Find the top rated walking trails in Mundelein, whether you're looking for an easy short walking trail or a long walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
_147070_st.jpg)
_163406_st.jpg)
The Rote Road Multi-Use Path offers a paved route along the south side of Rote Road in eastern Rockford. It travels for nearly a mile, providing access to neighborhoods, businesses, and the Aldeen...
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 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 Major Taylor Trail is named after legendary African American cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor, who was one of the most celebrated bicycle racers of the late nineteenth century, setting several...
_146179_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 Stearns Road Bike Path is a dedicated sidepath traveling from Hanover Park to the Bartlett, in the Chicago suburbs. The asphalt path sits on the north side of Greenbrook Boulevard/ Stearns Road,...
The Perryville Path runs nearly 7 miles, connecting the communities of Loves Park and Rockford, not far from the northern border of Illinois. A pleasant place to begin your journey is Rock Cut State...
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 Kishwaukee-Kiwanis Trail winds through the northern Illinois town of DeKalb, coursing along a river, through woodlands, among open spaces through parks and through suburban back yards. The trail...
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...
Prospect Heights has very few sidewalks, so biking, inline skating or walking are moved to the streets or in the parks. Don't underestimate the Prospect Heights Bike Path which is over four miles of...
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 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...
_122211_sc.jpg)
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 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...
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 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 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...
_147070_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 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 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 popular Rock Run Greenway Trail is a balanced mix of natural areas and cityscapes that alternate over the length of the trail. The natural areas are frequented by recreational users. The...
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...
Swanson Park Recreation Path is sometimes known as the Cherry Valley Path as it's located in the Village of Cherry Valley on the outskirts of Rockford in northern Illinois. The paved path travels...
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...
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...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 DeKalb Nature Trail provides a pleasant, tree-lined route in northern DeKalb. Near its western trailhead, it crosses the Kishwaukee River and passes through the Nehring Forest Preserve. Further...
_159859_sc.jpg)
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 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...
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 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...
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 Kishwaukee Riverfront Path winds nearly 7 miles through downtown Belvidere, east of Rockford in northern Illinois. As its name implies, the paved scenic trail follows the waterway for most of its...
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...
Built on a former rail bed dating back to the 1850s, the Stone Bridge Trail provides a crushed limestone pathway through rural countryside. A highlight of the trail is passage on Stone Bridge over the...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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...
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...
The Chain O' Lakes Bike Path is a paved trail that runs between E. Grand Avenue in Fox Lake and Grant Woods Forest Preserve to the east. The trail parallels the railroad track and Rollins Road/CR 31,...
About an hour northwest of Chicago, the beautiful Grant Woods Forest Preserve spans more than 1,000 acres, offering an outdoor respite of prairie, woodlands and marshes. The crushed limestone pathway...
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...
_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 Stearns Road Bike Path is a dedicated sidepath traveling from Hanover Park to the Bartlett, in the Chicago suburbs. The asphalt path sits on the north side of Greenbrook Boulevard/ Stearns Road,...
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 Deer Grove Trail is one of several great Chicagoland trails located in properties of the Forest Preserve of Cook County. Deer Grove is the oldest of all the Cook County preserves. It's comprised...
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...
A month or so ago I rode the full length of the Long Prairie Trail. When I reached the Ronald Olson FP I realized that the trail continued as the Stone Bridge Trail. Having liked the Long Prairie Trail I marked the path for a future visit. That didn't take long, I was back a month later and ready to tackle the Stone Bridge and four other paths in the area with my son.
The Stone Bridge Trail is a very well kept limestone trail that only spans about 6 miles. Although short it features areas where you are in a gorge, then on a steep hill. In the middle you can get a history lesson by demounting and walking down the hill at the Stone Bridge site. At the base of the hill you can see the preserved site and read about its historic value.
At the northern base of the trail you can see where the train track line continues north. I sincerely hope they turn this into more biking trail that heads into Wisconsin.
We rode the main trail and explored a few trails leading off the main trail on our mountain bikes. The only complaint is the lack of water. We are going back in a couple of days to do two loops and try more side trails. We will bring a cooler with our supplies
We came thru off of Batavia Rd and was an easy no traffic ride. Easy loop back to Prairie Path Trail. Headed north on Kirk and is under construction and west side bike trail is terrible going up to Faybian Pkwy.
We’ve spent many hours on this trail since we started riding a tandem two and a half years ago. We live close the Virgil Gilman trail in Sugar Grove and have spent most of our time on the southern half of the Fox River trail north and south of its junction with the Gilman Trail. The Fox River Trail also connects with the Illinois Prairie Path and its spurs as you venture north of Aurora through Elgin.
