North Branch to Wilmette Beach -- and back

As recently as last year, getting to the North Branch Trail involved winding our way through a number of streets, including one especially hairy signal-less crossing at Peterson & Leader. So, even though we've lived near the trail for almost two decades, we've gone on it less often than we should. With the a number of new extensions trails - North Branch reaching all the way into Forest Glen, and what used to be the Sauganash-Trail-to-nowhere now continued north to Dempster, and the partially-completed Weber Spur Trail - new and easier connections between trails now beckon.

This was a pretty straightforward ride. We were going mostly for mileage. We rode the NBT from Forest Glen (just west of the Chicago River at Forest Glen Ave) to Glenview Road. We traveled eastbound via Glenview/Wilmette Rd. to Sheridan. The street was generally wide and traffic light on a weekday mid-morning.

We always pack a picnic and hot tea, and we were hoping to enjoy our victuals at Wilmette Beach, but the wind was too fierce. We tried to find a good shortcut along the North Shore Channel back to the bike path that runs along it at McCormick Blvd, but we ended us getting a little turned around on the cobbled streets of Wilmette. (We did find the lovely Alchemy Coffee shop at the Purple Line terminus that we plan to investigate, but had to leave that for another day, as the establishment is cash-only, and we had none.)

Back on the North Shore Channel path, we found a protected spot for our picnic at Ladd Arboretum in Evanston, and made out way back home by connecting to the Weber Spur Trail behind the Grossinger Auto complex off McCormick Blvd. This trail has been paved between Touhy and Devon, but the southern section that would connect it to LaBagh Woods remains wild and unpaved.

Season: January 2018
Distance: 36 miles
Weather: Overcast, cold and windy, lower 30's