Is the Des Plaines River Trail worth it?

Thinking of going on a ride on it tomorrow (Saturday) but have heard bad thinks about it through the grapevine and and I have never been on it.

Are trail conditions bad this year?

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Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on June 17, 2016 at 10:00am

The southern portion of the trail south up to Oakton can be very muddy to the point of requiring a mountain bike. From there to the county line, it can be rough but passable. The Lake County stretch is a much nicer and smoother than Cook County and goes almost to Wisconsin. Sometimes the underpasses are flooded. I don't know what its like now.

Btw, its a beautiful trail and well worth it.

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Permalink Reply by Jared on June 17, 2016 at 10:15am

FYI, the river road bridge over the Kennedy has been removed. I know rides in the past accessed it that way, but you'll have to find another route if that makes any difference.

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Permalink Reply by Rich S on June 17, 2016 at 10:26am

This is by far my favorite trail in the Chicago area. But I haven't ridden it since last winter so not sure about current conditions.

Lake county forest preserve website has a map that indicates which underpasses are closed but it's not working for me at the moment. Typically if underpasses are closed in Lake county they'll be closed further south in Cook county.

A few things:

ignore the trail closed sign at the train tracks north of Golf Rd
- but do look both ways before crossing the tracks
the nature center in Glenview is a 1/4 mile off the trail but a perfect place to stop for a break and to re-fill water bottles
if your bike can handle it, keep an eye out for the singletrack offshoots on the trail - they are a lot of fun, especially the one that shoots to the right (when going north) about 20 feet past Oakton
- one of those single track goes under the Kennedy as an alternate route to the closed bridge Jared mentioned, but it gets really sloppy under there

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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on June 17, 2016 at 2:57pm

I rode the DPRT last year (this is some of the single track). I found the single track less groomed than I like but over all, I really enjoyed riding DPRT.