1
Lincoln (Abraham) Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
964 acres16.5 mi of trail
Lakefront Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Chicago
Chicago, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 8% of Chicago is conserved land, roughly 11,906 acres. There are about 240 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Lincoln (Abraham) Park (16.5 mi), Jackson Park (9.8 mi), and Schiller Woods South Preserve (7.4 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Chicago, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Chicago outdoors
Conserved land
8%
11,906 of 149,183 acres
Trails
240 mi
1 mi per sq mi · 177 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
520
4 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
560.8 mi
328.6 mi lanes · 135.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Jackson Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
508 acres9.8 mi of trail
Wetland Walk
Dog rules not recorded
3
Schiller Woods South Preserve
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
512 acres7.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trailhead
4
Burnham Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
451 acres6.7 mi of trail
Lakefront Trail
Dog rules not recorded
5
Grant Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
319 acres5 mi of trail
Lakefront TrailPedway
Dog rules not recorded
6
Humboldt (Alexander Von) Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
193 acres4.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
7
Washington (George) Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
330 acres4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
8
Garfield Park
Managed by Chicago Park District
149 acres3.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
All 60 parks & preserves
- Douglass (Anna and Frederick) Park146 ac · 3 mi trail · Directions
- Calumet Park170 ac · 2.6 mi trail · Directions
- Marquette Park299 ac · 2.5 mi trail · Directions
- Palmer Park36 ac · 2.4 mi trail · Directions
- LaBagh Woods and Sauganash Prairie Preserves180 ac · 2.3 mi trail · Directions
- Wooded Island Natural Area69 ac · 2.2 mi trail · Directions
- Dan Ryan Woods Preserve255 ac · 2.1 mi trail · Directions
- Forest Glen Woods Preserve179 ac · 2.1 mi trail · Directions
- Millennium Park29 ac · 2 mi trail · Directions
- Caldwell Preserves217 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Roman Pucinski Preserve199 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Burnham Wildlife Corridor64 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Portage Park36 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Schiller Woods North Preserve442 ac · 1.8 mi trail · Directions
- Hegewisch Marsh129 ac · 1.8 mi trail · Directions
- Riis Park50 ac · 1.8 mi trail · Directions
- Park No. 566 (USX)64 ac · 1.7 mi trail · Directions
- Northerly Island99 ac · 1.6 mi trail · Directions
- Legion Park51 ac · 1.6 mi trail · Directions
- Mount Greenwood Park51 ac · 1.6 mi trail · Directions
- Wolf Lake Overlook96 ac · 1.5 mi trail · Directions
- Warren Park82 ac · 1.5 mi trail · Directions
- North Park Village Natural Area46 ac · 1.5 mi trail · Directions
- Shabbona Park27 ac · 1.5 mi trail · Directions
- Park 565 "Indian Ridge Marsh"150 ac · 1.4 mi trail · Directions
- Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary17 ac · 1.4 mi trail · Directions
- William W. Powers State Recreation Area662 ac · 1.3 mi trail · Directions
- Rainbow Beach Park107 ac · 1.3 mi trail · Directions
- Peterson (Pehr Samuel) Park27 ac · 1.3 mi trail · Directions
- La Villita Park26 ac · 1.3 mi trail · Directions
- Eggers Grove166 ac · 1.2 mi trail · Directions
- Ogden Park57 ac · 1.2 mi trail · Directions
- Brighton Park Community Campus (Park No. 596)23 ac · 1.2 mi trail · Directions
- Midway Plaisance72 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Northerly Island Natural Area43 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Maggie Daley Park30 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Douglass Boulevard23 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Kennedy Park21 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Catherine Chevalier Woods Preserve429 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- McKinley Park72 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Indian Road Woods Preserve63 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Gompers Park40 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Humboldt Park Natural Area31 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Hamilton Park29 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Gately Park29 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Burnham Nature Sanctuary24 ac · 0.9 mi trail · Directions
- Steelworkers Park19 ac · 0.9 mi trail · Directions
- LaFollette Park14 ac · 0.9 mi trail
- Horner Natural Area14 ac · 0.9 mi trail · Directions
- South Shore Cultural Center77 ac · 0.8 mi trail · Directions
- Loyola Park37 ac · 0.8 mi trail · Directions
- Dunning Read Natural Area33 ac · 0.8 mi trail · Directions
Who protects the land
11,906 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 90 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes328.6 mi
- Off-road bike paths135.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes97.1 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis651
- Baseball569
- Basketball409
- Soccer248
- Pickleball164
- Beach volleyball107
- Football79
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Chicago and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Chicago's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 76.1-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.