About Bicycles
> Bicycle Touring and Trails
Bike Trail Descriptions and Photo Tours...
I will be starting this category with Illinois
and Wisconsin bike trails (Since I live in Illinois and am familiar with many of the
trails in this area (more to come soon though). This is not intended to be a comprehensive
listing of all major trails in the area, but has plenty of first hand descriptions, from
experience, and lots of great bike trail photos!
Here is a listing and some
detailed descriptions of my favorite trails and some of the major trails in northern
Illinois and Wisconsin.
The Fox River and Prairie Trails (Illinois).
The Fox River Trail (35m) and the Prairie trail (26m) intersect in Algonquin so although
the name changes, realistically they are pretty much the same trail. The Fox River Trail
goes from Aurora (south) to Algonquin(north) and the Prairie Trail goes from
Algonquin(south) to Genoa City Wisconsin (north).
Fox
River Bike Trail South The trail descriptions and bike trail photos included here are
the southern part of the Fox River Trail from Geneva Illinois north to
Dundee Illinois.
Fox
River Bike Trail North The trail descriptions and bike trail photos included here are
the northern part of the Fox River Trail only from East Dundee Illinois north to Algonquin
Illinois.
Prairie Trail
The Prairie Trail (Illinois - 25.9m) from Algonquin(south) to Genoa City Wisconsin (north)
was once Chicago and Northwestern rail line that ran from Kane county into Wisconsin...
This section has first hand detailed descriptions and photos.
The Palatine Bike Trail -
I have done the Palatine Trial numerous times and have recently checked the distance on my
bike odometer and it is 4.8 miles (one way). The eastern side of the trail is in more of a
residential area where as the western side gets a little more wooded and eventually
connects to the Deer Grove bike Path.
Deer Grove Bike Path
(Illinois). (7.5m) - This is a nice bike path that also connects to the Palatine
Trail (4.8m) at Dundee and Quentin roads via the Dear Grove Forest Preserve.
Long
Prairie Bike Trail (Northern Illinois 14.2m). An uncrowded paved trail that is fairly
flat and goes through open prairie as well as shady tree tunnels. Descriptions and photos.
(some info and pictures of the connecting Stone Bridge Trail)
Fox River Trail
Adventure - Here's a 1'st hand detailed description of some of the highlights from
some of our trips from East Dundee Ill to Genoa City Wisconsin.
I&M
Canal Bike Trail (Illinois) is about 58 miles one way from Chanahon to LaSalle/Peru
Illinois and is built from the original canal tow path. The path is not crowed and passes
through a number of small towns along the way.
Des Plaines River
Trail (Illinois). (39m) A nice crushed stone trail with some wooded and shaded
areas mixed with sunny prairie sections. Traffic on the trail is a little lighter than
some of the others in this area (probably due to the crushed stone surface). Most of the
highway intersections are bridge underpasses so you can do quite a distance, non stop
without having to deal with highway crossings.
North Shore Bike Path (16.1 miles) is great east-west
bike trail that connects to some of the nicest North-South bike trails in the North and
Northwest suburban area of Chicago. (connect the Des Plaines River Trail (above) with the
Green Bay Trail (below)).
Green Bay Bike
Trail - The Green Bay Bike Trail, Robert McClory and North Shore
Trails, descriptions and photos from Great Lakes, Il. to Glencoe Illinois. Photos of the
Breen Bay Trail and Robert McClory Bike path.
Inverness Bike Trail
(Illinois). (11.2 m) - There are
some great biking roads in Inverness if you know where to go and how to get there. This
article includes a detailed map of this particular Inverness road trip, which is East of
Ela Road, West of Roselle road, North of Algonquin and South of Dundee (68) and Northwest
Highway (14). This is the eastern part of Inverness.
Great Western Bike Trail
(Illinois 18m) - A nice article on the
Great Western Bike Trail from Dale Kiffel. First hand descriptions and some nice photos on
a warm summers ride from St. Charles to Sycamore Illinois.
