About Bicycles Online > Bicycle Touring and Trails > Des Plaines River Trail

The Des Plaines River Bike Trail

We rode by this deer at the southern end of our trip (close to Half Day)

You run across horse back riders occasionally in the woods too...

It's a nice mix of wooded, shady areas and open fields and prairies

The Des Plaines River Trail (Illinois - 39m) I have only done the northern branch of this trail which goes from Lincolnshire to just before the Wisconsin border. The southern part of this trail goes to Maywood I believe.

This is a really nice crushed stone trail with lots of 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 (really nice if you have kids with you).

This article includes first hand descriptions and plenty of photos of the northern end of the DPRT, from the Wisconsin border to Adler Park in Libertyville, Illinois (September, 2004) and from Route 22 in Half Day north to Adler Park (July 2005). Sorry for the change in direction, but this does include the entire northern part of the trail - Route 22 in Half Day to just before the Wisconsin border... This part of the trail is 27 miles

The north end of the DPRT. Mile zero marker

Mile 7 marker, getting back into the woods.

Independence Grove at Mile  15 marker.

I am including some of the standard bike trail information and stats but my intent is to capture the look and feel of the trail primarily from first hand descriptions and photos.

The photos are from a trip that I took, with a friend from Libertyville to Wisconsin and back. I started the pictures from the Mile Zero Marker which on the northern end of the trail. Our trip (both ways) was about 40 miles and goes from Mile 0 to about Mile 16. I didn't get a chance to photograph the rest of the trail (from Route 22 in Half Day, north to Adler Park) until July 2005. But it is ALL here now!

I have included photos of many of the mile markers for a perspective of what different parts of the trail are like at the exact mile marker locations. I intend to ride and photograph the southern part of the trail (south of route 22) when I get a chance, but it may not be this season... Stay tuned though!

Bike Trail Information

Distance: 39 miles (at least that's what most sources say. I believe it could be much more when you include the entire trail...)

Surface: Crushed limestone, flat

Additional Information:

It is really nice to be able to go so far, in the northern Chicago suburbs, without having to stop or cross many major intersections.

Maps:

The Des Plaines River bike trail spans 2 counties, and both forest preserve districts have different web sites (unfortunately). You can get a map of the northern section from the Lake county forest preserve web site (www.lcfpd.org) and the southern section from the Cook county forest preserve web site (www.fpdcc.com). Both of these sites are great resources for good Adobe bike trail maps (for the relative FP bike trails).

Here are some links to the maps.

Des Plaines River Trail North Map (Adobe pdf)
Des Plaines River Trail South Maps (The Cook county version is split into North and South within this map)

Somewhere between the maps? I still need to check this out, but there appears to be a small part of the trail that may be missing just south of Route 22.

This is a great trail for distance riding and is fairly flat, shady and very scenic. Lots of shady, wooded sections mixed with some open prairie sections. Some parts of the trail and some of the highway underpasses do flood (in extremely wet conditions) and may be closed in wet conditions. There are lots of connecting branches that go off into parks and other scenic areas...

I have decided that this is my favorite trail in the north and northwest Chicago suburbs for scenery and distance considering that the trail is less crowded than many of the other major trails in the area. I am sure that much of that has to do with the fact that the trail is not paved. I think I would still rate the Fox River and connecting Prairie Trails at the top, but if you are limited to the weekends (when everyone else is out), this one is better due to the crowds (or lack of...).

Des Plaines River Trail Photos

Here's the photo tour of the Des Plaines River Trail, from Wisconsin (going south) to Libertyville (September, 2004).

Des Plaines River  Bike Trail Photos 1
Des Plaines River  Bike Trail Photos 2
Des Plaines River  Bike Trail Photos 3

Here's the photo tour of the Des Plaines River Trail, from Route 22 in Half Day (going north) to Libertyville (July, 2005).

Des Plaines River Trail Photos 4
Des Plaines River Trail Photos 5
Des Plaines River Trail Photos 6
Des Plaines River Trail Photos 7 

I hope you enjoy this tour and hope it inspires you to take the trail(s) in the spring, summer or fall (when it is cool and dry preferably) and/or provides a nice memory of your trips in the winter when you may not be able to get out there and enjoy it (as much anyway).

I've kept the format to medium sized and medium quality photos split into multiple pages to keep the download times reasonable for all connections, including dial ups. The photos (with a few exceptions are sequential going from Wisconsin to Libertyville (for now... more to come (south of this section) soon!)...

Note: Des Plains is a common mis-spelling for Des Plaines (with the e near the end) so will will see some references to Des Plains River Trail on these pages to help with the searches for the trail pages.