Prairie Trail Closure McHenry County

The web site says - "no safe way around". But there is, courtesy of a new bike trail currently not on any maps.  

To get around the closed section:

Riding north to south: Two choices:

#1           Exit the Prairie trail by turning left at Virginia road, and head east on Virginia – the first couple hundred feet are the only portion that does not have a wide, paved shoulder.  Continue to Rte 31.

#2           Entering Crystal Lake south of Edgewood Rd exit the path and turn left at Bay Rd, which soon turns into Terra Cotta and turns south.  This avoids ridiculous hills in Stearns Woods, but has a nice climb south of Hillside.  Cross Rt 176 and continue across Crystal Lake Ave, road is now known as Pingree and you have a bike path/ wide sidewalks until you cross Rt 14, with sidewalk until the entrance to Three Oaks Rec area, and 3 lane road until Rackow. Continue across Rackow, road is now two lane, usually lightly traveled and continue to Virginia road. Turn left and continue to Rte 31.

Cross 31 to a brand new bike path on the east side of Rt 31 that parallels 31. Not on any maps I have seen. There is a concrete curb cutout but they have not connected road to trail and it is rough, you will need to walk – and note you will not get a light to go across so be careful crossing.  Alternatively you could turn right and go the short distance to turn left at Klaasen Rd and pick up the trail without getting off your bike.

Ride south to Linden Ave, where the trail ends (and construction begins). Left on Linden. The road soon turns to rutted gravel with butt busting potholes lurking.  Go slow.  I think they leave this neighborhood with terrible roads to discourage traffic cutting thru from the traffic bottleneck at 31 and 62. But you can get thru – just be careful.

Follow Linden, slight jog right on Kendall, left on Sweitzer, left on Geringer, quick right to Mohawk, continue to N Harrison. Road is now paved.  Right on N Harrison and follow until it dead ends at the Prairie trail (just east of 31). Continue on your merry way!

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Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on April 28, 2013 at 2:53am

When we rode about a month ago, the trail was closed from north of Algonquin (bridge is out) to 31.  Since none of us were from that area, we ended up on Pyott then Algonquin, then pushed our bikes up the embankment south of Algonquin to get back on the trail, and rode through some muddy construction zones to 31.  Yeah, there are better ways to do it.

Permalink Reply by WillG on June 24, 2013 at 4:07am

We rode the Prairie Trail south from Crystal Lake down to Elgin this weekend. The trail is still closed due to "bridge out" in Algonquin but we were able to find a mostly suitable and safe detour. The detour route below assumes a southbound direction of travel but works going northbound too, just do it in reverse, it's what we did on our return trip.

Exit the Prairie Trail where the fence has been extended across the trail with the closure notice, follow the paved access trail west up to the neighborhood, you will be "dropped off" at the intersection of Grace Dr. and Willow St. Proceed west (straight) along Willow, follow Willow to the end and turn south (left) onto Hilltop Dr. Proceed along Hilltop and across Algonquin Rd. at the light, Hilltop turns into Hansen Rd. when you cross Algonquin Rd. When you arrive at the first four way stop sign, turn east (left) onto Huntington Dr. At the next stop sign, turn east again (left) to remain on Huntington Dr. Proceed along Huntington Dr. all the way until the road is torn up, dismount your bike and walk less than 1/8th of a mile along the gravel to the apartment complex on the right (the road will remain passable as to allow the residents of this complex access to the building). Note that I rode this portion on my road bike, my wife walked, do whatever feels best for you. Once you get to the apartment complex, there is a set of stairs to your left that you can go down, shoulder your bike and take the stairs. You'll then be just south of the intersection of Rt. 31 and Huntington Dr. The Prairie path in on the east side of Rt 31 directly across from Huntington (to your north). Continue on the trail as normal.

There is another bridge (over a residential road) out shortly east of Rt. 31 as well, but one can easily bypass that bridge by dismounting, walking down some stairs crossing the low traffic road, and climbing back up some stairs to the trail again.

I recorded our GPS track of the ride, you can take a look at the detour on a map here: link

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