Busse Woods Bike Trail
- The Busse Woods Bike Trail in Busse Woods Forest
Preserve, Cook County Illinois, from October, 2005. I started this ride at the Elk Herd
(just off of Arlington Heights Road, north of the Higgins road intersection) and took the
main (red) loop, the northern (black) leg, the leg that goes along Beisner road (purple)
and the Elk Grove community bridge leg that crosses
Route 290.
Algonquin Road Trail
(9.5 miles) - The descriptions and photo tour of the Algonquin Road bike Trail (connecting to and aka: Paul Douglas / Crabtree Bike Trail ) from Peregrine Park (Palatine), around Harper
College, northwest along Algonquin Road and Paul Douglas Forest Preserve and finally to
Penny Road (South Barrington).
Illinois Prairie Path -
(Illinois - 61m) the first U.S. rails to trails bike trail, the longest in northeast Illinois (when you include
all of the branches) and possibly the most confusing because of it's name
(Prairie) and various branches or sections. This tour starts at the Fox
River Trail, Elgin Branch intersection.
FREE Bike Trails Maps
FREE Bike Trail Maps
Resource - Most of the free online bike maps are available through various government,
county and municipal sites. Here's a non commercial, true resource for FREE Bike trail
maps (printed and online).
BATS Crystal Lake Trail
near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. BATS is an acronym for "Boulder Junction
Area Trail System." Right now its northern edge is the quaint town
of Boulder Junction.
Elroy
Sparta Bike Trail (Wisconsin) - 32 miles of scenic bike trail from Sparta to Elroy
Wisconsin built from the old Chicago and Northwestern railroad bed. First hand
descriptions and plenty of photos of the Elroy-Sparta bike trail (and the 3 awesome
tunnels) from Sparta Wisconsin south and east to Elroy Wisconsin. Part of the Bike 4 Trail
System
Great-River-Trail
- The Great River State Trail is a 24 mi bike
trail that follows the abandoned Chicago and Northwestern railroad bed. The trail
traverses a mixture of prairie and marshy bottomlands. It passes through the communities
of Onalaska, Midway, Trempealeau, and two wildlife refuges. - Part of the Bike 4 Trail
System.
LaCrosse-River-Trail
- The La Crosse River State Trail is a 22 mile rails to trail that also follows the
abandoned Chicago and Northwestern railroad bed and connects to the Great River Trail on the west end and the Elroy-Sparta
trail on the east.
Peninsula State
Park Trail - Peninsula state park bike trail at Fish Creek in Wisconsin's Door County
peninsula on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Ahnapee Bike Trail -
Detailed descriptions and photos of the Ahnapee Bike Trail from Sturgeon Bay to Casco.
Red
Cedar Trail - (Wisconsin) - Detailed description and photo tour of the Red Cedar State
trail located near Menomonie, Wisconsin
Here is a nice reference for Bicycle Trails in
Wisconsin. (Mike Bentleys site.)
Minnesota Bike Trails
www.SakatahTrail.org
is
a very nice site dedicated to the
Sakatah Trail in southern Minnesota.
Misc. Bike Trail
and Bike Articles |
Bike Trail Articles -
Misc. bicycle articles, bike trail info and
stories. This page is dedicated to misc. bike trail descriptions and casual bike stories,
comments and articles... (They are calling these blogs these days, so I guess you could
call this the about-bicycles bike blog :-) ).
International
Trails, Tours and Resources |
www.Switch-Backs.com - Southern Spain is an undiscovered mountain
biker´s paradise. Covered in 1000kms of unmarked singletrack; if you want to experience
true mountain biking then Switch-backs is for you.
Do You Have a
Dream?
I have had a dream for a while
now of bicycling across the US. I have talked to people who have done it and although it
sounds pretty extreme, it is still something that I would really like to do. I've
considered just doing Illinois to California and then up the coast or starting in Colorado
and just riding through the mountains to the coast then up and/or down the coast... Well,
I'm not exactly sure what is going to work out yet (it could just be a pipe dream) but I
haven't given up on the idea yet!
Do you have a Bike Trail
Description or Story?
If you have a bike trail
description or even a casual bike trail or cycling article or story that you would like
posted on this site, please feel free to Submit a BikeTrail Description / Story.
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