Old Plank Road Trail

Cruise casually down the scenic and historic Old Plank Road Trail, which Openlands helped bring to life, traversing seven towns in south Cook and Will counties.

Prior to the 1600s, Native Americans developed an extensive network of paths and trails that provided passage from Toledo, on Lake Erie, to Rock Island, on the Mississippi River. The Great Sauk Trail, crossing Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, skirted the southern edge of Lake Michigan and closely paralleled the route of what would become the Old Plank Road Trail.

Various railroads operated along this route throughout the twentieth century until, in 1984, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) contracted with Openlands to create a bikeway that connected with the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor. After years of mapping and conducting impact studies, Openlands bought 20.1 miles of right-of-way from Penn Central Railroad for $3.4 million. On July 19, 1997, the Old Plank Road Trail opened for use.

Today, the asphalt-paved Old Plank Road Trail takes you through acres of unique prairie habitat, containing more than 200 species of plants (many native) and over 2,000 species of animals, birds (175 and counting), and insects.