1
Guardian Park
Park
16 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Outdoors · North Chicago
North Chicago, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 8.7% of North Chicago is conserved land, roughly 445 acres. There are about 7.4 miles of mapped trails.
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in North Chicago, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
North Chicago outdoors
Conserved land
8.7%
445 of 5,102 acres
Trails
7.4 mi
0.9 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
8
15 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
5.6 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 5.6 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
Greenbelt Forest Preserve
Managed by Lake County Forest Preserves
277 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Foss Park
Managed by Waukegan Park District
40 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Vision Park
Park
27 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Boat launches in North Chicago
Ramp 748
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
445 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 8 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 lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths5.6 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball11
- Tennis8
- Basketball7
- Soccer4
- Football1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in North Chicago
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Conservation Area 299 acLocal Park 138 acConservation Easement 8 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenbelt Forest PreserveLocal Conservation Area | Regional agency | 262 | Open |
| Northshore Gardens Of Memory (God'S Acre)Local Park | Private owners | 60 | Open |
| Foss ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 43 | Open |
| City Of North Chicago Open SpaceLocal Conservation Area | Town or city | 36 | Open |
| Vision ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 18 | Open |
| Mcclory TrailLocal Park | Regional agency | 10 | Open |
| Boak ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 2 | Open |
| Cole ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 2 | Open |
| Angel ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 2 | Open |
| Unknown ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 1 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
F-14 TomcatAircraft
Great Lakes Naval Base CemeteryCemetery
North Shore Garden of Memorial CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
North Chicago and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Chicago | 8.7% | 7.4 mi | 8 |
| Shields | 14% | 26.2 mi | 34 |
| Waukegan | 20.5% | 10.9 mi | 37 |
| Lake Bluff | 26.2% | 5.8 mi | 15 |
| Waukegan | 15.5% | 5.9 mi | 44 |
| Libertyville | 24.1% | 16.5 mi | 37 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about North 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 20-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.