Six weeks or so ago we decided that we would try to ride the entire length of the trail and back. We spent the last couple of weeks on the northern section of the trail making sure that we knew our way through the northern half which has a few sections that go around short breaks in the paved trail such as north of State Street in South Elgin and heading south into South Elgin where the trail meets Raymond Street, there is also a junction to the Elgin spur of the Prairie Path. If you cross Raymond Street, you’ll be on the Prairie Path which you can use to go around South Elgin. To stay on the Fox River Trail, do not cross Raymond – go around the corner to the right. Each of these practice runs also included the hilliest section of the trail between South Elgin and Batavia. Tandems are crazy fast downhill due to the mass and aerodynamics but riding up long hills takes a special kind of love!
Yes, the trail can be busy around the towns; especially on weekends. The same reasons we are attracted to this trail also brings out the people walking and families. We thought doing our end to end ride would be better on a Friday but there were a surprising number of folks enjoying the beautiful day with us. We’re just patient with passing and give a thank you as we go by. More so than some other trails, there are many surface crossings so this trail will not boost your average speed, but we find these limitations to be a reasonable trade-off for this well-maintained trail.
The ride yesterday was generally incident free and went according to plan and was our longest ride to date on the tandem. We started out with a rear derailleur skipping issue which was very annoying (you shift more on a tandem than a single) but a quick adjustment at our first rest stop and all was well. The only other issue was a bridge replacement over Poplar Creek just north of South Elgin. Last Sunday there was no sign of construction, but we approached yesterday to find the trail closed. We checked it out to find that the old bridge had been removed but the new one was not yet installed. Fortunately, we found an unofficial detour and continued. Southbound, there was a sign that indicated the trail would be closed through the end of the month.
Loved exploring this trail today! A bit hillier than Prairie or Salt Creek but nice rolling up and down both ways. We easily found Sag Quaries with Google Maps off of 83 and jumped right on. Couldn't believe no street crossings all the way to Nicks BBQ at the end of the trail! We stopped for lunch than headed back. Nice 24 miles! Loved the Lake Katherine area and the low traffic on this trail! We'll do it again in the fall as the foliage will be beautiful!
I am embarrassed to admit that I have lived in the area for 20+ years and have driven by this little gem more times than I can remember. It is gorgeous!! I took my bike and was amazed at the number of trails and how large the area is. I went on a weekday afternoon so while many people were there walking their dogs or just enjoying the solitude, it never felt crowded. There were many stretches where I was completely alone and had the trail to myself. The parking lot of the Herrick Road entrance can accommodate many cars. It's a great oasis in the Western suburbs and I can't wait to go back!!
August 7th. Almost a perfect summer day and definitely perfect for a ride. Did a 30 mile round tripper from just south of Wisconsin line to south of McHenry and back. Condition of trail for that portion was about the best I've ever seen on any trail. Highly recommend parking at the trailhead for the Hebron Trail off Keystone Road at the north end of the trail. Hebron Trail will then take you straight east to hook up with Prairie Trail where you can begin and head south. No problems, well maintained all the way. Passes through several small, medium sized towns on this stretch with McHenry being the biggest. Plenty of access to services, food, water if you need it. Plan is to continue from McHenry on down south for my next leg of this trail. Can't wait to see what's ahead.
This bike trail has the best sights of any! In Batavia you have the huge windmill, Fabyan Japanese gardens, and trolley museum. Pretty wildflowers as you go through Saint Charles and pass Camp Kane. The train museum in St Charles is neat as well as the collection of signals with the Woodcliff sign, then once you get to Elgin you can see a little castle off the path, Pratt's castle! I don't think any other path has as cool sights as this one.
I like the canopied forest intermingled with open prairie. I live fairly close to the trail and have frequently ridden the trail from as far south as the city of Des Plaines to as far north as Libertyville. The trail extends farther south and north. For the parts that I ride the trail is mainly dirt, crushed gravel, and paved trails. During heavy rains, it will be washed out in many spots. Even during relatively dry periods, there is standing in several spots on the trail. Heading north from Des Plaines you have to cross railroad tracks. This is the private property of the railroad and they have done many things to dissuade riders from crossing the track. Farther north you have to cross Milwaukee Ave. without a light. Later you have to cross Dundee without a convenient light. You could use any bike on this part of the trail, and I have encountered a few adventurous riders on touring bikes despite some less than ideal conditions for thin tires. Overall it is a spectacular ride, especially when the prairie flowers are blooming.
One of the best bike trails in northern Illinois. Haven’t finished all the trails and look forward to being there again with it’s maintained quiet paths, and very few people using the trails as compared to the Des Plaines river bike path. Love the one way bike paths given the hills, our age and safety concerns. Given the steep hills and the effort it takes to reach the top each hill, I can understand why there are few people on the trails.
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!
Map Search
_163618_st.jpg)
_126231_st.jpg)
_159859_st.jpg)
_0_st.jpg)
_163950_st.jpg)
_140728_st.jpg)
_146179_st.jpg)
_144630_st.jpg)
_40060_st.jpg)
_122211_st.jpg)
