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Illinois Prairie Path |
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Illinois Prairie Path |
| IPP, Illinois Prairie Path Northeast Illinois |
About Bicycles Online > Bicycle Touring and Trails > Illinois Prairie Path The Illinois Prairie PathThe Illinois Prairie Path, Northeast Illinois. The FIRST Rails to Trails Conversion...
The Illinois Prairie Path (Illinois - 61m) is the first U.S. rails to trails bike trail (OK, multiple use 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. Illinois has a lot of "prairies" and, unfortunately, a lot of "Prairie Paths" and "Prairie Trails"! The "Illinois Prairie Path" (described here) is actually quite historic in that it was the first rails to trails conversions in the U.S.! This trail was developed from the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin (CA&E) rail line and goes from Maywood to Wheaton and then has branches to Elgin, Aurora, Geneva and Batavia. IPP History and Map and connecting trails:The Illinois Prairie Path emblem that you see all along the trail has meaningful symbols related to the paths history and uses. The IPP.org website is a great resource on the history of this path and also has a very good map of the path (Due to the format of that website I can't link directly to the map but it is easy to find on the website). There is also some information on May Watts, who in 1963 (at the age of 70) wrote a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune which started the rails to trails conversions in the U.S! You can also get a free hard copy bike map of Northeastern Illinois, including the IPP, at the IDOT link found at the FREE Bike Trail Maps Resource page. The IPP also connects to the Fox River Bike Trail in four locations (west end), the Great Western Trail in Dupage County (and indirectly (via the FRT and other bike trails to the Great Western Trail (in Kane county) ) and to the Des Plaines River Trail (east end). These are just some of the bigger trails that connect to the IPP. There are also a number of smaller connecting trails.
Prairie Paths of IllinoisOK, I want to clarify the "Prairie" bike trails in this part of Illinois and listed on the about-bicycles website.
The Illinois Prairie Path Photo TourThe photo tour for the IPP trail currently includes the Elgin Branch and the Geneva Spur. These photos are from a trip that I took with a friend in September 2007. I have been on a few other parts of the Illinois Prairie Path but I have not ridden the entire trail (yet). I have this on my list and will try to bring my trusty camera with me for photos of the rest of the trail as soon as possible (so many trails... so little time...) Or maybe one of the other contributors to this site will send me the photos and descriptions for the rest of the trail. What I like about this trail is that it is a nice east west bike trail that covers a lot of miles!!! There is also a lot of nice scenery along the IPP. The parts of the trail that I have been on are mostly crushed limestone. I was not real crazy about most of the Geneva spur because many places cross busy roads and go parallel a lot of other roads (some busy, some residential).
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Illinois Prairie Path llinois Prairie Path Photos 1 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 2 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 3 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 4 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 5 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 6 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 7 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 8 Illinois Prairie Path Photos 9 Fox River Bike Trail South Fox River Bike Trail North |
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