Chicago, Illinois is a great place to be a bicyclist, but in all honesty, most of the trails are flat and not the kind of thing a serious mountain biker is looking for. Still, there are several bike trails near Chicago, which can be classified as good mountain bike trails. In the several years that I have taken to the trails and parks of Chicago, both on foot and by bike, I have a few places that I head straight to when I feel like a more challenging bike ride.
Moraine Hills State Park
1510 S. River Road
McHenry, IL
The first time I visited Moraine Hills State Park was for the purpose of bird watching, but after walking around the area for a couple hours it became clear that this would be the perfect place for a little mountain biking. Located about forty five minutes northwest of Chicago, alongside the Fox River and around Defiance Lake, Moraine Hills State Park is covered with ten miles of paths, eight of which are open to bicycling. The bog trail cuts through a wooded area, bounds down and up several hills and leads back to paved or crushed rock trails. Choose this park for the trails and the views.
Maple Lake, Palos Forest Preserve
The Palos Forest Preserve is extensive and very scenic, and falling in love with the scenery in the movie, The Lake House, is how I discovered the trails here. A mixture of several long and short trails combine to make up over twelve miles of biking trails snake their way around Maple Lake and through the forest preserve. There are single tracks leading off from the main trails, which themselves are a little more difficult than most of the other flat paved trails in Chicago.
Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail
Morris, IL 60450
Just under one hundred miles long, the Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail is connected by a series of state parks, forest preserve and city parks. The terrain is ever changing, a result of the construction of the Canal, which makes for great biking, with hills and bluffs coming up fast and unexpectedly. This is a great option for an all day ride, or to really test your endurance.
Illinois Prairie Path
The Illinois Prairie Path is probably the most used and known, with the distinction as the first major rail to trail conversion in America, of all the bike trails outside of the city of Chicago, running north and south along the Fox River through the suburbs of Chicago. I have been biking this bike path for years, and the hilly area around the river takes it from a meandering ride to an extreme workout. Because it is right next to the Fox River, and because of the way the area developed around the river, you will be biking through some pretty forested terrain and then speed right into flat, congested areas over and over again. There are plenty of jaw dropping scenic points, and a couple river crossings to make the whole trip worth it.
