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, […]
Category: Trail Talk

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 […]

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 […]

North Shore Channel Trail
The North Shore Channel Trail was the first bike trail I ever rode in Chicago. While it’s not particularly long or interesting, it is pretty useful as a connector (and completely paved!). You may know it as the Skokie Sculpture Garden trail as it’s the trail that winds past all of the truly ugly sculptures north […]

The Illinois Prairie Path
The Illinois Prairie Path is a long stretch of path picking up in River Forest in the immediate west suburbs and stretching as far southwest as Aurora on one leg, and northwest to Elgin on the other. The trail experience varies greatly. I have yet to ride the entirely of the Aurora branch, so the […]

The Great Western Trail
I hesitate to tell you about this because much of what makes the Great Western Trail so great is how few people seem to know it exists. It’s the Illinois Prairie Path’s under-utilized northern brother. The trail is about 15 miles long, picking up near the old train station in Villa Park and dropping you […]