite the presence...
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...
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...
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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...
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...
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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...
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The 4.4-mile River Bend Trail is so named for the loop of Fox River along which it follows on its eastern end. It's here that you can connect to the scenic Fox River Trail to travel 43 miles along the...
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The western segment of the Great Western Trail in Illinois follows 17 miles of a former railway corridor through DeKalb and Kane counties, between LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve and the town of Sycamore....
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 Commonwealth Edison Bikeway is a short paved trail that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison, the local utility company—hence the trail's name. While lacking...
The Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail runs for 6 miles along an abandoned railroad corridor, between the towns of Allens Grove and Clinton. The trail is open to snowmobiles, cyclists, horseback riders and...
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...
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 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 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,...
The Commonwealth Edison Bikeway is a short paved trail that occupies an overhead electric utility corridor owned by Commonwealth Edison, the local utility company—hence the trail's name. While lacking...
The Pike River Pathway is a short trail on both sides of the reconstructed Pike River in the Village of Mount Pleasant. The path is convenient to several neighborhoods in the community. Birds, frogs...
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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 the Fox River Trail (FRT) was built on stretches of three former railroads: Chicago, Aurora & Elgin; Aurora, Elgin, & Fox River Electric; and Chicago & North Western. Today, it hosts a multitude...
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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....
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,...
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...
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 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 Long Prairie Trail journeys across the width of agricultural Boone County for nearly 14 miles on the railroad corridor previously used by the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, later known as the...
The North Branch Riverwalk is a 0.6 mile biking and walking trail located on Chicago's northside along the North Branch of the Chicago River, nestled between Gordon Tech High School and Lane Tech High...
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 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 9-mile Green Bay Trail runs parallel to Chicago's Metra commuter rail line north of the Chicago city limits. Stretching through North Shore towns such as Kenilworth, Winnetka, Highland Park and...
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 areas around the trail especially in the three bridges park are quite bare currently.
I really wish that there were permanent "available/not locked" bathrooms along the trail itself besides at the urban ecology center and the seasonal port-o-potties during baseball season...Would be nice also if there was a light fixture on the bridge itself that is the exit of the three bridges park.
Otherwise this long trail that goes in different directions is pretty awesome. I've seen skunks and even frogs a few times last summer...
Took a early spring hike and path is wide and very easy to navigate. An occasional bench to sit, watch and reflect. Birds were everywhere. Some sightings were red headed woodpeckers, flicker woodpeckers, blue birds, blue jays, sand hill cranes, killdeer,,brown creeper, numerous red wing black birds and robins and many more birds I can’t name. Enjoyed taking the grassy trails that took us closer to water. A delightful place to visit!
I rode this trail yesterday while I had some time to myself. It was in the 30's, with a very light snow falling. That meant that very few people were out on the trail. That also meant it was a great day for a ride. I parked off of Golf Road next to the Black trail, rode south and did two loops on the red trail before returning to the car. The whole ride came to a bit over 17 miles. I probably saw as many animals as people. Three deer were grazing next to the trail, there were a couple of elk out in their fenced in area, and, most concerning, was coming around a corner and hearing an animal noise only to look over and see a skunk poised to spray me! Fortunately I was going past it, not at it, so I came away clean. Probably due to the lack of sun and my unfamiliarity with the Preserve, I never seemed to have a good sense of what direction I was riding. There were plenty of maps, but I just didn't get a feel for it. The environment varied quite a bit from prairie to forest. There had been a recent controlled burn, primarily in the woods, so there was a light smell of fire still in the air. It's definitely a great trail to ride when the people count is low!
The bridge crossing the Des Plaines River at the east end of the trail (Columbia Woods) is still closed. It was originally scheduled to be finished in October of 2018. Here is an update from IDOT:
"The bridge replacement over Des Plaines River in Willow Springs at Columbia Woods started in early summer 2018 and will be completed in late spring 2019. The project was initially delayed due to higher than normal water levels on the Des Plaines River which impacted reconstruction efforts. Also parts of the project were re-designed which effected the overall project timeline. Thank you for your patience."
