Walk around the lake in Chicago
 

Is there a trail around the lake in Chicago that you can walk around?
My DH and DD will be there at the end of June for a business trip and will be staying for the weekend and love to hike and were wondering if there was a trail around the lake that they could take

Thanks

Melissa

There is a paved bike path. I certainly would not term it hiking. You will be sharing the path with many rollerbladers, bikers, runners and other walkers.

There are plenty of paths in Lincoln Park and along the lake toward downtown (by Oak Street Beach, for example). Not really "hiking" at all, but a nice walk. One other idea might be to take a bike tour, which would be active and also get them close to the lake - I took one with Bobby's Bike Hike (bobbysbikehike.com) last fall and really enjoyed it. We biked from downtown through the Gold Coast and Old Town areas, through a bit of Lincoln Park and then over to the beach back to downtown. Our guide was great.

The walk around the lake is one of the highlights of a trip to Chicago! (But yes, it's more like a nice stroll -- we've done it on foot, on bikes, rollerblades, and in one of those 4-wheel bike things)

The lakefront trail is about 20 miles from end-to-end. It starts at Hollywood Beach on the north and ends near Rainbow Beach on the south side. You can get a map from the Chicago Park District site: http://tinyurl.com/33cbxjx. Parts of the trail are very crowded when the weather is good.

If they want to rent bikes, they are also available in Millennium Park www.bikechicago.com or I believe there's a rental place on Navy Pier.

If your husband and daughter want to walk around the lake, they'd better plan more than a weekend because one complete lap is about 1,600 miles.

Citylghts post made me laugh...I thought the same thing when I saw "around" the lake. All in good fun!

Just a word of warning, the lake path can get CRAZY! So I am stating the obvious, but be sure to walk on the correct side and watch for bikers and roller bladers.

That's one really long walk around a lake!

Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. It has a surface area of 22,400 square miles (58,016 km²),[1] making it the largest lake entirely within one country by surface area (Lake Baikal, in Russia, is larger by water volume), and the fifth largest lake in the world. It is 307 miles (494 km) long by 118 miles (190 km) wide with a shoreline 1,640 miles (2,633 km) long. The lake's average depth is 279 feet (85 m), while its greatest depth is 923 feet (281 m).[1] It contains a volume of 1,180 cubic miles (4,918 km³) of water. Its surface averages 577 feet (176 m)[1] above sea level, the same as Lake Huron, to which it is connected through the Straits of Mackinac.
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Thanks so much for the info.

Melissa