Fisheries Fact Sheet Click on image for expanded view. Basin Report: Click on image to download report. Click on image for expanded view. Top 5 Largemouth Bass caught on this waterbody in tournaments: 1 5. Top 5 Total Tournament Weight of Largemouth Bass caught on this waterbody in tournaments: 1 Hours: am—sunset, daily.
Trail Map. Check Status of Trail The Des Plaines River Trail and Greenway protects land along more than 76 percent of the river in Lake County, providing wildlife habitat, natural flood protection and outdoor recreation opportunities.
Explore by Canoe The trail isn't the only way to explore this river valley. A Fire-Blocking River Notice that to the west of the river, prairies and savannas are common, while on the eastern bank of the river, you'll find maple woodlands.
Nature's Highway When 12 forest preserves lie along a continuous path within a river valley, many good things happen for nature. History Preservation of the Greenway has been a key priority since our agency's founding. Captain Daniel Wright Woods. Half Day. Independence Grove. Independence Grove Canoe Launch. Lake Carina. Wilmot Woods Canoe Launch. Old School. The afternoon started out warm and sunny, a rare occurrence this Spring as the start of April hasn't been this cold in Chicago in years with multiple snow storms!
About 90 minutes into my ride the wind shifted and it was like someone turned on an air conditioner - in five minutes the temp went from high 60's to 50 degrees which is where I usually draw the line on riding 'cause it gets too cold for me. Overall trail conditions are pretty decent with no flooding from Deerfield Road up to Independence Grove and while the trail surface is somewhat rutted from the long winter it is in reasonably good shape.
One word of caution, bring plenty of water as none of the wells along the trail are open for the season and are wrapped in plastic film. I did the circuit around Independence Grove and from a distance spotted what appeared to be two baby owls peeking out of the hole in tree. I thought it was my lucky day and quickly snapped this pic see on blog only to get closer and realize they were fake, the dead giveaway is the yellow glue on their feet - fake news indeed :- Not much in the way of color on the trail yet, it has been too cold for any spring flowers.
I've now ridden the northern 20 or so miles twice, starting at Russell Road both times. The first couple miles are pretty rough due to the horses. That's not a knock on people riding horses on the trail, just the reality of hoofs digging into the crushed limestone surface. It seems to smooth out quite nicely after that and is very pleasant.
Not many road crossings, which is great. Yesterday's ride was much cooler than my previous, but there are plenty of places to stop in the shade if needed.
I'm not a fan of the crushed limestone surface simply because it leaves my bike caked in dust, but this is a nice trail for a day's use. Pros: -After Dundee, no unsafe crossings to my knowledge -Varied scenery ranging from swamp, light and dense forest, restored prairies, and old farmland -Pretty empty on most days south of Milwaukee can see more traffic -Can sporadically see larger animals deer, raccoons, skunks, turtles, snakes.
Guaranteed to see some warblers, woodpeckers, hawks, and finches when in season Neutral -Some areas are pretty desolate. The solitude can be nice, but I can imagine it attracts criminals. Around Lincolnshire you start seeing more asphalt. Cons -South of Milwaukee trail is muddy and swamp-like, very narrow paths -Underpasses can close as can parking lots I once drove from Milwaukee Ave. There's a big lot but you have to cross unprotected and bike beyond a hotel before the trail picks up again.
After this there is only one other crossing at Dundee. Some people start across Dundee so they don't have to cross at all. I was also surprised by the abundance of old ruins sometimes right along the trail. There's an old POW Camp, tons of old farm remains, and scattered agricultural machinery,. I see a lot of five star reviews and I am guessing those come from people at the north end of this long trail.
South of where it crosses Milwaukee Avenue, there are some pretty poor areas. It floods out, there are unsafe road crossings. In one place it comes down to a worn path barely a tire's width. South of Touhy Avenue the surface is uneven with some rocks and old broken asphalt. I ride this trail often because it is the one closest to me, but for the stretch I know, I cannot give this a high rating.
The North Branch Trail is much better, a few miles east. Great trail! Accessible, scenic and well-kept. I've lived walking distance from the trail for 20 years. It can be perfect walking, jogging and biking.
We've enjoyed it for family outings with the kids when they were children. For safety, solo activities are best avoided as the trails can be isolated and very wooded in some areas. I love this trail. Lots of shades, beautiful scenery, lots of animals like birds squirrels bunny's deer I will keep coming back here. I would like to say the Lake County section is handicap accessible.
