I have wanted to check out the gap in the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT) just south of Lincolnshire for quite some time now and made it a priority since some visitors to this site had organized a 61 mile ride in the surrounding area and were planning on using this part of the trail for the ride and I offered to see if you could get through or not.
I discovered that, although there is a 1/4 mile gap in the trail it is shorter than it used to be and much easier to get around than it was a few years back when I had ridden on this part of the trail.
Des Plaines River Trail around Lincolnshire
It was also a beautiful day for a ride on Friday and I did a nice, scenic 12 mile ride on this part of the trail which included sections that I had never been on before.
I brought my camera and bike GPS (of course) since I needed to document the gap in the trail and I had planned to ride another trail in Evanston later in the day.
After I discovered that I could get through the 1/4 mile gap I just decided to ride further south on the DPRT and photograph and document this part of the trail for this website since I had previously only ridden and written about the northern parts of this trail ~ from Lincolnshire north to the Wisconsin border.
Dirt Bike Path next to Milwaukee Ave.
The Gap in the Des Plaines River Trail
As for the gap in the trail, it is around Lincolnshire just south of the 28 Mile marker on the trail (as you head south) and the signs direct you out to Milwaukee Avenue. Milwaukee Ave. is a busy and major road but there is a sidewalk on one side and a dirt path, next to the road, on the other side (see the photo).
This is only a very short distance (right around the Par-King miniature golf course and north of the Cubby Bear restaurant) so it is not a big deal if you need to connect from the northern part of the DPRT to the southern part.
You get back on to the Des Plains River Trail at the back of the Cubby Bear parking lot.
The Photos and Ride Report
As I mentioned, I had already ridden, photographed and posted an article and photos of the Des Plaines River Trail from Lincolnshire north all the way to just before the Wisconsin border here. Unfortunately, these rides were from 2004 and 2005 and the quality of the photos are not nearly as good as the newer photos (I am just going to have to ride that part of the trail again and upgrade the photos I guess!)
The photos and ride report that I just did on Friday include The Des Plaines River Trail Photo Page 8, Photo Page 9, Photo Page 10, and Photo Page 11. My bike trail photo pages use kind of an old style photo display format but it is consistent and fairly easy to navigate with the links at the bottom and at the top of the pages. There is also a link to the GPS map at the bottom of these pages if you want to see exactly where this ride was.
DPRT Trail Conditions
As for the conditions of the trail in this section there were no problems at all (other than having to go along Milwaukee Ave for the 1/4 mile to get around the gap in the trail). Keep in mind that most of the DPRT is a crushed stone trail so if you prefer a paved path you’ll need to find another. The surfaces in this section were in pretty good shape.
The underpasses in the DPRT have signs well ahead of time letting you know if they are open or not. Since the underpasses go along the river and under the roads, I have seen them flood occasionally when the river is high. That is no problem at all right now with it being as dry as it has been recently. The only underpass on this particular section of the trail was at Deerfield Road.
Next Trail Rides
I still plan on riding some of the trails that I just discovered in Evanston next but one of my missions after that is to ride further south on the Des Plains River Trail. I kind of wished that I went further south on Friday but Dundee Road seems to be a natural (or actually not so natural) barrier and it looked impossible to cross during rush hour (when I was there). There may be a way to get to the intersection and cross there but I did not check into that.
I understand that the DPRT goes quite a bit further south from here and that some sections are very nice and scenic. If you are really ambitious (and get up early enough) you could ride the entire Des Plains River Trail from the city of Des Plaines (or possibly even further south ~ like I said I have not been on that part of the trail) all the way north to just before the Wisconsin border (and back?) now that would be quite a ride!
Thanks for posting this article!
It inspired me to ride from Dundee road to the trail head on June 30, 2012. The entire trip ended up being just over 65 miles.
Based on Google maps, I was a bit worried that this trail would be difficult to follow because of the number of branch trails that extend off of it in various locations. However, the DPRT is well marked with signage. So, this was not an issue.
I found the trail to be very scenic and enjoyable to ride. The trail was fairly devoid of people on a Saturday which was a huge plus (I guess this could have been related to the 90+ degree heat). I found very little shade during the northern most miles of the trail. However, the rest of the trail had enough shade to keep me relatively cool.
My only complaint would be horses on the trail (I know they have as much right to use the trail as myself). At one point during my trip, a group of 4 horses were a few miles ahead of me on the trail. The horses left behind enough hoof prints that it became impossible to dodge all of them (a bit surprising considering the dryness of the trail). This caused for a very bumpy, momentum killing ride. Needless to say, I was very happy when I overtook the group.
One word of caution, if you ride this trail during the dry summer months, be prepared to spend a bit of timing removing all the dust from your bike. I’ve never had this much dust on my bike before (not to mention the amount of dust on my legs). But, I’ve never ridding so many miles on non-paved trail before.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to your report on the southern part of the trail. I’ll likely give it a try at some point during the next few weeks.
Wow, that sounds like quite a ride! 65 miles on the mostly crushed stone DPRT sounds like quite a workout.
I know what you mean about the horses. There are parts of the trail that I have ridden that were pretty rough due to the footprints.
I kind of forgot about the northern most part of the trail being open and not as shady since I haven’t ridden to the northern trail head for quite a while. I do like that most of the rest of the trail has a lot of shade when you ride on really hot days (as you did).
Yep, your legs and bike get pretty dusty with a long ride on the DPRT. I know exactly what you mean on that.
Thank you for your blog comment. It sounds like it was a really nice ride.