Is the Pecatonica Prairie Path (IL) usable on a hybrid?
 

I’m trying to find out what sections of the Pecatonica Prairie Path (IL) are useable.

My wife and I will be riding that route on hybrids (700x40c and 26 x 1 ½ tires) from Freeport thru Pecatonica and Winnebago into Rockford in the next week or so. There are fair road routes, but I’ld like to try the path (or sections) if it’s doable.

It doesn’t look too bad in these shots http://www.aeroinc.net/pecweb/bikepath.htm

But this doesn’t look like any fun at all … http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/p...=1y&size=large .. especially witha bridge out somewhere. The CGoaB author wasn't sure if that last shot was really the Pecatonica Prairie Path.

TIA

I know around Winnebago the path is doable. However I have heard around Freeport it is poor. You might consider the Jane Adams path in Freeport It goes 12.85 miles to the Wisconsin line. They now have it done for 4 miles into Wisconsin. I rode it several weeks ago. They may have more done by now in Wisconsin. By spring you will be able to take it all the way to Madison.

Thanks. I'll plan a road route from Freeport to Pecatonica, then the path from Pecatonica to Winnebago and Rockford.

This is part of a trip from Galena to Rockford, and we will be riding about 8 miles on the Jane Adams Trail into Freeport. The Pecatonica Prairie Path was suggested as a way from Freeport to Rockford, but it sounds like the west end is more than we can handle with our equipment and at our current level of conditioning.

As you see, we live in Rockford. We do all our biking North of us in Wisconsin. That means a one hour drive to the nearest Wisconsin Trail. Why? Illinois does not do a good job for bikers. The trails are not well maintained and have few if any facilities. The Wisconsin Trails have a washroom and drinking water every 7 miles. Some places have a shower. Minnesota is even better. Paved trails and showers.
IMHO, Illinois should charge a little for trail usage and provide better security, facilities and maintenance. Until they do, we go somewhere else.

The Badger Trail, which will run from the WI/ILL state line to Madison, is not scheduled to complete until the summer of 2008. I've read that they have laid down limestone to some point into Wisconsin, but do not know how far, but it isn't too far. The trail is officially still closed at the Wisconsin state line.

They do have the bed prepared up to about 12 miles south of Madison, ready for limestoning. From that point north it is still just a dirt trail, rough in places. This section is scheduled to be paved in 2008.

This trail will eventually connect the Jane Addams trail to the Cheese Country trail (mountain bikes), then to the Sugar River Trail, up to Madison's Capitol City Trail, which is in turn connected to the Military Ridge Trail. Eventually it will also connect on Madison's east side to the Glacial Drumin Trail.

Right now none of these trails are connected. Should make for some very nice rides.

I live right beside the Badger Trail and have already been riding on it, even though it is closed. There's a 980' curved train tunnel south of Belleville, WI.

Will,

I'm certainly willing to pay trail use fees for better facilities and maintenance. But who would we pay? There is no single agency in IL that is responsible for bike trail maintenance.

The quality of bike paths around Illinois varies greatly depending on which agency is responsible for maintenance.

The Great River Trail from Moline to Savanna is well maintained, and has anything you could ask for along the way. It seems that every little town on the 60 mile trail is invested in keeping it up for the tourist trade.

The Cook County Forest Preserve District does a pretty good job of trail maintenance and providing basic services, as does the City of Chicago Park District. At least there are frequent toilets and drinking fountains.

McHenry County and Lake County trails are well maintained, but I think the toilet and water facilities are only in city or state parks, or in businesses along the trails.

Illinois DNR does a good job maintaining the tow path trails along the I&M and Hennepin Canals, but services are sparse once you get away from the state parks or population centers. At least there are frequent little towns along the I&M. On the Hennepin, there are only 3 places in 130 miles where you can get water without having to slug at least 5 miles off the trail.

Recycle,
In no way did I mean to say that Illinois has no trails and no facilities. I meant to say that Wisconsin and Minnesota do a better job IMHO.
I appreciate the tip on The Great River Trail from Moline. We will try that next year.
Just in case you do not know, look up "Root River Trails" in Minnesota with the towns Lanesboro, Houston, Fountain Head and Harmony. The people of Minnesota spend some money for us bikers. Paved and few people and very quiet. We made vacation there. Close by is La Cross Wisconsin, not bad either.

Yes, La Crosse has a short trail up through the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge. I've done some birding in that area.

And if you head east out of La Crosse, you eventually get to the Elroy-Sparta Trail which is very nice. There's a tunnel nearly 4000' long on that trail. Plus the towns are very welcoming to bikers.

Not too far north from Freeport, IL is the Sugar River Trail. It runs from New Glarus to Brodhead. Very nice trail but kinda short at 23 miles. New Glarus has a beautiful train depot that has been turned into a bike trail headquarters and there are some good restaurants there - and a great bakery!

Wisconsin trail info is available from here:

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/...indatrail.html

+1 on that. All I've read about WI and MN bike trails makes me want to rush up there next summer.


