Good place for a starter

“Looking for a beginner trail in the Illinois area. I'm from Chicago and just looking for suggestions that are about 2-3 hours away for a good day trip or possibly a one nighter.”

“i'm not in your area, but hello.”

“Don't know about Illinois area, but there are some good beginner places in Indiana. The Hoosier Nat'l Forrest, Charles Deam Wilderness has many trails and are pretty easy. It would make for an ~4 hour trip for you.
Welcome!”

“Garden of the Gods/River to River Trail southern Illinois”

“It used to be you could get all the hiking you needed on a beer run from Evanston to Howard Street in Chicago. Then Evanston stopped being dry to entice the hotel chains into polluting the environment with Big Box Bedrooms and the health of Northwestern Students took a nose dive. They could just simply walk to to the Orrington Hotel restaurant and get soused. Oh well.”

“If you get there early, Starved Rock is about 90 minutes west of Chicago. The State Park is popular, but if you get there early, and hit the longer trails, not too bad. Some ups & downs.

Just over the state line in Wisconsin is the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest with lots of day-hike possibilities.
Check out Wisconsin DNR.”

“a good place to start is at the trailhead”

“But if there are lots of acess points, which trail head?”

“Heard there are lots of corn fields in IL...might try that!

(sorry had to say it!)”

“A great dayhike destination is Indiana Dunes State Park or the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. You can reach them via car or train from Chicago (South Shore) in about an hour. There are lots of trails for day hiking. If you want to stay overnight, there is a campground, although you will probably need reservations. The trails are moderate with a couple good dunes hikes to get your heart pumping. The lengths of the hikes vary from 1 - 9 miles. And the best part is that you can take a dip in the lake. Between the two I would recommend the National Lakeshore as there will be fewer people. Here are some links:

Area:
www.duneland.com
Click on the "Parks" link

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore:
www.nps.gov/indu

Indiana Dunes State Park:
http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_dunes.html”

“They already covered my suggestions, but Welcome! Now just join a trip and hit the trail with us! We have a blast.”

“imphky06 welcome aboard! There are a number of us here in and around Chicago.

If you ever want to do lunch, and you work in the city, let me know.”

“Lunchies!

Go take a hike! LOL!”