OT: camping N. IL area

[Spoonito]

Anyone know of good campsites within 100 or so miles of Chicago that has some nice scenery and some light offroad trails for CX and MTB riding?

Kettle Moraine, Starved Rock, etc...

[Ken Robb]

I always loved the Lake Geneva,WI. area but I wasn't riding bikes there. This would be a wonderful time to be there.

[buldogge]

I like Starved Rock...but...not sure about CX/MTB trails. There is some good gravel just west of there...PM Oliver1850 about routes.

-Mark in St. Louis

Anyone know of good campsites within 100 or so miles of Chicago that has some nice scenery and some light offroad trails for CX and MTB riding?

Kettle Moraine, Starved Rock, etc...

[KonaSS]

Starved Rock is a few miles (riding distance) for Matthiessen State Park which has great mtb trails. There are some sections that are a probably a bit too hairy for a CX bike.

You are not too far from the I&M canal which would be great for gravel riding on the CX bike.

[FastVegan]

Palos MTB area now allows camping, some info here http://cambr.org/SMF/index.php?action=home

and here http://fpdcc.com/camping/

bullfrog lake is in the center of the palos mtb trails.

good luck

[dogdriver]

Grew up there. My buds ride mtb in Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin. Devil's Lake is pretty cool, though maybe too far for your purposes. Good mtb riding at Blackhawk ski hill west of Madison, Wi. I moved to Utah. Good camping here.

[Spoonito]

If I go to Utah I'm going offroading in Moab with my rig!

[oliver1850]

I can tell you all about the campsites on the Hennepin Canal. There's over 100 miles of path, with varying surfaces. Almost nobody on the path most days except the occasional fisherman, you can ride as fast as you want to. It's 112 miles from the Loop to the eastern end of the path at Bureau Junction. You can also take Amtrak to Princeton and ride the 8 miles down to the path, just be sure to select a train that allows you to bring your bike.

There are some nice gravel roads in the area too. I can map you some routes if you want to ride them.

[Spoonito]

Oliver, would appreciate a couple routes.

Please email me at bramirez13@gmail.com


Thanks,
Brian

[raygunner]

Oh I'd love that map too!

I'm here: ericwolforth@gmail.com

Thanks so much! Those pictures make it look like a fun ride!

[oliver1850]

I've mapped 82 and 116 mile mixed surface rides that I'd like to get ridden, with the intention of using one for an organized ride in the future. Both incorporate some good roads, some bad roads, and some canal path. Anyone who wants to come out and ride either route and give me some feedback is welcome.

The last pic is probably the nicest gravel road on the routes, it has some 8-10% grades. The two pics above are from a ride I did 2 weeks ago. That's a dead end road that I got on as a rusult of trying to ride every road in the county. All three pics are within a few miles ride of the canal path.