Ted Villaire - Best Rail Trails Illinois: More than 40 Rail Trails throughout the State

Ted Villaire is author of 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Chicago, Camping Illinois, Road Biking Illinois, and Easy Hikes Close to Home: Chicago. Villaire has written freelance articles for various magazines and newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Des Moines Register, and Rails to Trails magazine. He served as the editor of a weekly Chicago neighborhood newspaper and a publications editor for a large Chicago-based nonprofit. In addition to freelance writing, he currently works as a part-time writer/editor with the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago. Villaire received a bachelors degree from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a masters degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Hes regularly interviewed about outdoor recreation by local media. Get in touch with him and browse more photos from the trails featured in this guide by visiting his Web site, www.tedvillaire.com.

Courtesy of Michael Roberts

Illinoisans are fortunate to have many people in state and local governments who see the value in creating recreation trails within easy reach. My gratitude goes to the local and state agencies that maintain these trails, often on a shoestring budget. Were fortunate also to have organizations such as the league of illinois Bicyclists, the illinois Trails Conservancy, and a host of local advocacy organizations that work to create, protect, and maintain rail trails throughout the state. Thanks to all the friends, acquaintances, and strangers who shared with me a wealth of information about rail trails within the state. Pursuing a long project such as this guide would have been so much more difficult without the unflagging encouragement from a spectacular group of family members and friends. Im particularly grateful to friends who accompanied me while exploring these trails, including Tim Merello, whose crackerjack plant identification skills helped me appreciate and share with readers more of the natural beauty along the way. Special thanks goes to my sister, Ann, one of my favorite companions for exploring trails.

This route is jammed with scenic vistas and fascinating local history. While tracing the route of the Des Plaines River, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the I&M Canal, youll pass two museums, several parks, and a couple of historic sites. Much of the northern half of the route offers a surprisingly remote feel as it cuts through many acres of wetlands and bottomland woods.

Activities:

Start: Columbia Woods Forest Preserve, located along the Des Plaines River in Cook County

Length: 20.1 miles one-way

Surface: Paved for the first 9.2 miles in Cook County; crushed gravel surface for the remaining 10.9 miles in Will County

Wheelchair access: The trail is wheelchair accessible, but the 3.0-mile section upon entering Will County has a gravel surface that is rough in places.

Difficulty: The length of this trail gives it an easy-to-medium level of difficulty.

Restrooms: There are public restrooms and water at Columbia Woods Forest Preserve, the Isle a la Cache Museum (0.3 mile off the trail), and the I&M Canal Museum and Visitor Center (Lockport).

Maps: USGS Joliet, Romeoville, and sag Bridge; DeLorme: Illinois Atlas and Gazetteer: Pages 28 and 29; Chicagoland Bicycle Map, Active Transportation Alliance, www.activetrans.org

Hazards: Watch for trucks while traveling along the on-street section of the route.

Access and parking: From I-55 head south on Us 12/20. Turn right onto IL 171 (Archer Avenue). Turn right again onto Willow springs Road. Turn left into Columbia Woods Forest Preserve after crossing the Chicago ship and sanitary Canal and the Des Plaines River. In the forest preserve, stay left to reach the trailhead. UTM coordinates: 16T, 426593 E, 4620585 N

To reach the parking area on Kingery Highway (IL 83), head south on Kingery Highway from I-55. After crossing the Des Plaines River, park in the small lot on the right.

To park at the schneiders Passage parking area on 135th Street, head south on Weber Road from I-55. Turn left onto 135th street. Look for the parking area on the left after crossing the Des Plaines River.

To park in Lockport, head south on Weber Road from I-55. Turn left onto Renwick Road. In Lockport turn left onto state street and then left again onto Eighth Street. Park in the lot on the right next to the Gaylord Building.

Transportation: The trail can be accessed by taking Metra trains to Willow Springs, Lemont, Lockport, and Joliet. In lockport the Heritage Corridor Metra train stops mere yards from the trail.

Rentals: The Wheel Thing, 15 South La Grange Rd., La Grange; (708) 352-3822

Contact: Canal Corridor Association, 201 West 10th St., Lockport 60441; (815) 588-1100; www.canalcor.org

Cook County Forest Preserve District, 536 North Harlem Ave., River Forest 60305; (800) 870-3666; www.fpdcc.com

Will County Forest Preserve District, 17540 West Laraway Rd., Joliet 60433; (815) 727-8700; www.fpdwc.org

NOTE: In future years, the Cook County Forest Preserve District expects to extend the Centennial Trail several miles north to lyons.

H eading south from Columbia Woods, the first section of this trail follows a thin sliver of land between the Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. As the trail traces the top of a small bluff, the Des Plaines River appears on the right, fringed by moisture-loving trees such as box elder, maple, and cottonwood. Amid the dense bottom-land woods along the trail, youll see piles of limestone excavated from the digging of the canal. Finished in 1900, the Sanitary and Ship Canal reversed the flow of the Chicago River in order to flush waste away from Chicago toward the Mississippi.

Soon the Des Plaines River meanders away from the trail and is replaced by a remarkably quiet stretch of open grassland. A bit farther south, the first bridge you pass under, IL 83 (Kingery Road), offers an opportunity for an extended side trip. A trail over the bridge leads to a section of the I&M Canal Trail on the opposite side of the Sanitary and Ship Canal. The path is 8.6 miles long and contains two connected loops that run beside the former shipping canal.

After the bridge, a small lighthouse-looking structure marks the confluence of the Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Calumet Sag Canal. Barges and tugboats chug along the Cal-Sag Canal on their way to and from Calumet Harbor, the largest industrial port on lake Michigan.

The next stretch of trail runs through wetland, bottomland woods, and patches of savanna before meeting up with a heavily industrial area crowded with barge offloading facilities. Near the town of Lemont, the Centennial Trail shares its route with Canal Bank Road. (Despite all the industrial facilities and piers along this route, the road is fairly quiet.) one offloading area contains mountains of salt; another is piled high with landscaping mulch.