Where the trails are

From north to south, Illinois has an estimated 2,000 miles of bike trails — more if you count places where trails follow roadways. Even more if some unpaved multiuse trails are considered.

Here are some highlights, according to Lynn Miller of the Springfield Bicycle Club.

“Overall, I think the park districts and the Chicago metro area are doing a good job fostering bike trails,” he says. “And in Madison County (just northeast of St. Louis), our bike club goes down every year to spend a weekend riding on their trail network.”

Some favorites:

• Tunnel Hill State Trail in southern Illinois is an Illinois Department of Natural Resources project spanning about 45 miles.
  “It’s just spectacular country,” Miller says. “It goes through wetlands and a couple of train tunnels and then crosses a train trestle — an old abandoned trestle that goes over a river.
  
  “And that makes it all very scenic.”
  
  
• Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail
  “It’s a fabulous trail along the old canal,” Miller says. “There are a couple of bridges that go into the adjacent communities north of the canal.”
  
  The trail is the former towpath that follows the edge of the canal. The out and back distance is 110 miles.
  
  
• The Hennepin Canal Trail
  According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the canal trail totals 104.5 miles and crosses five counties: Rock Island, Bureau, Henry, Lee and Whiteside.
  
  
• Rock River Recreational Path
  This is a 10-mile trail in Winnebago County.
  
  “And there are some other trails in the Winnebago County area,” Miller says, including the Pecatonica Prairie Path and Bike Trail (18 miles) from Freeport to West Rockford.
  
  
• Forest preserve districts in the Chicago metro area
  For example, the Cook County Forest Preserve District has 100 miles of paved paths and more than 200 miles of multi-use trails. The DuPage County Forest Preserve District has more than 80 miles of paved trails and the Lake County Forest Preserves has an additional 100 miles.
  
  
• Sam Vadalabene Trail
  This is a 21.5-mile trail that connects Alton, Elsah and Grafton. It hugs the banks of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and takes riders through the river bluffs of Pere Marquette State Park.
  
  
• Fox River Trail
  The Fox River Trail is part of the Fox Valley Park District’s network that also includes the Illinois Prairie Path, Virgil L. Gilman Trail and Waubonsie Creek Trail, for a total of more than 40 miles.
  
  
• Route 66 Trail
  The storied Mother Road started in Chicago and stretched to St. Louis before continuing its journey to California.
  
  “This one isn’t complete,” Miller says. “It uses the old Route 66, but it doesn’t have the amenities and the nature we find along other trails.
  
  “But it is historic, and it is something that is being promoted.”
  
  Miller says individual communities are developing their portions of the trail, keying around old stretches of the original highway that still remain.

Maps of Illinois bike trails can be found at the state Department of Transportation website, www.dot.il.gov, as well as other Internet sites.

Chris Young

Illinois Issues, July/August 2010