{"id":36315,"date":"2018-07-26T10:02:52","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T17:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=36315"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:07:47","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:07:47","slug":"group-thru-hikes-210-mile-chicago-outerbelt-trail-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/group-thru-hikes-210-mile-chicago-outerbelt-trail-for-the-first-time","title":{"rendered":"Group Thru-Hikes 210-mile Chicago Outerbelt Trail for the First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you were a bird soaring above Chicagoland, your eagle eyes might spot a thick, green band: the perimeter where metro fades to country.<\/p>\n

This is the \u201cOuterbelt,\u201d hikeable pathways that encircle the city. For years, a connected thru-trail lived only in the imaginations of outdoor enthusiasts who dreamed of being able to walk to Lake Michigan from the western suburbs. But the dream is now reality, thanks to the Outerbelt Alliance<\/a>, a new nonprofit that raises awareness about Chicago\u2019s green spaces.<\/p>\n

On June 11, Jay Readey, Molly Fitzgibbon and Emily Leu became the first people to hike the route when they arrived back at Buckingham Fountain, 210 miles and two weeks after they left it.<\/p>\n

The seed of an idea<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Readey, a lawyer with a focus on racial justice through investments in distressed neighborhoods, officially incorporated the Alliance last fall after coming up with the idea during a series of walks through the Forest Preserves of Cook County with his mini golden retriever, Copper. Recovering from two partial knee replacements and grieving the loss of his mother, he sought healing in the nearly 70,000 acres of woodland often overlooked by most Chicagoans. \u201cYou ask people what\u2019s great about Chicago, and they\u2019ll say the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls and Museum Campus,\u201d Readey says. \u201cThose 70,000 acres aren\u2019t in that breath, but they should be. We have [preserves the size of] a national park here in our own backyard, and people don\u2019t realize the scale of it, or the beauty and richness of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Readey recalls: \u201cThe more I was hiking, the more I was staring at maps and thinking, \u2018I could get all the way to Lake Michigan from here. Then, if I could get back across to the Des Plaines River, I could get all the way around the city.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ohio native was a surprising champion for the circuit\u2014the Outerbelt was about four times longer than the longest trail he\u2019d hiked previously\u2014but he dusted off his decades-old JanSport pack and laced up his boots anyway.<\/p>\n

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Day 4: Another beautiful day on #ChicagosOuterbelt<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Outerbelt Alliance<\/a> (@chiouterbelt) on