Two Trips on the Centennial Trail

Note: The blog got a little behind as I transitioned to a new computer (a transition which is ongoing) but I wanted to finally get a couple of recent rides posted before August was completely gone.  That didn't happen, mainly because the Garmin feature that lets you embed ride details into another page then stopped working for a while.  I think all is finally well again.

In August the cycling group added the Centennial Trail to its ever-growing list of those it has explored. The trail itself is not new, nor is it unfamiliar to some of the group members who have ridden it often, but as a group we had not officially visited it until recently. And then we rode it two weeks in a row!

The website for the trail describes our two rides very accurately.  On our first ride, Jon and I started in downtown Lockport and headed south to Joliet, passing through the Joliet Iron Works Historic Site along the way.  Upon reaching Joliet we turned around, rode back to Lockport, then kept on going to 135th Street and a little beyond.  Total distance was just about 20 miles. The best part was when we got back to Lockport and Jon asked, "But where do we get ice cream?"  We found it a couple blocks away at Cool Creations.

Jon and Eric enjoying ice cream together...like only really manly men can do.

On our second ride, Casey, Doug, Jason, and I started at 135th Street and (according to the trail website) headed north for 3 miles "through wetlands and woodlands to Keepataw Bridge." Upon reaching Cook County we continued an additional 9.5 miles to Columbia Woods at Willow Springs Road...where we stopped to take a photo.  Total round-trip distance on this ride was just over 25 miles.  Unfortunately there was no ice cream at the end.

Jason, Casey, Eric, and Doug on the Des Plains River bridge at Willow Springs Road.

I have to say "Thanks!" to Jason for encouraging me to try this trail. I had always imagined it to be something where you are riding through chemical factories and oil refineries. In reality it is really beautiful nearly the entire way...and you only ride next to the factories and refineries.