About Bicycles Online > Bicycle Touring and Trails > Fox River Trail

The Fox River Trail

The Fox River Trail (38.miles) in Illinois runs mostly along the Fox River from Oswego (in the south) to Algonquin (in the north) and then connects with the McHenry County Prairie Trail to continue north all the way to the Wisconsin border. There are also many other trails that connect to the Fox River Trail (FRT) at various locations.

Pratt's Castle on the Fox River Trail in Elgin

The line of trees at the Otto Engineering Park on the trail

Fayban Windmill on the Fox River Trail in Geneva

What is it that would make a bike trail great to you?
Long stretches of paved bike trail through a Canopy of Trees, Scenic rides by a large river with interesting Bridges and Underpasses, Castles, Windmills, Riverboats, Railway Museums, Beautiful Parks, Awesome Dams... Yep the Fox River Trail has all of that!

The Good Stuff:
The Fox River Trail is really beautiful and interesting in most parts. There are also a number of connecting trails so you can get on in different places and you have a lot of choices. I like that you can get on this trail and ride a hundred miles or more, with the connecting trails and see lots of great places. The FRT is also paved so if you don't like crushed stone or dirt trails you have a great trail that you can do a lot of miles on... The connecting trails are not all paved though.

The Not As Good Stuff:
The things that I don't like too much on this trail is that some sections get very crowded on nice weekend days and holidays when a lot of people are out riding. It can still be a great ride (even on the weekends) but if you can take this trail on a weekday, I would recommend that... Also, there are a few sections that break away from the regular trail and you have to ride on back roads or subdivision streets. It's not that bad, but I'd rather be able to stay on the regular trail the whole time.

Overall one of the Best Trails in Northern Illinois: Overall, this is still one of my all time favorite trails and IMO one of the best bike trails in Illinois.

I hope you enjoy the photo tour and I 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 it!

 

Map of the Fox River Trail.

One of the better maps of the Fox River Trail is via Google Maps and actually includes the connecting trails too. See the Google Maps Fox River Trail Map for a pretty good map of this trail.

I've found it hard to find a real good map of the entire Fox River Trail since it spans more than one county (and a lot of maps are by county). The Google Map above is pretty good but it actually does not show the far southern end of the trail that goes to Oswego.

 

Fox River Trail Photos

---

The Latest FRT Photos

I rode the Prairie Trail and the FRT quite a few times in July 2020. Here are the photos that I took on one of these rides.

Crystal Lake to South Elgin, July 2020

We rode the Fox River Trail (July, 2011) from Dundee to Aurora. Since I did not previously have photos of the Fayban Windmill in Geneva, I am including a new photo page for these which is a little south of the bike photo tour below.

Fox River Trail South - Fayban Windmill in Geneva

The northern section of Fox River trail is really beautiful (and fairly shady). It is pretty much along the river and very wooded. There is a moderate amout of traffic in the summer, on weekends and on really nice days but it is not too bad and the trail is still probably one of the nicest bike trails in northern Illinois (imho).

I usually continue on with the McHenry County Prairie Trail (north) when I am on the northern end of the Fox River trail and you can follow the links on these pages to the descriptions and photos of the Prairie Trail also.

---

Fox River Trail NORTH Photo Tour

Here's the photo tour of the northern part of The Fox River Trail from Elgin to Algonquin with plenty of first  hand riding details. This ride was from Fall of 2020..

FRT North Photos1 - Algonquin and Prairie Trail
FRT North Photos2 - Prairie Trail to Dundee
FRT North Photos3  - Dundee, Otto Engineering Park
FRT North Photos4 - Thru Downtown Dundee
FRT North Photos5 - I90 Underpass, Pratt's Castle, Elgin

---

Fox River Trail SOUTH Photo Tour

The classic stone bridge/tunnel south of Elgin before the renovation

Going under one of the riverboat buildings in Elgin

Dam! Along the path in Elgin

Here's the Fox River Trail photo tour (South to North) from Geneva, Illinois to Dundee Illinois, September 2007 (with updates from July, 2011).

