There is limited parking at the south end of the trail, as they have torn out the park to build condos. There is more parking, with a porta potty, a little ways north on IL Rt 25. Otherwise, the trail is superb in the south section. I have ridden every section south of Algonquin, and except for small portions where the pavement needs some work, and the bothersome on-road sections, this is a wonderful trail to ride.

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 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!

Nice flat trail, the majority of which is paved and shaded. There is a couple of miles of crushed stone but it was fairly smooth. There are some rough paved patches but overall it was a quiet and peaceful ride through farm country. We rode the entire 14 miles and back stopping in Capron at The Dairy Barn for fantastic pulled pork sandwiches and in Poplar Grove for some fresh squeezed lemonade at the Popular Grind.

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.