BIKING THE NORTH BRANCH
OF THE CHICAGO RIVER TRAIL
This is the start for this paved trail at
Devon and Caldwell Avenues in northwest Chicago, just west of Central. It
then runs about 20 miles north to Cook County Forest Preserve's Chicago
Botanic Gardens. At the north end, a four mile loop runs around the Skokie
Lagoons, and at the far upper end of the loop you can cross Dundee Road
and enter Botanic Gardens through an open gate, after which you bike the
service drive to the entrance area. Entrance for pedestrians and bikers
is free, and the Gardens provides bike racks. TIP: Walking through their
magnificent gardens is free and worth an hour or more exploration. I especially
like the Japanese Island and the Rose Garden. A cafeteria is also available
there.
Then, if you exit the Botanic Gardens parking
lot on the north and bike east on Lake-Cook Road about a mile, you can connect
with the 10 mile Green Bay Trail. There is
a sidewalk you can use on the north side of Lake-Cook Road if traffic is
heavy, and Green Bay Trail is just over the railroad tracks, heading both
north and south from Lake-Cook Road.
Most of the trail passes through lovely forest,
though the trail also passes two prairie restorations (in Miami Woods and
Bunker Hill Woods), a number of golf courses, two equestrian centers, meadows,
numerous picnic areas, Jensen toboggan slides, and only occasionally are
there views of residences or a commercial area. I took these shots after
three days of winds as high as 55 MPH, explaining the debris on the trail,
but only one downed tree was blocking the trail for its entire length.
Overpasses take you over the busy Lake Avenue
(seen here) and the dangerous intersection of Oakton and Caldwell, and an
underpass takes you beneath the Edens Expressway (I-94). Most other main
roads the trail intersects have traffic signals. A bridle path parallels
the bike trail for much of its length but is seldom seen, and a narrow gravel
jogging/walking path abuts a section of the trail. The bridle path uses
this same bridge, but the equestrians are on the other side of the farthest
(curved) concrete wall.
The trail often runs near the river, but
not usually this close! Several weeks of rain have the river well above
flood stage, but the trail is constructed high enough so that no water encroached
anywhere on the bike trail, although I did see the bridle path flooded in
several places. Also, the dams and boat launch at Skokie Lagoons were completely
under water.