After attending the reopening ceremony at Goodenow Grove in Crete, IL and getting a peak at the new Plum Creek Greenway Trail, we were very anxious to go back to run the entire trail. Since my young partners are in the midst of a very successful Cross Country season, I didn’t want them to run the out and back (3.08 miles each way) so enlisted Hubby’s help to drop us at the far end, near the turnaround. This way we could run the full length without having to double the mileage with a return trip. Here is the map of Goodenow Grove, the Plum Creek Greenway Trail is marked in orange.
The northeastern portion of the trail crosses Bemes Road about a quarter mile from the actual turnaround, it was very easy for hubby to drop us at that point. As with most new trails, it does great things for the community and I noticed that Bemes Road now has shiny new asphalt which is a major change from the bumpy, rough, mess of potholes it was a year ago and is well marked in regards to the terrain and the approaching trail. It was super easy to find!
There is no parking at the trail crossing at Bemes Road and it is very rural with most of the traffic being residential. We basically just jumped out of the car and took off running while hubby & Michael went to the other end to wait for us at the trailhead parking lot on Goodenow Road. I think he said it took him about 6 minutes to drive to the other end, going the back way, very slowly on our country roads.
Since trail running is an adventure for us, we did run the quarter mile up to the turnaround to officially begin our journey. And yes, it was a journey. The girls were squealing with delight almost immediately and were constantly remarking about the “pure awesomeness” of the trail. To be honest, although I have ran many a trail in my run life, I too was very excited. The weather was absolutely perfect, with a bit of chill in the air, a light misty rain which managed to stop just as we hit the trail and beauty everywhere we looked. There were lots of bridges too and I love bridges!
Twists and turns to keep things interesting:
The trail was well marked and there was never really a question as to which way we should go, we just followed the gravel. Once in the main section of the park, there are a few shorter paved trails but its quite obviously that those trails are not part of the Plum Creek Greenway Trail.
We saw bathrooms at 3 locations along the route, the first at the campground, the second by the Plum Creek Nature Center, and the last one was at the last curve heading into the straight away toward the parking area at Goodenow Road. Although we could see all of these bathrooms, they were not right on trail and would require a short walk/jog to reach them.
The trail is still soft and will be much easier to maneuver as it gets packed down. We definitely took home kicked up some minute crushed gravel pieces. There was also evidence of recent horse traffic left behind in the gravel. Since the gravel isn’t packed tightly at this point, the horse did leave some decent divots that we had to avoid but overall it was an amazing run and we look forward to returning. Here is the straightaway to the Goodenow Road parking area:
Sara, Aby and I running out of the woods: 
Great trail, definitely worth making the trip to Crete, IL to enjoy this newest running/biking trail. Hope to see you out there!
** Happy Trail Running ** Amanda – TooTallFritz ** amanda@tootallfritz.com
TooTallFritz 
Woo-hooooo…the Plum Creek Greenway Trail. Think how far you can run if and when they eventually build segments in the preserves further North up to the Cook County line at Steger Road!
I cut my teeth as a young buck running trials like these, thank you for bringing me back down memory lane. 🙂
Sad that I’ve lived in Steger for 10 years and today is the first time I ran this gem. Picture perfect weather and scenery. Limestone is a little too soft yet and I aggravated my unstable ankle (great work 5 days before the marathon, but nothing a little KT Tape can’t fix). I so had to conquer the hill a few times, too! So great to find somewhere new. Thanks for the post.
Jen Gibertini
The soft limestone would be my only complaint but will correct itself over time. Have you tried the trail in Schubert Woods? That’s another favorite of mine in this area & its paved.
Absolutely! I live close by and actually run from home-trail-back for a nice 6 mile jaunt. I do catch some grief for running there by myself because it is so quiet (I run my short runs weekday mornings), but the “quiet” is what I like.
Just be aware anytime you run alone & leave iPod at home or only use 1 earbud. I usually have my wristsaver pepper spray too.