Fox River Trail IL

(jplyons) said:

Plan to take a group of 20 or so to ride the Fos River
Trail in Illinois over 4th of July weekend. Will appreciate
any suggestions on where to stay, any ride info, etc. Want
to stay in some town mid-trail and do day trips out and
back each of the three days.

I've ridden the entire length of the Fox River Trail (and
its associated paths) from Oswego to the Wisconsin Border
many times. I guess what you would consider mid-trail
depends upon whether you count the trail north of Algonquin
part of the Fox River Trail.

I'd be tempted to stay in the Elgin Area. From there north
to the Wisconsin border is about 40 miles. South to Oswego
is about 30 miles. I'm suggesting Elgin because as an
alternative to repeating one of the trips on the third day
you can ride the Elgin Spur of the Illinois Prairie Path
(assuming you like crushed limestone surfaces) to Wheaton,
then either the Aurora, Batavia, or Geneva spurs back to the
Fox River Trail, then north back to Elgin.

Another alternative would be to take the FRT south to
St. Charles and then take the Great Western Trail west
to Sycamore and back. Again, this is a crushed
limestone surface.

Most of the Fox River Trail (but for some short stretches of
gravel) is paved (blacktop) except for the stretch north
from Ringwood to the border. I rode the trail from the
Wisconsin border to Batavia yesterday (in the rain and high
water) and had to detour a few times to avoid flooded areas.
I did it on 28mm tires, so even soaking wet the unpaved
sections weren't impassable.

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