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E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingHorseback ridingCross-country skiingand more
The Aurora Branch runs southwest from the Volunteer Park junction in Wheaton to the Fox River in Aurora. It passes the Danada and Herrick Lake preserves, the old utility poles of the CA&E at St. James Farm, and the woods of Warrenville Grove, where it crosses the West Branch DuPage River and meets the West Branch DuPage River Trail. Past Warrenville it throws off the Batavia Spur, skirts the south edge of Fermilab, crosses Farnsworth Avenue, and drops through Aurora's neighborhoods to the Fox River Trail near Broadway. The surface is hard-packed crushed limestone that turns to asphalt for the last miles into Aurora. Beyond the Wheaton end lie the Main Stem and the Elgin Branch.
Illinois Prairie Path: Aurora Branch
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Illinois Prairie Path: Aurora Branch has about 93 to 135 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, running, walking, biking, and birding, with May, September, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Illinois Prairie Path: Aurora Branch!
In half of past years, color along the Illinois Prairie Path: Aurora Branch peaks October 26 to November 7, typically around November 1. The trail has 14% deciduous coverage, with the majority being bur oak, black cherry, boxelder, white oak, and American elm.
The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin ran its last passenger train at noon on July 3, 1957. The line had opened on August 25, 1902 as the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago, an electric interurban that drew power from a third rail. It carried commuters to the Loop, milk from Fox Valley farms, and some freight. Postwar expressway construction cut its direct route into downtown, and riders drifted away. Freight ended on June 10, 1959, and the Illinois Commerce Commission authorized full abandonment on July 6, 1961. On September 30, 1963 the Chicago Tribune printed a letter from Morton Arboretum naturalist May Theilgaard Watts asking for a footpath on the empty right of way. DuPage County bought the property that same year. Her supporters incorporated the Illinois Prairie Path in 1965, leased 27 miles from the county in 1966, and had the first trail signs up by 1967. In June 1971 the Interior Department named it a National Recreation Trail. A state lease in 1972 pushed the path across Kane County to the Fox River, and in 1979 it grew east through four Cook County towns. DuPage County took over maintenance in 1986. This segment is the Aurora line itself, the first the railroad opened in 1902. Its Kane County miles into Aurora came with the 1972 state lease that carried the path to the Fox River.
Illinois Prairie Path: Main StemIllinois Prairie Path: Elgin BranchIllinois Prairie Path: Batavia SpurWest Branch DuPage River TrailFox River TrailFermilab Trail
