Des Plaines River Trail

[NoamOnMyChomsky]

All,

I realize the quality of the trail may not be the best, but I have a few questions. i've talked to the forest preserve ranger about clearing up the underpass water buildup but that seemed to get nowhere. So my question is for those who have ridden the trail, has anybody complained about it to the ranger?

I know it's not really a Cambr trail, but has any Cambr awesome people done any trail work there? I'd like to start doing some clean up and drainage along the trail between Devon and North especially since that's typically where i ride after work.

[j.les]

I have been riding that trail for almost 40 years. It seems to me much of the land around underpasses has been washed away. The area I ride between Grand and Lawrence floods quite often. You could clean it up, but it'd probably be a mess after a heavy rain.

On a related note, there is a pond now in the golf course near Belmont that drains into the river. I'd like to get in there and build some kind of small bridge that won't wash away.

[Jewalicious]

I will insert the paraphrase that  :-\CAMBr forum does not condone any good faith activity or riding of illegal or non-confirmed trails.   Without approval of a land manager, any efforts are either stopped, or in many cases, access to the place even becomes more restricted and the sitaution worsens for everyone.  Rarely does anything good come of it.   I do think it wise to build a relationship with the Ranger -For many reasons.    Please consider providing your energy, enthusiasm, brains, skills, and other positive stuff to legal trailwork thru a CAMBr workday.

[NoamOnMyChomsky]

I will insert the paraphrase that  :-\CAMBr forum does not condone any good faith activity or riding of illegal or non-confirmed trails.   Without approval of a land manager, any efforts are either stopped, or in many cases, access to the place even becomes more restricted and the sitaution worsens for everyone.  Rarely does anything good come of it.   I do think it wise to build a relationship with the Ranger -For many reasons.    Please consider providing your energy, enthusiasm, brains, skills, and other positive stuff to legal trailwork thru a CAMBr workday.

 

oh well, any riders'll get super muddy, not really a big deal for the tough mudders.

[fat-tyr]

That area is slated for a bike/horse trail, so until that is worked out not much sense putting any effort in.

[ridingillini]

I will insert the paraphrase that  :-\CAMBr forum does not condone any good faith activity or riding of illegal or non-confirmed trails.   Without approval of a land manager, any efforts are either stopped, or in many cases, access to the place even becomes more restricted and the sitaution worsens for everyone.  Rarely does anything good come of it.   I do think it wise to build a relationship with the Ranger -For many reasons.    Please consider providing your energy, enthusiasm, brains, skills, and other positive stuff to legal trailwork thru a CAMBr workday.

Craig, some of what you are saying is correct but some of it is misleading or wrong.  The trails that are shown here are legitimate bike trails:
http://fpdcc.com/downloads/maps/pdf/R3.pdf

These bike trails are generally dirt south of I-90 and generally crushed limestone north of I-90.  What is dirt and what is crushed limestone has changed over the past 5 years and I haven't been out there too much recently so I may be a little off.  None of these trails are singletrack - they are all multi-track.  The underpasses are intended to be used by bikes because they are on the marked bike trails of the map above.  I think that it is reasonable for bike users to expect that the underpasses should be generally useable rather than under 6" of water, otherwise what's the point of building them?  Unfortunately, I've found some of those underpasses still have standing water in them even during droughts in August so that goes to show how well they were engineered and thought out in the first place.  Of course, we are talking about Cook County government...  I agree with the original posters that the Des Plaines River Trail is the closest natural surface trail for many people in the near west and near northwest suburbs (as well as some northwest Chicago neighborhoods) and is really the only feasible place if you have just 1 or 2 hours to ride.  I also agree that it is one of the most feasible north-south bikeways in the area as well for commuting.  Anyway, CAMBr isn’t going to be working with the CCFP on the flooding with the underpasses anymore than it’s going to work with DuPage County’s FP regarding flooding by the southwest portion of Waterfall Glenn because neither one is singletrack.  My suggestion is to contact the Active Transportation Alliance http://www.activetrans.org/ to see if they’re working on anything there.

[ilikebmx999]

Well said.

[liv_rong]

I once saw people using this trail for the purpose of recreation.

[Jewalicious]

my comments were more in line with performing clean up, drainage assistance or bridge building as to avoid the near-constant flooding.  All of those things can be considered as "the hearts in the right place" .  Riders want to help themselves and others enjoy the trail.  A trail that is legal and recognized may still be considered closed if it has continual water or is other-wise impassable. (All Palos single track is, enforcement non withstanding, but we have very visible signs and a diligent group of volunteers)  The forum content could be mis-understood as it being OK to perform work on a trail open to bikes and too much negative stuff can come of it.

I do have respect for folks who live in a locked in area with little access to any trails and what they do to break out of the grip - not to mention Des Plaines and the entire area along the river is always plauged by flooding, so it makes sense that standing water and barriers to recreation are aggravating for sure.