Chicago: Lakefront Trail
 

So I decided to see how far I could ride my bike... and as I was going I thought it would be cool to take some pics on the way back of anything interesting. Here are the pictures. They are from my phone, which is complete shit, so the quality isn't great but you get the idea. The pictures start where I turned around and started coming home. 
 
The route: (about 30 miles round trip)
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My turnaround point. The entire trail is 18 miles but I'm just not good enough for that yet. And I already knew getting back was going to be brutal. 
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Glimpse of the trail itself.
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The skyline from 31st street harbor.
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The harbor itself.
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Police cameras are everywhere in Chicago.
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McCormick Place, the largest convention center in the country. (pretty much all the buildings you see are part of it)
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Trail etiquette - if only the tourists would read this.... 
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Getting closer to downtown. Soldier Field and Burnham Harbor.
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It's so nice when everything is green.... too bad winter exists.
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3 miles done since I turned around.
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Soldier Field.
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Adler Planetarium, neat place, but was getting too tired to bike over to it for a better pic.
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Right in front of the Shedd Aquarium - nearly downtown.
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Field Museum.
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Lakeshore Drive separating me from Grant Park.
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Look familiar?
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Prettyful trees. The tall white building that looks like the old WTCs is the 3rd tallest in the city at 1,136 feet. 
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1247_001.png
 
Sears Tower peaking above a hideous box. Still the tallest in the city at 1,450 feet and 108 floors. 
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Bike sharing station. 
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A lil ship.
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I want this yacht - helicopter on the top. Yes please.
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Double-decker draw bridge over the Chicago river. 
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The lonely Lake Point Tower.
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Biggest tourist trap in the city. God this camera sucks.
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Right next to Navy Pier is where Chicago gets its water - the largest water purification plant in the world - a million gallons of water per minute. 
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Typical postcard shot whatever.
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Onward!
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Oak Street Beach.
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Oak Street Beach - it's pretty early still and a little chilly so not very busy.
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Looking back towards downtown.
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The next beach.. in a long chain of beaches...
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Nothing is open yet.
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Further and further north.
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Dat crystal clear lake water.
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Trail is a bit busier on the north side, nothing compared to a weekend though.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1306_001.png
 
Flowers yayyyy
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I need a boat.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1308.png
 
Boats and shit.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1308_001.png
 
The building in the middle is a favorite of mine. 
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1309.png
 
Baseball fields and an old clocktower turned into a restaurant.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1309_001.png
 
Yayyy getting close to home now. I skipped some other beaches and stuff because at this point I was pretty damn tired and just wanted to get home.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1310.png
 
Start of the Lakefront Trail and Edgewater Beach... about 10 minutes away from my house.
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No more bike trail, time to navigate the city streets for the last bit.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1312.png
 
But they make it pretty easy.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1312_001.png
 
Just signage.
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The closest CTA station to me, and one of my favorite restaurants - Summer. Ugh such good Thai food.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1314.png
 
My street, the end is finally near.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1315.png
 
Home sweet home.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1315_001.png
 
Putting my bike away - shot of the backyard.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1316.png
 
Landlord likes these metal animals for some reason. 
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Last but not least - a terrible picture of me in my near death state.
http://kngkyle.com/uploads/2014-05-22_1322.png

Chicago has such a great waterfront, probably one of the best in North America. Thanks for sharing.

Nice shots - need to get out on it again, broke my elbow on it (Diversy harbor), have nearly been washed in (Oak st curve), found black ice at a sharp corner at 4am (Fullerton), and lost several square inches of skin. All well worth it.

Cool as hell tour, thanks for sharing.

A Chicago lakefront bike ride is one thing I've really been wanting to do one of these days.

Of course, owning a bike would be a good place to start.

Kngkyle, what happens if you try to walk directly along the lake from Hollywood to Juneway…..is there full access? From what I could always see, it seems the high-rise stretch from Hollywood to Loyola doesn't have much direct access if you aren't in the buildings. I did think that from Loyola all the way through Rogers Park to Calvary that one could walk.

am i right or off base on this?

You house is pretty awesome

I love a good bike trail. Chicago looks pretty entertaining in that respect. Nicely done-

no. public access to the lakeshore from hollywood beach north to the evanston border at juneway is very disjointed.

hollywood beach ends around throndale, then some highrise bases protrude making continuous access impossible. public lakefront access resumes again for a couple blocks at granville at berger park. then a couple more highrise bases interrupt the lakefront yet again. then the lakefront is accessible through all of loyola's campus (though the shore itself is lined with large boulders). at loyola avenue a large apartment building blocks continuous access again, though if you scramble over the boulders, you can get down to hartigan beach and around that one building. form there it's all beach through loyola park all the way up to touhy. north of touhy the lakefront is interspersed with tiny little public beaches (jarvis beach, fargo beach, howard beach, rogers beach, & juneway beach) all interrupted by little bits of private property. it's a very annoying part of the lakefront because continuous public access is close to happening, but there are still a bunch of private property claims to the lakefront mixed in.

Nicely done.

My partner and I ride our fixies from home in River North (Lasalle St and Huron St) to Hollywood and back frequently (about 16.2 miles, round trip), and we also ride from home to the South Shore Cultural Center at the south end of the trail (71st St and South Shore Drive), which is about 23 miles fairly often. Occasionally we've even ridden all the way to Hammond, Indiana, which is about 37 miles round trip. The first time I did that trip I got dehydrated and got sick when I got home, but I've been better about staying hydrated since.

We also like riding to Devon Ave, and up to Lincoln Square. Another trip I like, at least in the winter when there isn't a lot of people on the streets, is going west on Jackson St from the Loop to Berwyn where his parents live, which is about 20 miles round trip from our home.

Someday I want to take trails and streets and paths from home to my brother's place in Wheaton. Supposedly it's possible, but it'd be about 55 miles round trip if we rode both ways so maybe we'd spend the night out there.

But the lakefront is really nice - I actually like the South Lakefront better than the North half. There are some sections on both halves that I wish they'd repave, though. Or at least spot-fix some serious potholes.

Dude, you live right down the street from me. And yes. Summer kicks ass! In fact, I'm gonna go there now! Thanks for the idea. :cheers:

Nice photo tour!