Illinois Prairie Path Photos
Steps to Railroad Track Crossing

(Click on any of the bike trail photos to enlarge)

This is just before the railroad track crossing and a little bit of a rugged hill as we continued south on the Illinois Prairie Path There are signs that route you around the hill, but it is really not all that bad... (in my opinion).


The trail runs alongside the railroad tracks here and a little further ahead is where you cross the tracks on the IPP Elgin branch. I think that this was a pretty rugged railroad track crossing that you had to carry your bike over (rather than just riding over) but I have been updating some of these photo captions a while after the ride so I can't say that for sure at this time.


...and here's the hill with some wooden steps and a small path around the steps... You really do need to be careful when coming from the other direction (which would be coming downhill towards the steps here). There is a caution sign and the railroad ties to make you aware that you are approaching the steps (the photos below).

Here's where the path forks and the caution sign just before the steps (facing the downhill direction).


As you can see here... The path has some bike-path-speed-bumps (the wooden railroad ties) as you approach the steps and railroad tracks. The railroad ties are buried into the path which is kind of nice to remind you to slow down and I believe that they would help slow down erosion of the trail too.


A typical view of your basic recumbent rider. OK this is my friend Dale on his short wheel base Bacchetta recumbent once again.


This is actually a pretty nice part of the trail that is wooded and fairly shady. The path is very straight and flat in this section before you get to the bridges and tunnels that pass over and under the major highways in this area.