Hill East of Clark St

Has anyone else noticed a slight decline going east from Clark St, especially in Lake View? My guess would be since Clark is an old Native American trail, that the original trail was build on a natural ridge.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Schmoe on August 1, 2012 at 11:43am

The farther North you get, the more of a hill Clark is on.  In Rogers Park (around Pratt), it's enough of a elevation difference that you can't see past Clark until you're almost at the intersection. It's obvious in both directions, from the East or West. 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on August 1, 2012 at 11:46am
The way I understand it, is that the ridge that Clark is on used to be part of the natural barrier around lake Michigan.
Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on August 1, 2012 at 12:36pm

That could be true. For those who haven't been down to the magical neighborhood of Beverly, they have probably the only legitimate hills in the city. Neighborhood historians claim that this was due to carving of glaciers/original boundaries of lake michigan millions of years ago.

http://www.ridgehistoricalsociety.org/commun_hist02.html

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on August 1, 2012 at 2:19pm

Some sources consider the ridge to be an ancient post-glacial lake shore.  Actually there are two noticeable ridges this far south.  South of 95th St., if you ride west from Cottage Grove, you'll notice a gradual uphill slope, with a steeper incline from Indiana to Michigan Ave. = ancient lake shore #1.  Continue west and you'll notice another gradual uphill climb from Vincennes to Longwood, then a bigger climb from Longwood up to ancient lake shore #2, which varies in steepness depending on where you climb it.  Some of the steepest climbs are around 111th in Morgan Park and York St. in Blue Island.

If you ride north-south along the top of the ridge, you'll notice undulations, which are substantial in some places.  I can get a hill workout without leaving my 'hood.

Jim S said:

That could be true. For those who haven't been down to the magical neighborhood of Beverly, they have probably the only legitimate hills in the city. Neighborhood historians claim that this was due to carving of glaciers/original boundaries of lake michigan millions of years ago.

http://www.ridgehistoricalsociety.org/commun_hist02.html

Permalink Reply by Mark on August 2, 2012 at 4:12am

What makes Clark such a great street for riding is that it predates the grid system.  Because of that, it is about the only angle street with no real 6-corner intersections.  (There are two intersections with traffic entering from 5 directions, but that is it.)

Permalink Reply by globalguy on August 2, 2012 at 5:56am

Hey, just a great example about what you notice riding a bike in contrast to what you lose in the steel cage!  I used to commute early in the morning to work along most of Clark from the Lincoln Square area. What I loved were the smells of all the restaurants!

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on August 2, 2012 at 7:49am

There's a definite slop down Wrightwood and Deming and the little streets in there, heading east from the lake.

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on August 3, 2012 at 3:18am

Heading East on Grace just East of Clark you barely have to pedal.  Nice!

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on October 16, 2012 at 4:40pm

I believe you are correct. I noticed the same thing riding east on Balmoral from Clark to Sheridan Road one day. I was able to coast all the way, which was way cool.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 17, 2012 at 12:25am

Thanks for the link.  Here's the Beverly-Blue Island piece, if anyone's curious.

Clint H said:

Here's a link to a series of quadrangle maps from the ISGS, offering close-up views of the region that show very well where the beach platforms are. ... http://www.isgs.illinois.edu/maps-data-pub/isgs-quads.shtml

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