Tom,

The Glacial Drumlin Trail was the first WI trail I found when I started looking into bike trails last year. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get lodging and food along the route. It's definitely on my to do list.

We just did the Root River trail last week. Every little town you went through had their own visitor center. The people seem to go out of their way to be friendly. Lot of great eating places, and the paved trail is outstanding.
We go up to the Sugar River trail several times a year and even though it is only 23 miles, if you park in Brodhead and do it up and down it turns into a 46 miles trail. Plus it is going to cross the Badger trail so it will improved.
Freeport paper had an article in it several weeks ago saying the county has agreed to maintain the bridges and path once the Pecatonica path is completed. I guess they were the last government body to get on board so hopefully they will start working on the path.

This is our exercise trail. We do it with a Tandem and I do it with a Trek Hybrid and Aerobars. Best time ever was 17.8 MPH average for the 46 miles. That is pushing it. We/I go there as often as time permits.
It is a wonderful trail for this purpose because it is never crowded, cross roads are not too bad, water is available and restaurants are available. Thanks to the residents of Wisconsin. It is a friendly state for us visitors.

Wisconsin is doing nice things with trails. And as there is a lot of variety to the terrain, with several hills, prairies, rivers, and even train tunnels, it makes for beautiful rides.

Look at the options once the Badger Trail is complete:

Let's say one is in Freeport, IL. They can take the Jane Addams up to the Badger and continue into Wisconsin. At around 20-odd miles in, it intersects with the Sugar River Trail, so you could head NW to New Glarus, SE to Brodhead, or continue north to Madison.

You'd hit the paved trail about 10-12 miles south of Madison. On the SW side of Madison, it intersects with the Military Ridge Trail. So you can continue NE into downtown Madison on the Capital City Trail/city bike trails, where the trail comes right into the city center, passing a couple of blocks from the State Capitol building and then looping through the east side of the lakes and eventually back to the Badger Trail heading South again. Or you can head West on the 40-mile Military Ridge Trail that heads into a hilly, unglaciated area through Mt Horeb, Blue Mounds State Park, and eventually to Governor Dodge State Park, which has a lot of campsites.

A ride from Freeport to Governor Dodge will be close to 100 miles.

On Madison's east side the Capital City trail gets to within a handful of miles from the Glacial Drumlin Trail. Plans are already set to connect the two, but I don't know the timeline. This trail runs 51 miles over to Waukesa. The ride from Freeport to Waukesa would be 125 or more.

It will be great when the Badger opens, creating a network of varied trails. Hope to see many Illinois riders on them. On the ride up to Madison, you'll pass within a few hundred yards of my house.

In additional to the earlier link to the WI DNR, here's another link for WI bike trail info:

http://www.wisconline.com/attractions/biketrails.html

I'll add that the Badger Trail was threatened this past Spring before it ever opened.

A large electric power transmission company, ATC, had the trail on its list of possible routes for a 340KV electric line. If selected & approved, such a line requires a 150' clear-cut path. So where the trail now is lined with trees for miles, those would have had to have been cut down.

A large group of people organized against it, included members of the Wisconsin legislature. When the recommended routes were submitted this summer, the Badger Trail was not included. However it isn't completely "out of the woods" yet, as there is much debate over the selected routes and it could come back to there.

But hopefully we have fought this off.

Kinda scary to think that all of this effort to put in nice bike trails around the state will lead to power companies seeing these nice already-established-right-of-ways as being power line corridors. I know a bike trail up close to Superior, WI was selected as a power line corridor.

It wouldn't be quite the same on the Badger to be riding in a 150' wide clear cut, under 150' high towers with humming, super-high-voltage lines overhead.

Hey Tom, is that 2008 completion date for the Badger correct. I was on the Sugar River trail several weeks ago and two DNR officers checked my pass. I asked them about the trail and they said it was suppose to be done this fall, but it is a little behind. They said it will opened in the Spring of 07.

According to the Wisconsin DNR it is summer, 2008. But there's a chance that the southern segment, say from IL to the Sugar River Trail, could open in early 2007. All that's left to be done there is the final layer of limestone, and they've done that on several miles (as you know). They could possibly open another 8-12 miles north of that intersection in 2007, as the bed for the limestone is finished that far right now.

Heck, they could limestone up to a little unincorporated "town" named Basco, which is just 2 miles south of me. All that is in Basco is a half-dozen houses and Dot's Tavern. What more could one want to find at the end of a trail?

They could complete the whole thing in 2007 if some resource were devoted to it, as most of the infrastructure is done. Up by me they've completed over a dozen bridges. But that last 10-12 miles to Madison is in rough shape. They barely worked on that segment in 2006. According to the DNR, that segment is not due to be paved until 2008.

The wooden bridges that were finished last year, already have a lot of scaring from snowmobiles after only one winter of use.

[QUOTE=Tom Bombadil]


[This trail will eventually connect the Jane Addams trail to the Cheese Country trail (mountain bikes),]
Tom B. and any others thinking about the Cheese County Trail-be warned that this is primarily an atv trail and they (atv people) are trying hard to get the Badger Trail made into an atv trail. I do not think that this will happen but it is being considered.

