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Old 07-26-2015, 11:03 PM
 
Location: In the heights
36,933 posts, read 38,901,290 times
Reputation: 20964

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Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
...and there should be no real support for this.

The primary purpose of the Metra system is to ferry commuters to workplaces. The vast majority of resources are dedicated toward the "live in the suburbs / work in the Loop" scenario, a significantly smaller amount of resources are devoted to the reverse commute because that reduces the pressure that otherwise results in clogged roadways and employees being reliant on personal vehicles. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the majority of profitable ridership for CTA and Pace buses similarly are devoted to getting workers to employment sites.

The handful of suburban transit users that currently utilize rail or bus for recreational purposes may someday increase, but the relative expenditures required to extend the infrastructure to things like the Forest Preserves, and the subsequent negative consequences on the maintenance of both the transit facilities as well as the Forest Preserves themselves, which are grossly neglected due to decades of fiscal mismanagement cannot be overstated...

The US is not Europe or Japan. There is no tradition of heading to Zermat or Mt. Fuji via rail, even in places like Colorado the operation of such rail facilities has been for tourism and is a rather fascination look at how US firms largely were not interested in this specialized need -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manito...s_Peak_Railway
Well, save for a few east coast cities which does have hiking trails within commuter rail distance. That's why I'm surprised--I've done hiking by getting dropped off by commuter rail in these places before. Keep in mind, it seems pretty certain that the other three commuter rail services might also have their primary purposes be to ferry commuters to workplaces, but I might be wrong. It might have been that most people were on these trains as a pleasure cruise and decided to wear shoes that seemed uncomfortable for hiking. Hell, maybe I was wrong about those shoes, too. Oughtta teach me to not judge shoes by their covers.

I have never lived in Chicago, but I figured since there was the Cook County Forest Preserves so close by and a very extensive commuter rail network, it seemed likely that there'd be at least a weekend stop or two within easy walking distance of a decent hike. It's interesting to me that there isn't.

Though, it does seem like Indiana Dunes would fit the bill and the OP specifically said that he's not looking for that.

Last edited by OyCrumbler; 07-26-2015 at 11:29 PM..
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Old 07-28-2015, 10:18 AM
 
8 posts, read 34,776 times
Reputation: 24
Again - I'll reiterate that the Willow Springs stop is right next to the largest contiguous area of forested land in Cook County. It has hills, creeks, rivers, lakes, etc. You would just have to walk like 20 minutes from the train station tops through a neighborhood to get to the entrance.
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Old 09-15-2016, 09:46 PM
 
Location: Chicago, IL
176 posts, read 144,718 times
Reputation: 130
Amtrak Options to Hilly/Mountainous Cities/Towns

Relatively Close
Wisconsin Dells or La Crosse, WI via Empire Builder.
Alton, IL via Lincoln Service.

Medium Distance
Cincinnati, OH via Cardinal.
Pittsburgh, PA via Capitol Limited.

Long Distance
Fraser, CO via California Zephyr.
Glacier National Park, MT via Empire Builder.
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Old 09-16-2016, 10:08 AM
 
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
5,649 posts, read 5,916,131 times
Reputation: 8317
Why not just drive the 2.5 hours to Galena and explore out there? You can visit the Mississippi Palisades, Apple River Canyon, etc, and hike your heart out. Not to mention downtown Galena has some of the best architecture in all of IL.
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Old 09-16-2016, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Crook County, Hellinois
5,820 posts, read 3,831,318 times
Reputation: 8123
Quote:
Originally Posted by what89 View Post
Take the Metra Heritage Corridor from Union Station to Willow Springs.

Walk south - have fun for hours. I suggest Swallow Cliff.
Metra Heritage Corridor has a ridiculously limited schedule, in one direction only (3 trains inbound in the morning, 4 trains outbound in the afternoon). I'm not sure how that can be of any use to the OP, except to actually drive and pay to park in the Metra lot. (There is a pedestrian bridge leading from there to the trail, I think.) That said, the hiking trail along the Illinois and Michigan Canal is out of this world! You can just feel the history there.
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Old 09-16-2016, 11:30 AM
 
Location: Wicker Park/East Village area
2,474 posts, read 4,141,854 times
Reputation: 1939
Yes you're really limiting yourself by using trains, ZIPCAR lets u rent cars by the hour and is fairly reasonable.
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Old 09-16-2016, 04:43 PM
 
Location: Land of Ill Noise
3,387 posts, read 3,315,826 times
Reputation: 2183
Wish I'd seen this thread sooner, and a year earlier! Sigh, I did not. Starved Rock State Park was mentioned in this thread, where honestly I doubt you'd get a lot of cabs or even Uber to help you traveling that far west. For that, I'd suggest talking to someone with a car, and doing a group trip there.

