Great Lakes - Crystal Lake to Chicago Botoanic Gardens

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for a good route to take me from Crystal Lake (Crystal Springs and Walkup area) to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. My wife and I are riding from our home in Chicago to her parents' in Crystal Lake on Labor Day weekend, we are riding the Illinois Prairie Path and Fox River Trail out and are looking for an alternate route home. I have Highland Park to Chicago sorted but am not sure of a good route to get to the Botanic Garden. Any advice on a good route or a particularly bad route. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Do you prefer trails? - TF

Trails are best, but roads are ok, as long as they are relatively "safe"

Check the Chicagoland Bicycle Map (http://www.biketraffic.org). There appears to be a way, but it looks hairy and complicated - I wouldn't try it without a rescue vehicle on call.

Alternatively, you could take the Metra to Cary or Fox River Grove and find a route east from there. Bikes are allowed onboard during off-peak hours. For that matter, you could take the Metra all the way to Chicago. :)

Remember that the Botanical Garden path extends north to the Wisconsin border, so you could also look for a route that intersects anywhere north of the gardens themselves. There's also the Des Plaines River path, which runs north-south from Cook County to the Wisconsin border. Some of it is dirt - at least through Cook County.

Thanks for the response, we were looking for a route that wasn't as hairy as that one, that is what brought me on here, I was hoping someone who had done a similar ride before would possibly have an alternate route.
We could take the train but that would take half of the fun out of the weekend.:)

I will keep searching and if I find a good route I will let you know about it. Thanks!

Trails are best, but roads are ok, as long as they are relatively "safe"

Attached is an Excel file (just change the extension from zip to xls) with a route from Walkup to the McClory Trail in Lake Bluff. McClory/Greenbay trails and St Johns Rd. will get you to Lake Cook Rd just east of the Gardens, but someone else will have to guide you thru this section. The roads in the attach cue sheet are very common cycling roads and you should have no trouble. I live outside of Mundelein and you can have my cell phone # for the trip if you like. - TF

Attached is an Excel file (just change the extension from zip to xls) with a route from Walkup to the McClory Trail in Lake Bluff. McClory/Greenbay trails and St Johns Rd. will get you to Lake Cook Rd just east of the Gardens, but someone else will have to guide you thru this section. The roads in the attach cue sheet are very common cycling roads and you should have no trouble. I live outside of Mundelein and you can have my cell phone # for the trip if you like. - TF

The instructions take you to Botanic Gardens, where are you going from there? What part of city?
Kenal0

Thanks so much for the responses, the cue sheet is a great help, good to know these are well cycled, safe routes. We are heading home to Logan Square in Chicago, so we are going to take the North Branch Trail down to Milwaukee Devon and then head in on Elston. As long as the weather holds it should be a great couple of rides. Thanks again!

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for a good route to take me from Crystal Lake (Crystal Springs and Walkup area) to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. My wife and I are riding from our home in Chicago to her parents' in Crystal Lake on Labor Day weekend, we are riding the Illinois Prairie Path and Fox River Trail out and are looking for an alternate route home. I have Highland Park to Chicago sorted but am not sure of a good route to get to the Botanic Garden. Any advice on a good route or a particularly bad route. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

We did Crystal Lake to our home in Chicago using the Fox River trail and IPP back in April. Very nice ride.
A few notes. The IPP is largely crushed limestone. I would advise against using too narrow of a tire. I believe we used 700x35x/38c and it was no problem.
The entry to the IPP in Oak Park/Oak Forest is a little hidden and the first few miles go thru some lesser towns, with some busy crossings. After that it get's a lot better. By accident we ended up on the North Branch of the IPP, which turned out to be nice, but rather boring. The South Branch to Wheaton is a lot nicer. The Fox River trail is beautiful, especially north of St. Charles.
Our route, thru St Charles and Fermilab was about 90 miles., but you can shorten it somewhat.


We plan to do the Grand Illinois Trail and they have a cue sheet for the approx. route you're asking about: http://www.bikelib.org/git/seg10_2004.pdf
Good Luck
Duppie

The prairie path is well compacted limestone in most places. I did it quite easily on 32c tires on my Trek 520. I suspect even 28c would be fine.