The Cheesehead trail has hills and is designated as a ATV/mountain bike trail. The Badger trail is a flat rail trail. I don't know why ATV'ers would want to use it. This was discussed by the state DNR and turned down, but it could always resurface.

More work was done on the Badger in the last two weeks. Just rode several miles on it today. They have the bed work completed all the way to Purcell Road, which is 9-10 miles south of Madison. They were two miles south of here when I last checked it in September. So entire length of the trail that is to be limestoned is now ready for the limestone layer. Hopefully this will get down in 2007, as they already have a few miles finished on the south end.

From Purcell north to Madison, the trail looks like it hasn't been worked on since they took out the rails. It starts as two mud ruts and eventually gets to where it is completely grassed over. The tall grass clogged up my chain and gears. This section is scheduled to be paved by 2008.

There are some horse riders using the trail in the Belleville-Paoli area. Ample evidence of that on the trail right now. After the trail opens, horses are not permitted. Hopefully this rule will be respected.

What a nice and informative thread. I only have one comment, I for one do not mind washing a little horse apple (or cow flop either for that matter) off a bike now and then, we all want a place to be. A shared trail is no biggie IMHO.

A recent news story that tells how Wisconsin's legislature (read that, the Republicans in the legislature ... not trying to make this a political thread but it was the Republican votes that did this) cut funding for bike trails by 70%. That is, they diverted federal dollars from bike trails to other projects. This is why the paying of the Badger Trail was delayed from 2006 to 2008.

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/inde...102526&ntpid=7

I rode up to Monroe on the new Badger yesterday. Talked to the ranger for several minutes. She said they have been working on the path the last week after a 3 week down period. As far as she knows they are on schedule to be open next spring at least within 12 miles of Madison. The holdup around Madison is the paved section of the path Rather the money is still there.

It was the money for the paving that was moved back from 2007 to 2008. I'm almost certain that it was originally scheduled to be paved this year. I was expecting them to finish the limestoning in the Spring of 2007, because they just finished the bed preparation for it by me in the last two weeks. This is right up to the paving point.

For example, the trail passes under a bridge about a mile south of the paving point (Purcell Road). The bridge is for the Sun Valley Parkway, a very popular biking road (too bad there is no connector to the road or spur down to Paoli, which is a mile away and has an ice cream shop that caters to bikers) A month ago, the trail was nearly blocked at that point, with lots of rocks on the trail. Now it has been completely cleared, leveled, covered with a layer of crushed black material, and sprayed with pesticides. It is all ready for the final limestone layer. The snowmobile riders are going to love it this winter.

As the article stated, they delayed funding for dozens of bike trails and improvements. But apparently one of the surviving projects was to complete the limestone section.

A new group, the "Friends of the Badger Trail" just held an organizing meeting in Monroe on Wed night. I'm trying to find out more on what that group intends to do.

Keep us posted I would be interesed on what came out of the meeting

Returning to the topic of the OP for a moment ... I spoke with 2 people in a Freeport club last week, and both said that the Pecatonica Trail is badly rutted and overgrown with weeds. It might be a fine on a MTB, but it wouldn;t be so hot on a road or hybrid bike. They suggested the following route from downtown Rockford to Winnebago, Pecatonica, and the Jane Adams Trail north of Freeport.

1) Rockford to Pecatonica http://routeslip.com/map.php?map=10687
2) Pecatonica to Jane Adams Trail north of Freeport http://routeslip.com/map.php?map=10842

A prettier (but longer) route from Pecatonica to Freeport goes south from Pecatonica thru the town of German Valley. Since this is going to be a Nov/Dec ride, I'm opting for the shorter route.

If you look at your map, they have you taking Kelly road into Winnebago. The road 1 mile south of Kelly is Edwardsville Rd. You could take Edwardsville Road all west for 15 miles with only two stop signs. It T intersects into Bunker Hill Rd. You go south on Bunker Hill Rd. for one mile to German Valley Rd. The town of GV is a good place to take a break. You can then take GV road west for about 3 miles to Springfield Rd. Take Springfield Rd. north to Bypass 20. the bypass has wide shoulders and they are just finishing it into a 4 lane. You can take this west to Tower Rd where the Jane Adams start. I ride Edwardsville and GV road all the time cause I live on them. The farmers are great for yeilding to you as is everyone else. The only bad point is from Rockford to GV you have no places to eat. The town of Seward is a 1/2 mile north of Edwardsville. It has a gas station but no eating places. The Pec route you have map out is also nice. Plenty of places to eat in Winnebago and Pecatonica

RDW,

Thanks for the suggestion. I think the weather is going to determine which route we take.

On this leg we do have to go thru Pecatonica, and it appears that going thru GV will take us 5 miles south of our track. If the weather is nice, that's not a problem, but if it's wet or cold, we'll take the shorter way.

I''l let you know which way we end up riding.