Fox River Trail (S) Photos 1 - Geneva, Illinois
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 2 - Through St. Charles
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 3 - To Tekakwitha Woods
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 4 - The Long Bridges
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 5 - Stearns Rd Bridge and S. Elgin
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 6 - South Elgin Dam to Winding Hills
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 7 - Old Stone Tunnel and Bridge
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 8 - Grand Victoria Riverboat, Elgin
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 9 - Elgin and Dam on the Fox River
Fox River Trail (S) Photos 10 - Elgin North and Under I90

Also see the Virgil Gilman Trail Photos and Tour for a few photos of the Fox River Trail from Oswego to Aurora and the full VG Trail itself.

---

Website Notes: This page was originally the southern section only but I have consolidated the North and South pages into one page (this one). Additions to follow soon.

I do not have a photo tour of the trail south of Geneva at this time (Geneva to Aurora and on to Oswego. However the Fox River Trail South Video on this site (links below) includes the section from Oswego to South Elgin and the Fox River Trail North Video includes the section from South Elgin to Algonquin.

I took the original Fox River Trail South photos from a ride that I took with my friend Dale. We actually started in Dundee and went south to the Illinois Prairie Path (just past Elgin (we actually went a little further and then came back)) then we took the Illinois Prairie Path and looped back to the Fox River Trail, got on in Geneva and then rode back to Dundee. I rearranged all of the photos so the whole photo tour is from south to north.

Back in the summer of 2007, my son, Casey and I took the Fox River Trail from Geneva, Il to Genoa Wisconsin and back! We did a little over 100 miles on that trip, so you can really ride all day on these trails if you like!

There are some photos ind information on the most southern part of the trail, from Aurora to Oswego, here on the Virgil Gilman Trail pages.

---

Fox River Trail North Archives - The Trail look in 2003!

The Fox River Trail North of East Dundee

The Fox River Trail Crossing the Fox River

Here's a photo tour of the Fox River Trail, from Dundee to Algonquin. These pictures are from mid July of 2003

Fox River Trail Photos 1 - Dundee to Otto Engineering
Fox River Trail Photos 2 - Wooded sections by the Fox River
Fox River Trail Photos 3 - Bridges before Algonquin

To continue north from Algonquin (all the way to Wisconsin) See the: McHenry County Prairie Trail

 

---

Fox River Bike Trail Videos

Here's the video tour / virtual bike ride of the Fox River Trail (all) and the connecting McHenry County Prairie Trail.

Fox River Trail South Video The video is approximately 12 minutes long and contains scenes from all of the Fox River Trail from Oswego, Illinois to South Elgin, Illinois.

Fox River Trail North Video The video is approximately 13 minutes long and contains scenes from all of the Fox River Trail from South Elgin to Algonquin, Illinois.

The McHenry County Prairie Trail Video The video tour of the McHenry County Prairie Trail (which connects to the FRT) starting in Algonquin and ending in Genoa City Wisconsin.

Fox River Trail Condition Updates

---

Below are the Fox River Trail pages and blog posts with latest updates on construction, detours and general trail conditions along with those posted over the years.

As I was putting these updates here, I realized that  a lot of the detours over the years have been in the same place, at the railway bridge, tunnel. They have worked on this project since at least 2009 so at least 11 years!

2020 - Update - Fox River Trail Detours, South of Elgin and the Old and New Railway Tunnels. As of 7/11/2020 most parts of  the main FRT from south of Elgin to South Elgin are closed (or in bad condition) and there are detours.

Fall 2015 - Bike Lanes through Aurora - There was a break in the trail in Aurora but as of fall of 2015 there are some nice new (bright green) Bike Lanes through Aurora so now you get to the trail on either side (for a longer ride).

2011 - Construction, Detours, Trail Conditions - Fox River Trail updates in summer of 2011 (south of Elgin).

2010 / 11 - Construction, Detours, Trail Conditions Note: The Sterns Road Bridge Project is now complete and the Fox River Trail is open once again at this location.

2009 - Construction, Detours, Trail Conditions - Fox River Trail updates in summer of 2009 (south of Elgin).

See the About-Bicycles Bike Blog - Trail Conditions (category) for the latest bike trail condition blog updates on the FRT and many other trails.