This is a river trail and flooding can take out sections. Once dried up I feel the forest preserve district does a great job of re-grooming the trail. Overall this trail is kept well and I truly enjoy my rides on this trail. Not good even for cyclocross bikes. I can't imagine why they say this is wheelchair accessible either. Too bad because it's nice running along the river and has lots of shade. Won't do this again. I ran both county sections Lake and Cook down and back in the Fall of At miles round trip, the trail is easily do-able over the course of the several week period.
Running the while trail gave me a very enlightened perspective on the relative degree of trail maintenance and habitat quality between the Lake and Cook sides. The trail surface in Lake is far superior for most of its length, with fewer trail breaks.
This may be my favorite portion of the trail, and it felt like running through a primordial forest. I wasn't all that crazy about the Prairie sections north of Wadsworth Rd because it didn't provide much cover and, given the openness of the area the trail surface tended to be drier and harder, which was less forgiving on my joints.
All the way down to the south quarter of the trail, I could not believe how rutted and uneven the trail surface could get. The underpass under Belmont was a total mud slick and a lot more ankle-turning holes covered the trail south of that section.
But some of the habitat further south along the last 10 miles was just as beautiful as a lot of the sections closer to Lake. All in all, the beauty and excitement of DPRT far outweighed the low points and frustration along some sections, so I plan to run the entire mile loop every Fall from now on.
I rode this portion of the trail with some trepidation after having read other reviews and my own experience with the trail immediately south of this section North Ave. I was pleasantly surprised however to find that it was well maintained and mostly easy to follow. The section through downtown Des Plaines is quite nice, and would be a ideal place to stop for lunch. The underpass at Touhy Ave. It's still much better than trying to cross Touhy Ave. The only difficulty I encountered was the railroad crossing in the area called Kloempken Prairie on the route map north of Golf Rd.
As you approach this area several signs indicate "Trail Ends" and "Active Railway. When I arrived at this point there were luckily no trains in sight, and I simply carried my bike directly across the tracks and found that the trail continued on-wards.
Not sure what I would have done if there had been a train parked there Generally a nice trail. Agree some of the trail is not well marked going north and you need to ride in the bike lane of the street for a short section. Noted some dangerous spots though. We haven't ridden north in a while agree south is awful but recall carrying our bikes over railroad tracks north of Golf Road in Des Plaines the past.
A sign says the trails ends - active railroad crossing. That is not indicated on the traillink map. Indeed a train was crossing when we got there and we turned around. I recall the trail picked up on the other side of the tracks. Is there some other way to go to avoid the train crossing? Also, crossing over Touhy Ave.
From the south side of the trail, it's hard to see the cars traveling east. The other option is the trail under the bridge at Touhy. This short trail is in very poor condition. One concrete section is uneven and has wide cracks. You might want to walk your bike. At least you don't have to cross Touhy.
I have now ridden the entire trail on a hybrid bike. Today, I rode all of the way to the south end which terminates at North Avenue in Maywood. The trail is great in Lake County, but pretty much as soon as I got into Cook County, it all went to hell. The only exception was an enjoyable area in Des Plaines where the trail is concrete, well marked and smooth. The Wheeling area is terrible to ride on with large rocks, tree roots, and ruts.
I thought it might only be a short section, so I kept going. It is terribly marked, as noted by others, so be prepared to have to look for the trail. Even when you are on it in some areas, you'll think you're on a goat path. The area south of Touhy to the expressway was OK, but then the bridge was out at Cumberland.
I'm sure it will be beautiful when done, but the re-route to the west and under the tollway was like off roading. There was one area that I had to walk the bike about yards because of the ruts, mud and overall roughness.
Then it got worse as I got south. What a waste of time. I feel like my ish mile ride was like a 70 miler. Don't waste your time going south of Lake Cook Road. Well maintained. This weekend we rode from Russell Road to Wadsworth Rd. Nice variety of scenery. We went out Sunday afternoon and saw only a few other riders. Lovely trail.
Found a restroom along the way. It also runs into Independence Cove which have bathrooms and water fountains beautiful place. The only thing is that some of path is under overpasses and sometimes the water is too high to get thru so you just have to turn around. Great trail. I ran 15 miles on this trail this morning and found it to be overall quite good. It is muddy towards the south end, but still passable -- this is after quite a lot of rain in the last few weeks, but only a bit over the past few days.
The northern part is less wooded, with some areas along the road and some paved path along the river. This part is not as well marked, and one point at Campground Road Woods it was not clear that I should cross the road and continue on the road, because it was not marked. I figured it out eventually, and will know for next time. I was there starting at 7 am on a Sunday, and it was moderately busy -- perfect for me, a woman running along, in that I never felt unsafe because there were plenty of people around, but I also did not feel as if it was too crowded.
