Recently unseasonably warm weather (thanks climate change?) and federal holidays coincided to allow me the chance to visit my third of the Cook County Forest Preserve campgrounds: Camp Sullivan. Located about 30 miles from Logan Square, Camp Sullivan is definitely a very doable distance, but the ride quality is lower than other sites. Camp Sullivan has the […]
Using Your Garmin: Custom Course Navigation
You would think that it would be really easy and obvious to turn on navigation on pre-made routes on your GPS unit, but after canvassing several different cycling associates, it has become clear to me that I was not the only person who struggled with this. For reasons that escape me, Garmin does not default […]
Camp Shabbona Woods
Camp Shabbona Woods was the second of Cook County’s brand new camping sites I decided to check out. Located about 30 miles from Logan Square, and almost entirely on trail, Camp Shabbona Woods definitely hits a lot of the “good for beginners” check boxes while keeping the same cyclist friendly reservation and occupancy structure as the […]
DIY Fire Starter
While there are a lot of things to love about bike camping in the Chicago region, accessibility to dry firewood is not one of them. It’s definitely more of an exception to encounter firewood that is dry enough to light with just kindling than a rule. It’s also hard to find kindling at campsites at […]
Burnham Greenway
This is not my favorite trail. The Burnham Greenway runs between Chicago’s East Side neighborhood and Munster, Indiana. While the Burnham Greenway is somewhat useful as a connection between other trails, it definitely has one glaring 2 mile hole and not a lot of excitement on either side. The Burnham Greenway is entirely paved, […]
Camp Bullfrog Lake
When Cook County announced it would finally be opening some of its forest preserves for camping in 2016, I was thrilled. It seemed so silly that there was all of this great land, but nowhere for sanctioned camping on any of it. After looking over the new sites, I determined that 3 of them […]
Cal-Sag Trail
The Cal-Sag Trail (Calumet-Saganashkee) is one of Cook County’s newest trails. The first section opened in July 2015, and construction is still underway on the rest of the trail. This is scheduled to be wrapped up at the end of 2017. Following the I&M Canal for its current whole length, the Cal-Sag has a […]
On Packing: The Importance of Weight Distribution
In the 7 months between my last camp of 2015 and my first camp of 2016, I acquired a lot of additional gear. I’ve added a handle bar bag, a Tubus Tara front rack, small Ortlieb sport rollers (colloquially known as front rollers), and another water bottle cage for good measure. I thought I had […]
Robert McClory Bike Path
As the final Illinois component of the length of trail from Chicago to Kenosha, the Robert McClory Bike Path picks up close to the end of the Green Bay Trail and jogs north closely following the Metra UP-N line to Greak Lakes, where the trail turns slightly and remains west of the Metra off of the lakeshore by […]
Green Bay Trail
Picking up just south of the Wilmette stop on the UP-N Metra line, the Green Bay Trail connects Wilmette to Highland Park, where you can ultimately pick up the Robert McClory Bike Path. It’s a short ride through Evanston from the North Shore Channel Trail, as such a pretty low stress ride to get to. This trail […]