How to Bike Easily to the North, East, and West of Campus for Transport or Pleasure
It’s spring, so it’s as good a time as any to explore all the places near North Central that you can comfortably get to by bike.
In particular, Herrick Lake Forest Preserve, three miles (about a 15-minute bike ride [Google Map]) north of campus, is a local bike hub of sorts that you can travel onward from to get almost anywhere to the north, east, and west:
- Map of Herrick Lake Forest Preserve (PDF, 200KB) and its many trails — a nice destination in its own right. Danada Forest Preserve, also great, is to its east.
- Herrick is right next to the Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) network, which you can take all over west suburban Chicagoland, including Wheaton, St. Charles, Batavia, Aurora, Elgin, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, and Elmhurst. To get on the Prairie Path, leave Herrick Lake out of its northwest corner (intersection of Herrick/Butterfield/Wiesbrook Rds) and bike half a mile north along Wiesbrook Road until you reach Durfee Road (Google map). Wiesbrook Rd meets the Prairie Path just north of Durfee. From there, just follow the Prairie Path signs to get to your destination. You can even bike the Prairie Path as far as Forest Park, where you can get on the ‘L’ and go into Chicago.
- The Prairie Path isn’t the only bike path around, it intersects many other Chicagoland trails, including the Grand Western Trail and several local Forest Preserve trails. DuPage County publishes a detailed Bikeways Map (PDF, 2.3MB) with more information on these.
For a bike map of Chicagoland beyond DuPage County: Chicagoland Bicycle Federation publishes the Chicagoland Bicycle Map ($6.95; free to members), which rates local roads for their suitability to biking.
With so many great places to bike and so many easy ways to find out about them, check out local biking today!