The biggest downside is that the road sounds are quite loud over a significant part of the trail. Thankfully there are several underpasses in addition to a few road crossings, and I did not have to stop often. We started at the south end of the trail and managed to go 11 miles in 2 hours because we spent so much time trying to figure out where the trail was, wading through mud, and jumping over trees across the path.
This trail wouldn't have been so awful if you could have just see where the d m thing was. It's real hard to tell mud from more mud in every direction. As most have already pointed put the southern most tip of this trails is craptacular.
I am an avid hiker with proper gear and in an effort to avoid the plethora of bicycles that flood area trails and rightfully so i thought i would give the less travelled area a try. The only things to be found were lots of mud and unleashed dogs and teenage hooligans. I advise you stay to the far north on the DPRT.
This trail is amazing! It has a some challenges along the course like quick turns,bumps, and sometimes some mud. The scernery is like no other trail I've experienced in Illinois.
Nothing like biking along this beautiful river. If I had one complaint it would be the need for an overpass over Dundee. The trail itself is well maintained especially in the Lake County segment.
This trail is perfect for a mountain bike! Be careful if you ride within a week of a rainstorm. I took my daughters for an afternoon ride about a week after we got a big rain. We got about a mile or two North of the Fullerton entrance and wiped out and got stuck in the mud. It was great for mud pies and luckily none of us got hurt, but it could be treacherous. It still was very beautiful, but proceed with caution.
I've lived in the Chicago area my entire life. All this time I've driven around the forest preserves This is a must-do for families and riders alike. Lake County well groomed and engineered. Cook County rougher and more challenging! I've been on multiple sections of DPR from Glenview north.
As others have noted, there are sections that, if it has been raining, can be virtually impassable. On the other hand, the sections from Lincolnshire are uniformly dry; run through really attractive ecosystems; and have underpasses so that riders can avoid the hyper-busy suburban highways. The only down sides are that there are places where the trail parallels one of the aforementioned high-traffic roads, and the winding nature of the route can lead to close calls with approaching users, especially if one or both of you is moving at a reasonably high speed.
I wouldn't try my road bike on the DPR unless I had a repair kit, but the trail is, with the exception of some short areas of deeper sand, really smooth and an easy ride. Cook county and more specifically the towns and villages where this trail runs through need to get their act in gear. Riding this trail south of Lawrence avenue in Schiller Park is for thrill seekers and off-road fat tire bikers only. The trail north of here to Higgins is hard pack and loose gravel until Higgins Rd.
Then the trail heads through Park Ridge. Shame on you Park Ridge! There are portions of this trail that are ride-able only after long dry spells Park Ridge needs to take a cue from Des Plaines of all towns because north of Touhy begins a beautiful stretch of limestone and concrete trails all the way north to Milwaukee avenue.
North of Milwaukee you have to exit Allison woods and cross Milwaukee and take Winkelman road for a quarter of a mile. Here is where the trail degenerates into a quagmire of gravel and poorly marked mud trail. It's actually disgraceful and I would not recommend a road bike here. The cities of Mt Prospect and Wheeling should be ashamed of themselves.
There is a nice bridge over Willow Road; a sign that maybe the county has plans for the trail south and north of this bridge, but much of it has been neglected for a long period of time. Remarkably there are rideable sections, but again, I would only recommend fat tires and spare tubes on this portion of the trail.
Once you cross Lake Cook Road, the good stuff begins. Luckily, most of this trail is actually in Lake County; and they have done a great job making this one long, limestone crushed beauty almost all the way up to the Wisconsin border.
You will see some beautiful terrain here and some welcome shady runs through thickets of trees which open up to beautiful wide open prairies. You will cross the river several times on beautiful bridges until you hit Independence Grove which is worth it as a destination all to of itself.
It has its own system of bike trails circling what was once an open quarry but is now lush lagoons and greenery. A very nice club house and beach are at the center and the club house serves some overpriced but decent food along with beer to replenish the body. The trail continues on north of Independence Grove in fine fashion. It's a little more challenging with more hilly terrain but the trail is in wonderful shape. It just peters out south of the Wisconsin border.
All in all, a very nice ride save for the few blighted spots in Cook County. Hopefully the politicians can scrape up some cash to make this a truly great ride; especially the section between Winkelman and Lake Cook. Go to it pols!!! First time on the trail, logged about 10mi in on a single gear Fat Tire Bike Can't wait to push forward. Saw some Deer even a Buck.
Slammed through some awesome flooded muddy tunnels. Skip to content. Latest News. Person in custody following shooting at Safari Land in Villa Park. Most Read.
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