This trail can be described with one word...WOW!!! As construction nears completion (mostly landscaping) and pedestrian traffic moves onto the pedestrian path there is little to criticize. Awesome views of downtown Chicago and all the amenities of the lakefront make this trail a must do if you're in Chicago! I have only rode from Promontory Point to North Avenue Beach but look forward to riding the trail completely in the near future. Access to Grant Park, Millenium Park, Buckingham Fountain, Chicago River Walk, Northerly Island, Soldier Field, Museum of Science and Industry, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and Navy Pier plus numerous beaches along the route. Peak days and times will make the trail busy but there is much to enjoy all around you as you make your way through the hustle and bustle of Chicago and it's magnificent lake front views!
I've had the opportunity to ride this trail several times now, and it's always a great ride. It's hard to describe the feeling of being on your bike, looking to the west and seeing the Chicago skyline; turning to look East and seeing Lake Michigan, the beaches, the people, the boats, yachts, ships.... It's fantastic.
Along the way in summer there are fun places to stop for a meal, a snack, a beer or glass of wine... and listen to some relaxing (live) music. There are several beaches along the ride, each with their own "flavor". We ride at a leisurely pace, and spend the greater part of the day on the trail. We ended our ride on one occasion with a late night dinner at Millennium Park - what a treat it was dining al fresco while hearing live music playing at the music festival a level up from the restaurant.
The only negative was navigating some congestion at Navy Pier, but that was relatively short-lived, and I believe it should be less of a hassle now that the nearby road/bridge construction is complete. The trail is paved and in good condition, however it's best to come with the expectation that this is a ride meant to be enjoyed at a slower pace. On a nice day there are many walkers, bikers, roller bladers, all of which I found fascinating, and rolling with it, rather than fighting it, is the way to go. There's so much to see and take in!
Riding this trail is fantastic - the city, the lake, the diverse and interesting people enjoying the best summer offers is truly a treat.
This is an amazing trail in the city I love. It’ll take you north to Hollywood st and south to the south short cultural center. North you can continue on the streets until hooking up with more trails all the way to WI. South is the same all the way to Indiana. But... ...it’s currently under construction. They’re separating the bike path from the runner/walking path so the trail is being worked on now. When it’s finished it will be magnificent. Just wanted to give you a heads up!
If you start in Algonquin I suggest parking in the park at the corner of Rt. 62 and Main St. I parked near the clock tower and had to ask a passing cyclist where to catch the trail. Once on the trail, the portion from Algonquin to Elgin is one of the best marked trails I've been on. It is very well maintained and passes through historic areas and scenic beauty. There were many walkers and joggers as well as cyclists. Also, there are plenty of quality rest areas along the way.
Have photographed 30 deer since walking from Dam No 4 Woods to Campground Road Woods, a nice relaxing walk to see squirrels, chipmunks, birds, rabbits and o yes the deer. This is a beautiful trail to walk and much safer than walking on the street or road. I live one mile from Dam No 4 Woods so it is easy for me to get there.
Solid 17 mile path for a decent workout. Fairly flat and well maintained. Follows highway IL 64 for the most part but does veer away in certain parts. Country and town mixed together. Excellent ride for the recreational biker who wants to get away but not to far away from civilization for a couple hours. Started and ended in Sycamore so there are easy amenities before and after the ride.
Set out on a gorgeous fall day and enjoyed the scenery, but not for very long. I had a road bike and spent most of the first six miles east from Elkhorn watching the trail surface. It was pretty well maintained but the 'concrete' only applies to the road crossings. The rest is somewhat crushed gravel. And then just past the coffee shop (about mile six) it gets sandy and very large gravel and I had to turn around. The good news is that the roads are excellent out here, so I rode back on those. Passed almost no other trail users and the tree canopy is lovely. Would like to ride this again but definitely suggest you take a hybrid bike!
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