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Print Friendly MapThe 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. Immediately north of the basin, more formal West Fork Park offers a playground, athletic fields, and basketball and tennis courts.
While the Techny Trail's looping northern end offers the most scenery, the southern end along Johns Drive, Lehigh Avenue and the active Metra railroad tracks provides direct access to Glenview's popular downtown area. Start or end your trail journey with a bite to eat at one of the area's many delicious restaurants.
Parking for the Techny Trail is available at West Fork Park (intersection of Westleigh Drive and Willow Road) in Glenview. Alternatively, find on-road parking in downtown Glenview.
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.
Interesting, but a bit confusing. This is a mix of a 'real' trail around the Techny conservation area (big depression) and sidewalks converted for bike use (or so it appeared). It goes through an industrial park where the path is not very clear, then along city streets later. The part around the conservation area is quiet and pretty; the lower stretch along Lehigh Avenue is clear to follow with not much traffic (mid-day; mid-week). Positive is that there is only one major road crossing and it has buttons to request a walk signal. I liked it enough to ride it again, but would not say it is the best in the area. It is not a long ride, so the really serious might want to use other paths.
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