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.

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3