Not long ago I completed an article on the About-Bicycles site called The Top 5 Bike Trails North and Northwest of Chicago . I’ve ridden most of the major trails in this area and also did some additional research online to compare my opinions with others but it was still quite difficult to narrow this down to 5 bike trails.

I wanted to do a “best of” type of bike trail article and decided to limit the listing to 5 trails in order to keep it in a nice easily readable format. I’m glad that I completed the article but I might change the top 5 at some point and thought that I would explain some of the preferences and criteria that I used for the selections.

The Fox River Trail

The Fox River Trail (above) was a pretty obvious choice. As with any long trail some sections are much better than others but overall this is a really nice trail! Also, for those who prefer paved trails this one is paved.My next personal favorite was the Des Planies River Trail. I really prefer long trails that I can ride all day on, if I choose and trails that are not too crowded and that do not have a lot of difficult road crossings or areas. Although this trail is crushed stone (which will turn some people off) it is a great trail.Next, I choose the Green Bay Bike Trail, The Great Western Bike Trail and the Busse Woods Bike Trail. I believe that each of these trails have something to offer to people with different preferences.