Ideas to spend 3 days hammock camping in the Midwest (starting point Chicago area)

[Womble]

I will be travelling to Chicago for business early September and I will have a 3 days break (Sept. 10 -> Sat - Sun - Mon) between two work sessions.

I am looking for options to spend the 3 days either hiking or riding with a rented motorcycle, sleeping in my hammock. Depending on the start point I could already get there on Friday evening. Need to get back to OHare on Tuesday morning, so Monday night should be at a place with showers

Basically the plan is to get to a starting point on Friday evening, which should be a location where I can camp. From there I could either make a round trip or use it as a base camp to return every night. I intend to carry my gear, even if I return to the same spot the following night. Camp grounds are not required to be commercial camping sites, any safe camp option, also "wild camping" if permitted is fine.

Hiking : the starting point should be reachable in abt 3 hours from the O'Hare airport using public transport since in this scenario I will not have my own vehicle. I can hike distances of abt 15 miles/day in mountainous terrain or abt 20 miles/day on easier flat trails. But I haven't had many opportunities to get out this year, so I should probably reduce each by 5 miles to be on the safe side and keep it enjoyable.

Motorcycling : usually I ride from dusk to dawn with some stops, so usually abt 8 hours of actual riding time per day. Again depending on the type of roads - preferably smaller scenic ways - this usually translates into 200-300 miles per day. If I chose the motorcycle option, I intend to get the bike on Friday afternoon, so a starting point reachable in 3-4 hours would be great.


Already done last year: southwest trails of the Hiawatha National Forest and the Indiana Dunes.

What would be on your list ?

[Watertooner]

Head north into the state of Wisconsin. You could hike portions of the Ice Age Trail.

[Womble]

Head north into the state of Wisconsin. You could hike portions of the Ice Age Trail.

Thank you ! I actually had a look at the eastern segements of the IAT and also looked up some starting points I could possibly reach from Milwaukee by bus (maybe with a short cab ride for the last bit). Is there a portion you could recommend ?

[Watertooner]

I'll nudge Goobie to chime in. He's done some hiking in that area. He may nudge other people to add their advice too.

[jeff-oh]

A bit of a longer drive (6 hours) but if you can make it up to the Painted Rocks National Lakeshore it is well worth it. Do the day at Chapel Beach/ rock loop trail. (46.548881261638215, -86.43811791577143) You will not be able to get a camping permit as they sell out quickly in January, however tons of campsites and Disbursed free camping in the adjacent National Forest. We camped at Wide waters. The campsites along the river all have access. (46.21647947549259, -86.6277922073092) There are many free sites here along the river. (46.187049629513815, -86.58267646291682) & (46.18906482381301, -86.57865182510005) & (46.19203383189777, -86.54352044535662).

I case you do not know, It is free and legal to camp on National Forest Lands in the US. The Nat. Forest is not the same Gov. agency as the National Parks which also manages the National Lakeshore area.

[goobie]

Thank you ! I actually had a look at the eastern segements of the IAT and also looked up some starting points I could possibly reach from Milwaukee by bus (maybe with a short cab ride for the last bit). Is there a portion you could recommend ?

This, along with my rambling PM, should help you get started

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/kms

https://iceagetrail.maps.arcgis.com/...70ed21b36286c6

I'll follow up with more info as soon as I'm able

[Oms]

If transportation is what you need from Chicago than the metra I think can get to very close to the Indiana dunes. I was up at the Nordhouse Dunes recently which is open camping. Unfortunately it’s around 4 plus hours drive and I’m not guessing there is public transportation. Other than that you can look into the I&M trail starting in Channahon. There’s a campsite roughy three miles in near McKinley woods. The trail is open camping but this site is the only one I know that has fire pits. Chicago is not a great area to camp around. Maybe spend time enjoying the city.

[Oms]

Hey and if you really want an experience, check out the river walk, it’s beautiful and you can camp under lower Wacker Dr with the rest of the campers ��

[Ithica]

Richard Bong State Recreation Area in Kansasville, WI might be a good base for motorcycle touring. The park has two campgrounds that are RV orientated but are mostly wooded. You could call them and ask if hammocks are allowed and which sites are suitable. The terrain is oak savannah. It was the site of an unfinished US Airforce Base. There are a number miles of hiking trails. It is just to the West of the City of Kenosha, WI.

The southern tier of counties in Wisconsin (WI) have lots of rural paved roads that are nice for peaceful motorcycle rides; Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Rock, and Dane. Here is a link to a WI Rustic Roads Guide published by WI DOT.

Uke's Harley-Davidson dealership in Kenosha has a small museum. This dealership dates back to 1930. There are two nice smaller museums in Kenosha down near the lake front. You could also tour the mostly peaceful BLM Civil Unrest damage in downtown Kenosha. There is a nice Italian restaurant in Kenosha; Tenuta's that is worth a visit.

The Harley-Davidson Museum is about 30 miles north in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Art Museum is worth a visit.

[Bdh96]

All of these are great suggestions, if you are wanting to go south the best backpacking location I have found is the Sand Ridge Forest. Unless you go much further south to Shawnee National Forest area. Weldon Springs State Park has a nice 1 mile loop but that is not a long trip. You can always find a dispersed camping area in other places and just hike to it, which is what most do in other areas I think. I found some places along the Illinois River that were cool, but sketchy to camp in.

I would definitely go north if possible - it's just much prettier.

Don