IL Lake County Zion Beulah Park Trails

From Trailville

Beulah Park Mountain Biking and Hiking Trails

Heavily wooded city park running along a ravine and small creek with a section of paved bike path and about 5 miles of technical single-track trails frequented by local mountain bikers and BMXers.

• Terrain / Scenery: Asphalt path and natural singletrack trails in wooded ravine running along small creek.
• Fees / Permits: None
• Trail Conditions: You can post or view trail conditions on the Discussion page
• Trail Markings: Unmarked
• Official Web Page: None
• Getting There: Park is located in Zion, Illinois a couple of miles south of the Wisconsin state line. See overview map at the bottom of this page for specific location. Google Maps link to Beulah Park]

At about a half mile by a quarter mile in size, Beulah Park in Zion, Illinois would seem like a typical city park. But hidden within the woods (most of the park is wooded) is a web of trails running through the ravine (Kellogg Ravine) along a small creek (Kellogg Creek). These trails have sort of been adopted (and in some cases created) by local mountain bikers and BMXers drawn to this park by the terrain of the ravine.

Map Notes: I've revised this map several times and finally feel that it is a reasonable representation of the trails here. However, these trails tend to change occasionally and there may be additional trails not shown. Also, in some spots there are so many trails in such a small area that I cannot accurately reflect them on this map.

Navigating the trails.

These trails can be confusing. There are no trail markers and the frequent direction changes and intersections will really test your sense of direction. Though my map should help a little to give you a general idea of the trails, this is one of those systems that you just need to spend some time on to get a feel for it.

The asphalt paved bike path running through the center of the park (shown in Black on the map) provides access to all trails. There's a bridge (see photo at top of page) that crosses the ravine in the middle of the park. On the east end of the bridge there are trails heading off either side of the paved bike path that provide access to the two largest groups of trails. The trails south of the bike path and north of the creek are the most heavily used. There are numerous short but steep hills here and various bumps, jumps, drops, and tree hops. This is a great place to start because there are quite a few trails, a lot of nice technical stuff, and it's pretty hard to get lost in here as the trails frequently run back to the paved bike path. Because of all the little bumps, jumps, and hills in this area, you'll find you will want to run certain sections multiple times, which is very easy to do given all the little connectors. Also be aware that people are regularly adding, moving, and modifying little jumps (and some not-so-little jumps) on these trails so don't assume that the trail will be the same as the last time you rode it.

The large group of trails north of the bike path and creek are the most confusing. The trail running near the creek is the easiest to follow. The "zigzagging and zagzigging" trails well north of the creek run through a rather flat area (actually a floodplain) that you wouldn't think would make for good mountain biking, but whoever made this trail (it had to be a local mountain biker) did an excellent job. The trail is constantly changing directions with tight switchbacks weaving through the trees and a lot of downed trees across the trail. This is the area where it can get real easy to feel lost (though you probably aren't really lost) because the frequent direction changes tend to make you lose all sense of direction. You also need to be careful here in the fall when the leaves are falling because you can easily lose the trail. The trail that runs along the creek through this section is much easier to follow.

The trails west of the creek have some nice technical sections. They link to the trails on the north side of the creek via an interesting tree bridge. There is another short section of trail south of the creek and north of the bike path that is very easy to follow.

During dry periods, Kellogg Creek becomes not much more than a trickle. There are some places where trails cross through the creek bed. During wet periods some sections of trail will not be passable.

There is also a trail north of the creek that runs due north and connects to some trails that run along the powerlines north of the park. It's very possible that these trails are not legal to ride. The power line trails have been popular with local motorcycle and ATV riders for years (not legally). They are rather wide dirt trails with some sections that are deeply rutted due to motorcycle use and erosion. I mention them and show them on the map because you will probably see the trail when riding the park trail or from the nearby Robert McClory Bike Path (North Shore Trail). I'll again mention that these trails are possibly illegal to ride and aren’t really all that good for mountain biking anyway.

Mounting Biking:

In case it wasn't obvious, I have been describing these trails as mountain bike trails. Overall this is a real nice local trail system for local mountain bikers looking for technical singletrack. There aren't a lot of miles here, but these are quality mountain bike trails. Though I describe the trails as "technical" they are more of what I would call "fun technical" rather than "scary technical".

I have no doubt that the Zion Park district never intended to have a mountain bike trail system here, but they do seem to tolerate it so try not to do anything that will make them change their position on this.

Hiking:

Oh sure, you can hike here too. I would suggest the trail that runs along the north side of the creek and then connecting to the trails west of the creek. You probably don't want to hike the zigzagging section well north of the creek because the tight switchbacks that make for some good mountain biking may be annoying to hikers.

The map on the right shows the location of Beulah Park. There are several bike trails running through Zion that come close to the park. The Robert McClory Bike Path (also known as the North Shore Trail), shown Yellow on the overview map, is a rails-to-trails conversion that runs just west of the park. 18th Street crosses the bike path and runs right to the start of the paved trail through the park. There are also short connectors from the bike path to Ravine Drive and Kedron Blvd. The Zion Bike Path, shown Black on the overview map, runs north/south and ends at 17th street. You can take 17th Street west directly to the east end of the paved bike path running through the park. Further east on 17th Street is the Northern Unit of Illinois Beach State Park. There are a series of bike paths running through this area as well. See the Illinois Beach State Park Page for maps and additional information.

I suppose you could drive to the park. There are no parking lots in the park, but you can probably park on Kedron Blvd (19th Street) though I haven't checked to confirm this. Other options would be to park somewhere along the Robert McClory Bike Path (there is a small parking area just off of 9th Street) or park in one of the lots in Illinois Beach State Park and bike from there. Illinois Beach State Park's North Unit has some bike trails you can ride if you want to put on a few more miles, but be aware they are not mountain biking trails (they are very very very flat crushed stone, grass, or asphalt bike paths). I have a map available on the Illinois Beach State Park page.

Related Pages:

• Illinois Beach State Park
• Kenosha Area Bike Paths Shows an overview of area bike paths (not mountain bike trails).
• Petrifying Springs Park Another nice set technical mountain bike trails about 15 miles north of Beulah Park.
• Lake County Trails
• Kenosha Area Trails

This page is authored and maintained by Dave Piasecki