Best place to run hills in Chicago?

Hill at Montrose and the lake. There's a track over there too.

Nathaniel wrote:

Anyone know a good spot for hill work in or around Chicago?

Mount Oprah. If you can mount it, she will come.

Burr Ridge is the hilliest part of the Chicagoland area I think. Glacial morraine left some ridges (hence the name). Not huge hills, but some decent ones along German Church Road and County Line road, 87th street, 91st street.

The south side! ?

Leafy residental part of Palos Hills just north and west of Moraine Valley CC, near library and police station.

Cook County Forest Preseves between Willow Springs, Palos Park and Palos Hills. Seek out the single track. Back trails of "tobaggan slide stairs" steep. Most trails are well marked with color coded signs and well mapped on forest preseve website "Palos" and "Cal Sag". Most roads around there have wide gravel shoulders too. Willow Springs Road (104th Ave) from 107th Street North to Little Red School House is a great uphill stretch. Perhaps take winding trails back down for repeats.

Not Chicago, I know, but if you have a car, go check out the Barrington/Barrington Hills area northwest of the city. When I used to live back there, our group did weekend long runs starting from Barrington H.S.

Nice scenic roads, very rolling with some decent hills. I recall there were 12, 16 and 20-mile routes from the school. Worth the drive out there.

I wonder if groups still do their long runs out there these days...

If you're in the city without a car, the small hill described above, in the park at Montrose just north of the golf course, is really the only thing around.

There's a large hill along the south side of the lakefront path around Soldier Field that's used for sledding in the winter.

there are some very good parking garages near downtown. I did some snow-day workouts in them at night back in the day

Where was that bobsled hill I saw when I was a kid visiting there? We were on our way to that big mall with the amusement park inside.

Take 90 East until you hit 65 South, then take that to a little past Louisville.

Well there are no real hills in or around Chicago, but you can drive out to Palos Park and hit the horse trails that go around Bullfrog Lake. There's also an old toboggan hill in Dan Ryan woods North of 87th street in the city.

went to college in a northern suburb

we did hill repeats up the sides of freeway overpasses

For a true hill workout, all you need is a 50-150m gentle incline or a 10-15m steep incline. All that can be found around the museum campus and soldier field. You’re welcome.

Mcgwaine park hill on 27th and Halsted

O block

The Bloomingdale Trail that goes from N Ridgeway near Humboldt Park east thorough Bucktown & Wicker Park to Walsh Park has a few rollers that could be used for some hill work. There is no real difficult hills, though. The trail has multiple access points and is about 2.7 miles point-to-point. The nice thing about the trail is that on both sides there is a "rubberized" surface so it is almost like running on a track. It can get crowded, especially on weekends.

Call it by its real name. There is a preserve area just north of the Bloomington LifeTime that has som good hills. Can also go bushwhacking.

Old thread but let's call that Palmisano Park or Mt. Bridgeport. Fun little area with the table top loop too. Built on top of a land fill. Hills are only ~300m but you can go up one side/down the other which works well for hill repeats. Depends on time of day but the path is narrow & you might have to do some weaving. Can get around a minute/rep. 50ish seconds depending on how fast you are.