Over the summer, I've been trying to ride on the Lake Shore bike trail. Earlier in the summer, on our first attempt, I forgot one of the trailer wheels so we just played at the beach. Then, a few other attempts fell through for scheduling and weather. However, I was not going to be dissuaded; I really wanted to ride along the lake. So, finally, Labor Day weekend, we made it happen.
It was a great day for it! So, the plan was to start at the 41st street beach and ride north on the trail to the 12th street beach. At our starting point, it was pretty quiet - the beach was nearly empty and still raked smooth.
With a newly potty trained kid, the first order of business before going too far was a bathroom stop.. which of course lead to some rock climbing:
Once that was all squared away, we got on the trail and headed north. The path was lovely and paved, and mostly flat. It passed by wildflowers and green space as we started out, all the while the lake was off to the side.
It was only supposed to be 3.5 miles up there... but, the early-on potty break was .5miles in the wrong direction and, near the end, we got a little lost, so it was a little longer ride than originally expected, but we found the beach we were looking for!
The 12th street beach is a smaller one, tucked behind the museum campus. Though I've been up in the area many times, I hadn't realized there was a beach until this summer. It was a gorgeous day to be by the water. We laid out our blankets and settled in.
The lake, on the Chicago side, is markedly colder than the Indiana side (turns out that's really a thing and there's a scientific reason for that). The boys jumped in and splashed, coming out occasionally to warm up before heading back in. I got my feet wet, but Hubby decided it was better to enjoy the view from the blanket.
In addition to the beach, there's apparently also a whole wild flower and bird sanctuary on the south end of the Northerly Island. I thought it might be fun to explore the whole thing, ride down to the bottom-most part.. however, with all our detours, and considering it was an in-and-out path, we decided to not add any more length to the ride. We took a path a that was right on the lake's edge as we headed back to the car. The lake was so beautifully blue! I loved it.
The 31st street beach remains my favorite swimming spot (of all the Chicago beaches I've visited), but the one at 12th street is a little hidden gem that I will have to return to, at very least to explore the south end of the Northerly Island and say I've been to the bottom-most part.
2 comments:
Sounds like a real cool ride! I've looked at all the beaches and green spaces along the lake there, from Lakefront Trail terminus on the south to Lakefront Trail start on the north. That whole stretch is full of trails and interesting things to see and do and, for me, on a bike would be one of the better ways to see it. We may have to figure out a way to do some of that one of these days.
That would be cool! We should definitely put that on our list of things to do. It's a lovely ride!
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