Originally Posted by
TimothyH
Nice. I've run parts of the Illinois Prarie Trail near Wheaton. Flat!
That's the Illinois Prairie Path, which does link up with the Prairie Trail further north and west. Yeah, subtle difference in name! To make it trickier, parts of the Illinois Prairie Path are mislabeled on Google Maps as "Prairie Trail".
Illinois is very flat. I did a 50 mile loop connecting the main stem of the Prairie Path, a couple of branches of the Prairie Path, and the Fox River Trail, and it was 1,073 feet of total climbing. But parts of it are quite scenic as you get WEST of Wheaton. Lakes, rivers, marshes, etc.
The North Shore Century in September has about 1,600 ft. of climbing for the entire 100 mile route.