Yea, it’s been closed all summer and most of the 2020 riding season but the bike trail bridge into Algonquin is finally open! 

Coming up to the new bridge into Algonquin from the south

Those bikers out there that ride the McHenry Co. Prairie Trail (PT) and Fox River Trail (FRT) either north or south of Algonquin know how crappy it has been taking the detours around the bridge northwest of the Fox River Bridge this riding season.

Over the summer there were times when the detour was not all that bad and other times (especially just before it opened) that it was really hard getting through all of the heavy construction going on on the roads below the bridge.

Well I was pleasantly surprised last week when I got to the bridge and the construction signs were gone and the bridge was open. 🙂  The bridge just goes over a local street in Algonquin and used to be the 2nd wooden bridge into Algonquin (as you head north) after the 1st wooden bridge over the Fox River.

The original wooden bridge over the river is still the same bridge but the next bridge is now a concrete bridge with wooden guard rails.

Closer up view of the new bridge with the ramp to the street below

As you can see, I took a couple of photos of the bridge when I first saw it (I was so excited!) but I also even did a Google Photo Sphere photo of the bridge when I was there. So for a multi-dimensional  and interactive view of the new bridge see: Photo Sphere of New Bridge into Algonquin (here). Note, on a cell phone you may need the Google Maps app to view this.

Since it was a beautiful fall day when I did my “new bridge ride” I also took a batch of photos of the southern end of the PT and the northern end of the FRT.

I have been wanting some updated photos of these parts of the PT and FRT for a long time now so I also took some new trail photos. The trail photos currently in my bike trail photo pages for these are from 2003!  I will post the new trail photos later when I get a chance and also post a blog post here to point to them.

Until then, enjoy the new bridge! 🙂

OK, I have explored the Fox River Trail (FRT) detours south of Elgin, the construction at the old stone railway bridge there and the Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) intersection that I was wondering about (obsessed with) since my last ride on the trail when I accidently ended up on the IPP before getting on to the Stearns Road Trail SRT) and back to the FRT in South Elgin.

First, the FRT and IPP intersection is right where it has always been, just south of Elgin before the old stone railway bridge and tunnel. There is a lot of construction here, with large construction signs which is why I did not notice the intersection and just got on to the IPP.

It turns out that the IPP is in much better condition and, in a lot of ways, a better way to get into South Elgin anyway. A lot of the FRT is closed between Elgin and South Elgin, in pretty poor condition and it appears to have not been maintained for quite a while – but you can ride the FRT (with a few side road detours) into South Elgin if you choose to go that way. 

I have written up all the details and included photos of the detour and construction and a photo of how the new railway tunnel will look in a separate page on this website. See The Fox River Trail Detours page (here) for more information and photos about what I have posted here.

Also here is a link to the GPS Map of my ride that I took to explore these trails on the Garmin website.

And one last little technical update on this website. I finally got around to doing a pretty significant make-over of the Fox River Trail pages on this website. I started this website back in 2003 and have been doing updates since then. For the Fox River Trail, I originally created 2 pages, The Fox River Trail North page and the Fox River South page.

Over the years I realized that this made it hard to find information on the FRT and was confusing and difficult to maintain so I have consolidated these 2 pages into one single Fox River Trail page here. There are still some references to the old North/South pages but this is the new single location for photos and information on the FRT.

Yea, a lot of the photos of this trail (and others) go back to 2003 too! Although I try to get new updated and better quality photos when I can, I have left the old ones there (even when there are new ones) for the historical (and nostalgic) purposes.

McHenry County Prairie Trail with stream of rushing water

I had actually only planned on taking 2 trails on my ride from Crystal Lake to South Elgin but ended up taking 4 different trails by accident. The 2 trails that I had planned to take are the McHenry County Prairie Trail (MCPT) and the Fox River Trail (FRT).

What happened is that I ended up on the Illinois Prairie Path (Elgin Branch) (IPP) south of the town of Elgin then took that trail to the new Stearns Road Trail (SRT) to get back on the FRT again in South Elgin.

I had this problem one other time many years ago when I missed the sign where the Fox River Trail runs into the Illinois Prairie Path and the IPP forks off to the left (as you head south).

I actually do not think I missed the sign this time because I think that there is now a break in the FRT south of the town of Elgin and the trail just turns into the IPP. There has often been trail construction and detours here over the years and I researched this on Google Maps and using Street View and I believe that you now need to take a few side roads in order to stay on the FRT all the way into the town of South Elgin.

I got a little obsessed with this break in the trail and if I missed a sign or not so on my next FRT ride I plan on going there first and exploring exactly what is going on there now. Just FYI, here is a link to the Break in the FRT on Google Maps. I believe that you can just hop on Raymond St. to Riverview Dr. to River Rd to get on the FRT again. These are all fairly secluded bike friendly roads and it’s a short distance.

OK, so much for the details on the Intersection of the FRT and the IPP and the break in the trail… getting back to my ride from Crystal Lake to South Elgin, I had a great ride! I actually started in Algonquin then went north to Crystal Lake (to Lake in the Hills Airport) then continued my adventure south to South Elgin.

The sun setting over the Fox River as seen from the bike trail

It was a beautiful day and I ended up riding 42 miles both ways. I have uploaded my ride details and map to the Garmin website (as usual) and you can see that GPS Map of this Ride on the Garmin site here. The interactive GPS map allows you to visualize this trip so much easier than words can describe.

I rode the same parts of the MCPP and the FRT a few days ago and posted the information in that in the previous blog post here, which included the information on the detour through Algonquin. This section trails is open and in good shape (other than the short detour through Algonquin). The parts of the other trails that I was on were also in good condition.

I haven’t taken a lot of bike trail photos recently so I decided to get a few new one of these trails on this ride. I still need not take a large amount of photos but I did take some as you can see in this blog post and I have also posted them on a Bike Trail Photo Page here on this website.

I actually did not get photos from the IPP or the new SRT though. Now that I have found the new Stearns Road Trail, I will have to ride, explore, photograph and write about that trail soon too. As I have said before “So many Trails… So Little TIme…”

You can find a lot more Fox River Trail photos (old and new) and information on the Fox River Trail pages on this website.

Although this page is labeled “Southern Section” I am planning a complete makeover of the Fox River Trail pages on this site soon so the Northern and Southern sections will be together.

New Bridge over Central Road

Finally! The entire Paul Douglas Trail is open again and the bridge that crosses over Central Road is open. The trail has been closed at the Roselle Road and Central Road intersection all year (until now) and I believe all of last year (2018) for the new Tollway entrance off of Central Road  (to go west on I90) and for the new Bike Trail Bridge that crosses Central Road at Roselle Road.

 This really opens up a lot of possibilities to extend rides either from of to the Paul Douglas Trail. For example, I know that you can go down Hillcrest Blvd (just after you cross over Central and the Tollway out to the Poplar Creek Trail and you can also even get to the Busse Woods Trail from here (although that one is a little farther and not as easy). Then of course there are quite a few other trails and bike routes near here.

I took the photo above and a few others in an overcast day (after a little rain) and right after the bridge and trail were open again so the photo is not that scenic and there isn’t even any grass there yet but I wanted to get this posted since it is a pretty cool thing for anyone who rides this trail very often (as I do) or plans to ride this trail and maybe even explore other trails that can be reached from here.

I posted a few more pictures of the bridge (just 3) on a photo page that I attached to the Paul Douglas Trail pages on this site. For the additional bridge/trail pictures or just more information on the Paul Douglas Trail or other trails documented on this site see: The New Bridge Over Central Road trail page here.