The Des Plaines River Trail
to Allgauers Restaurant

The Des Plaines River Trail goes under Euclid Ave (aka Lake Ave) here at the cement bridge with the blue railings. I have traveled on Euclid many times and am very familiar with this bridge. I just never saw it from this angle before. :-) The forest preserve that you get to from Euclid/Lake is called Camp Pine Woods.

Just north of Euclid we passed through some more thick woods and off to the side of the trail the river was bright green.

There are a number of small stone bridges (as seen above) along this part of the Des Plaines River Trial. I have photographed this part of the trail in the fall and it is really beautiful when the leaves are changing colors (see the "Fall Photos" links below).

This is where the DPRT intersects with the River Trail Nature Center paths. We took a little ride into the Nature Center area but it was closed and fenced off when we got there. I was hoping to see some of the critters that I believe they have there.

This is how the DPRT looks just before you get to the forest preserve and Milwaukee Road crossing (at Allgauers hotel and restaurant) as you head north.

Just before the forest preserve, the DPR Trail passes by a field and becomes a narrow single track.

This is where you come off the trail and follow the forest preserve road up to Milwaukee Avenue.

This is where the DPRT crosses busy Milwaukee Avenue at Allgauers. This is not an easy crossing when there is a lot of traffic. The Des Plaines River goes under Milwaukee here and I looked to see if it was possible to cross under and it was just not good. It sure would be nicer (and safer) if they would include a developed underpass here.

You go a short distance on the road next to Allgauers (it's called Winkleman Road) to get back to the trail again which is in the distance to the left.

The trail gets narrower and more rugged in this section but I did manage this entire trip on my road bike so it is negotiable (at least in good weather).