About Bicycles Online > Bicycle Touring and Trails > Green Bay Trail

The Green Bay Trail and Robert McClory Bike Path
From Great Lakes, Illinois to Wilmette

The Green Bay Trail (Illinois) - OK, here's the thing (as Adrian Monk says...), this article actually includes info and photos from the Green Bay Trail, the Robert McClory Bike Path  and the North Shore Trail. All of these trails connect and at some points in time were also renamed and I believe that people either get confused about the names of just refer to the paths by the names that they have been familiar with, regardless of the current path names...

For this article, I am going to go by the trail names that I have seen posted on the bike paths and have listed in the latest North Eastern Illinois bike map that I have. So here's how I see it, based on my rides and maps...

The actual Green Bay Bike Trail goes from Wilmette, Il, (at the southern end) to Highland Park where it turns into the Robert McClory Bike Path (previously known as the Lake County section of the Green Bay trail and the north/south leg of the North Shore bike path... Sheesh...).

The Robert McClory bike path then continues on north into Wisconsin as the Kenosha County BIke Trail. The North Shore Trail (East/West) intersects with the GreenBay Trail in Lake Bluff also and continues west to the Des Plaines River Trail (which is one of my favorites!) and continues on into Mundelein, Illinois.

The photos and this article are mostly from a trip that we took on a freezing day in May 2005 (when they said "cooler by the lake" (a well known Chicago phrase), in this case they really meant it!). It was May, so the trees had started to fill in a little and it was getting warmer (away from the lake anyway...).

I have also posted updates from April 8th 2012 (Easter) to include the southern portion of the Green Bay Trail to where it ends in Wilmette.

Anyway, we started our 2005 trip in Highwood, Il and went north to the Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois (Southern part of North Chicago). We turned around here, because we wanted to see the southern part of the trail (and I had heard that it was not as nice going through North Chicago and Waukegan (and based on my experience driving through the area, I think that is true)).

We then back tracked through Highwood again, then through Highland Park, past Ravinia (outdoor concert theater) and into Glencoe before we gave up, mostly due to the cold weather... So the photos are from the Naval Hospital at Great Lakes (north) to Glencoe (south).

The North Shore path has some nice areas, but it mostly goes alongside the highway (Route 176) and isn't really that scenic... then again, it is a nice connection between the  Des Plaines River Trail and the Green Bay Trail (this one)...

I hope you can browse the Green Bay Trail, Robert McClory Trail  Photo Tour (below) for some more first hand descriptions and the photos of the bike paths...(I've kept the format to medium sized and medium quality photos split into multiple pages to keep the download times reasonable for all contentions, including dial ups).

Green Bay Trail, Robert McClory Trail  Photos

Here's a photo tour of the Green Bay and Robert McClory Bike paths (including references to the North Shore Trail) from Great Lakes, Illinois south to Wilmette, Illinois. These pictures are from early May, 2005 and April 2012 (all early spring photos).

Green Bay, Robert McClory Trail Photos 1 - Starting in Great Lakes, Il.
Green Bay, Robert McClory Trail Photos 2 - Through Lake Forest
Green Bay, Robert McClory Trail Photos 3 - Lake Michigan Side Trip
Green Bay, Robert McClory Trail Photos 4 - Through Highland Park
Green Bay, Robert McClory Trail Photos 5 - Wooded areas and Ravinia
Green Bay Trail Photos 6 (Glencoe)
Green Bay Trail Photos 7 (Glencoe, Winnetka)
Green Bay Trail Photos 8 (Winnetka)
Green Bay Trail Photos 9 (Kenilworth, Wilmette)

Note: Since I have merged the trips that I took on these trails, I have arranged ALL of the photos to go from North to South although some were taken while heading North. Therefore, as you follow the trip, you will get the rear view mirror effect with some photos.

Note Also: The first photo on photo page 5 was featured in the May 2007 issue of North Shore Magazine. Personally I don't think it's really one of the better trail photos of this trail or on this site but the author of the Green Bay Trail article in this magazine liked this one.

.

**** NEW Green Bay Bike Trail Video ****

I have just completed the Green Bay and Robert McClory Bike Trail video (July, 2009).

Here's the video tour of the Green Bay Bike Trail (all) and the Robert McClory Bike Trail (southern end up to the Great Lakes Metra Station) from July 2009.

Green Bay and Robert McClory Bike Trail Video

I hope you enjoy the photo and video tours and hope it inspires you to take the trail(s) in the spring, summer or fall and/or provides a nice memory of your trips in the winter when you may not be able to get out there and enjoy the "destination".

The Ride is the Destination