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Biking the Green Bay Trail
May 1, 2007
Mike Conklin
North Shore Magazine
Pertains to Green Bay Trail, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff
Trail Blazers

The verdant path from Wilmette to Lake Bluff is a bicyclist's dream.

In some parts of Chicago, the sure sign spring has arrived is the sighting of robins. On the North Shore, it's the arrival of bicyclists in brightly colored jerseys and spandex shorts. Sometimes this species can be seen on streets and roads traveling in great migrations, furiously pedaling across our sightlines in a piston-like whirl of humming tires. Not all bicyclists are in a hurry, nor travel in groups, and often they are spotted on the Green Bay Trail, moving in slower, smaller numbers.

Chicago, named "America's No. 1 Bicycling City" by Bicycling Magazine, has long been considered a great place for bikers. There are hundreds of miles of dedicated trails in the suburbs, but few offer the pleasantness of the Green Bay path as it runs mostly parallel to, and is visible from, Metra's North Line railroad tracks.

For thousands of us bikers, this 18-mile stretch might as well be known as Main Street USA. It is a glorious route, full of many of the very best sights and sounds the North Shore has to offer.

Officially, the trail is the southern leg of what was renamed in 1997 the Robert McClory Bike Path for a former Illinois Congressman. The end points are the Wisconsin border and southern tip of Wilmette, with the segment formerly known as the Green Bay Trail - and still called that by every biker I know - between Lake Bluff and Wilmette.

The route goes right past the front entrances to Ravinia Park and Fort Sheridan. On Saturday mornings in the summer, you'll find yourself in the middle of Wilmette's Farmers Market in the train-station parking lot.

The Green Bay avoids most of the North Shore community’s business sections, but almost all of them - Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, and Lake Bluff - are visible from the path and easily accessible on foot. This is the advisable way to visit because of vehicular traffic.

There is something for all levels of bikers, no matter how much of the Green Bay gets tackled. The route touches almost every North Line train station, which means bikers can drive to the parking lot of their choice to use it as a launching spot. And, as Metra allows passengers to bring bicycles on board, it is possible to make your return trip via rail.

Green Bay Trail Highlights

There are wooded, secluded areas, such as the mile or so run that is between Lake Cook Road and Glencoe alongside Lake Shore Country Club, where it is almost impossible to believe you are in a major metropolitan area.

There are long stretches where cyclists can go fast. These include the two-mile run that begins, or ends, at the southern edge of Glencoe and goes unobstructed, straight as an arrow, through Winnetka and past New Trier East High School to Sears School in Kenilworth. Or there is the two-and-a-half-mile run in Lake Forest between Old Elm and Illinois roads.

The trail, detouring in several places away from the railroad tracks (follow the signs), takes you into some beautiful Kenilworth neighborhoods full of big, beautiful "painted lady" houses. In the summer, it is not unusual to see kids selling lemonade from their front lawns.

There is history to be observed in Fort Sheridan, where within this newest North Shore community, bikers can pedal all over the grounds and read signs pointing out significant developments in the legendary military facility. The oval street around the parade grounds once was used for bicycle races. If you're lucky, Midwest Young Artists will be performing music that is open to the public in the fort's old jail building at the southwest end of the oval.

Got hills? Well, there are always bikers out for a real workout, and all they need to do is take a detour in Fort Sheridan on the newly paved, clearly marked Lake County Forest Preserve path. This takes you to Lake Michigan beach, where I guarantee there is enough slope at the end to make some riders think seriously about making their return trip in a train car.

   
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