If you're asking about good places to hike accessible from Metra, take the Metra Union Pacific West line to Geneva, and head over to the park and trail paralleling the Fox River. You can go for miles and miles along that trail, at least as far south as Aurora(also with passenger rail service), and as far north as Crystal Lake. Heck if you want to ride Union Pacific Northwest instead of UP-West, one can even theoretically bike or hike on an off street trail all the way north from Crystal Lake to Genoa City, WI, which is immediately north of the Illinois/Wisconsin state line. If you want to go all that distance to Richmond or Genoa City, I'd recommend a bike. UP-West schedule: https://metrarail.com/sites/default/...w_05232016.pdf

From the Edgebrook Metra station on the Milwaukee District North line, you can pick up the start of the North Branch trail that goes all the way north to the Chicago Botanic Garden. You also could walk a few blocks to a point that allows you to pick up that trail a few 3 miles north of its southern end, from Morton Grove. Also you could walk west from Braeside(at Lake Cook Road) Metra station on the Union Pacific North line to the Chicago Botanic Garden's north entrance to pick up the northern end of the North Branch trail, or take a shuttle from Glencoe into the Botanic Garden. Eventually sometime within the next few years, the North Branch trail will be extended south to LaBagh Woods, on Foster east of Cicero. Milwaukee District North schedule: https://metrarail.com/sites/default/...n_05112016.pdf

There also are other ones you could try, such as the Green Bay/Robert McClory trail that parallels the Union Pacific North line all the way north to the IL/WI state line, and from there continues as a trail(name changes to Kenosha County Bike Trail) to ending somewhere in west Racine, where it hits a city park along the Root River. Keep in mind in Kenosha, there are a few miles where you have to go on local streets, then the Kenosha County bike trail starts again. Also, there is LESS frequent Metra train service between Waukegan and Kenosha vs. Waukegan and points south, so keep that in mind if you want to do such an extended hike. Plus of course, one could try going to Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, and trying to hike on its trails through the southern end of that park. Like I said earlier in this paragraph, UP-North train times to Zion are less frequent vs. to Waukegan and points south. So in case you do such a trip beyond Waukegan, I recommend going on a weekday or Saturday, and NOT so much Sunday where the train times from Chicago to Zion and Kenosha are the most limited. Here's the UP-North schedule: https://metrarail.com/sites/default/...04052016_0.pdf

South of Chicago, like another person said the trail paralleling the I and M Canal is not a bad one, but be warned the Metra Heritage Corridor train service is limited to 3 very early northbound morning weekday rush hour train runs(NO reverse direction service), and 4 outbound weekday runs in the afternoon. The series of forest preserves south of Willow Springs that others mentioned with trails like Swallow Cliff forest preserve look good, but you might want to Uber back to a Metra Rock Island stop. Use Google Maps, to get an idea of what route would work best for you. This isn't a possibility yet, but there are plans to eventually expand the Cal Sag trail east to connect with downtown Blue Island(accessible from the Metra Rock Island line from Blue Island-Vermont Street) sometime in the next few years. Even as of right now, Blue Island's downtown is pretty historic and fun to walk and explore for yourself(check out Google Street View to look at Blue Island's downtown north and south of the Calumet Sag Channel, to see for yourself), plus there are good restaurants and bars like Maple Tree Inn, Rock Island Public House, and Blue Island Brewing Company.

Finally for further south Chicago near Metra stations, you could try going to the Old Plank Road trail and hiking or biking on that trail. You only have to walk just over a half mile from the New Lenox station on the Rock Island line down Cedar Road to where you pick up the Old Plank trail. If you go all the way east to Wolf Road, it's only a very short distance north(and Lincoln Highway/Wolf Road has a traffic light with a marked crosswalk) to Tribes Beer Company within a strip mall, which both has good beer and food. Also you can access the Old Plank trail from the Matteson(215th Street) Metra Electric stop. On your way there or back especially if you get a Metra weekend pass, I'd suggest stopping at Flossmoor Station for a bite to eat, and/or their own beers. It's literally located just down the stairs, from the Flossmoor Metra Electric stop. Keep in mind that EVEN this far south(including Mokena and Joliet, and I once had to use Uber to travel east to Metra Electric after I missed the last northbound Rock Island train on a Sunday), you could use Uber(and perhaps also Lyft, I'm less sure about Lyft since I hadn't used that) to get between places you want to go.

Heritage Corridor Metra schedule: https://metrarail.com/sites/default/...m90_tt_web.pdf
Amtrak Illinois services schedule(look for train times between Chicago and Saint Louis, for service to Summit and Joliet): https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/70/301/...e-011116,0.pdf
Rock Island Metra schedule: https://metrarail.com/sites/default/...tt_web_rid.pdf
Metra Electric schedule: https://metrarail.com/sites/default/...e_02092016.pdf
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