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Poplar Creek Forest Preserve is located at Route 59 and Golf Road in Hoffman Estates.
Especially early in the season, great trail to ease into things. Got off onto spur near Route 59 accidentally; better signage needed.
One issue with this trail is the entry spur that parallels Bode road just west of Barrington. This section is full of tiny GLASS particles that are causing numerous flat bike tires.
This trail roads are good, but it has lot of signals on the way.
Trail is 8.9 miles (not 9.4 as stated) and well maintained. Mostly easy hills, with one long/steep one on the counterclockwise route on the part south of Bode Rd.; the clockwise routing avoids this. There are two traffic light crossings of Route 59 where you need to be alert and don’t try to rush, drivers don’t yield and turn suddenly. The trail can get busy but never nearly so much as Busse Woods. There are 4 parking lots, the one closest to the Tollway is on the south side of Higgns just west of Barrington Road, turn south on Shoe Factory Road and turn immediately right. Higgins at the traffic light
I forgot to rate so add one star to my review.
This trail has many stopping and starting road crossings. I waited to cross very busy streets about the same amount of time I was biking. Highway 59 has 20 lanes of traffic before the white hand says it safe to cross. Unless some idiot flies around the corner not paying attention. It’s loud, busy and not relaxing. Avoid this trail.
Nice short distance bike trail. I like ShoeFactory woods area. Nice forest preserve!
At less than 10 miles this trail isn't going to be a grand adventure. But take it for what it is, a rolling, scenic, half sun/half canopy trail with views of the forest, street-side, ponds, prairie, and wildlife. My son and I knocked out this path last summer and enjoyed it. Plenty of places to start/end your ride as there are multiple parking areas/parks in the area. On your ride be sure to try and find the lions (2). They roam in the same spot and do not move. Cheers.
Loved the ride. Few major road crossings but overall nice trail and not overcrowded at all
Have to cross busy streets on this trail, but otherwise very nice for walking or riding a bike.
Great Sept evening spin, goldenrod, milkweed,rattlesnake master...
But to pause in pedalling made us mosquito fodder. Don't forget repellant!
Nice and quiet place.. have asphalt and gross. You can make 9 or 10 miles, easy, in only 1 hour.
Pretty scenery, lush preserves, and no flooding today! Beautiful ride, with intermittent hills to make it interesting. Our first time here, but we will definitely be back!!! Probably tomorrow ¿¿!
I live near this trail and have ridden it for years. It's a nice workout -- good 9.5-mile loop, all paved, and some hills to get you going especially early in the season. That it must cross busy Route 59 in two spots is a weakness. It also crosses Bartlett Road, but that's not too bad at all, and Golf Road, which can be a little busy. But it's too bad the trail couldn't be entirely on the east side of Route 59. Such is life.
On the flooding that people site: The forest preserve district just put up a sign southwest of the corner of Barrington and Golf roads that says a flood mitigation project is in the works this year. It looks like work has even begun. That's good.
Nice ride, beautiful scenery - fields, marshes and woodlands. It is quite hilly, more than I expected, but a great cycling workout. The trail crosses over main roads but quickly gets back to "trails."
This is a great path to ride or hike, my only complaint is that the path floods just south of golf road. It can be more than 5 inches deep, it's better to cross over Barrington and ride the sidewalk and rejoin the trail at Bode.
No memorable views on this ride. It's pretty easy for 8+ year old children. My grandson kept up and really enjoyed coasting the long gentle slopes as well.
I rode this trail not too long ago, going in the clock-wise direction (started off at the parking lot on Shoe Factory Rd, just east of Route 59, and then headed east). It was a pretty scenic ride, with a lot of varied grasses and trees (I even saw some birches!). I noticed that I was going DOWN a lot of hills, so that made me worried about having to go back up eventually, but it didn't get too bad. However, once I crossed Golf Rd (near Barrington Rd), and went down another hill, I had to stop and turn around because the trail had major flooding for as far as I can see. I usually try to ride through larger puddles or if I can see track marks, but because I couldn't easily estimate how deep it would get, I just ended up going back (and up all those hills I was worried about earlier). Would I come back? Maybe to do the western portion of the loop that I never got to, but would like to see the drainage issue looked at.....
This is a lovely ride that's fully paved. But it does have WAY more hills than I was expecting. Either way you ride it you will hit long stretches of hills with sweeping slopes of down hill sections. Many times the views open up over large fields. Pretty ride for being paved.
This is pretty descent bike trail. Not too hard for novice rider, and very reasonable for weekend bikers. You just have to be patient on the intersections (Golf/59, 59/Shoe Factory, Barttett/Bode, Golf/Barington, , and Higgins/ShoFactory), My 10 year old son had a great time.
I wish the Hoffman Estates Park district will work with Cook County to pave the trail going west towards Deer Crossing / Deer Path community (where I live) so it will be an easier access for younger bikers.
The main thing preventing this trail from getting 5 stars is the busy roads you have to cross. If you do the whole loop, you will have to cross Golf Road twice and both crossings are at busy intersections. You also have to cross Bartlett Road and that's at an intersection too. I would not recommend these crossings for families with young children. Instead, families should concentrate their riding near Bode Lake and simply turn around at these busy crossings. There's always plenty of parking at Bode Lake.
Most of this ride is among prairie type fields and for long stretches feels very remote. The scenery is beautiful with some nice long stretches of riding. The middle is interrupted with several road crossings, but I viewed,those as guilt free breaks!
The bad thing about this trail is the number of times it crosses main roads so you end up stopping quite a few times and I'm not a big fan of these interruptions.
But other than that this trail is actually very beautiful with a few gentle inclines that could challenge you and some ponds and picnic areas. Most of the trail is out in the open without any tree cover so be prepared to feel the burn if its a really hot sunny day. This one is definitely not as crowded as busse woods. So thats another positive if you're looking for some solitude.
When you start breathing heavily dont breathe through your mouth or you'll find you have insects in your throat. :)
Here is a video that I made of my ride...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRk-E4LEw9k
This trail is rather fun! Feels like being on a roller coaster! We parked at the Bycicle Parking Lot and did the whole lap in less than 45 minutes.
This is a nice trail for any level of biker. My wife hasn't been on a bike for 2 years, and rode this whole trail with me yesterday. The trail was in good condition, with strategically-placed benches near the hills. We saw all skill levels of bikers from little kids to a pack of serious road riders.
My only complaint was the amount of dog droppings right in the middle of the trail. (There were far more dog droppings than mile markers, if it gives you any idea how much was there.) I wish the dog walkers would be more considerate of other users.
I often ride this trail before work since I live nearby. It's very pleasant and not at all crowded early in the morning (5:30-ish AM). Not too challenging either, easy to do in under an hour. Enjoy :)
I ride the Poplar Creek Trail all the time. There are two hills, one on the east side(by Golf Road) and one on the west side (south of Golf Road). They are challenging but doable. There are sections that you can fly on, and other sections that are crowded with pedastrians and dogs.
This is a very nice trail - it has woods, hills, flat areas, and plenty of farm/field views. Fully completed back around 2003-4. Nowhere near as crowded as the nearest park trail at Busse Woods.
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