Winthrop Harbor’s Unique Natural Attractions

Northeastern Illinois's Outdoor Playground

World Class Fishing - Lake Michigan

Winthrop Harbor offers great access to Lake Michigan, making it an ideal spot for fishing in the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan area. Lake Michigan's sport fishery has been restored thanks to sea lamprey control, regulations on commercial fishing, and an aggressive stocking program.

With its diverse sport fishery and accessibility, Lake Michigan is a valuable natural resource. About 500,000 anglers visit the Illinois portion of the lake each year, and numerous licensed charter boat operators from North Point Marinas attract anglers nationwide.

Illinois Beach State Park

Unlike anywhere else in Illinois, Winthrop Harbor is blessed with a huge state park and an adjoining forest preserve. The Illinois Beach State Park has miles of shoreline, thousands of acres of forests, dunes, beaches, a popular fishing pond and even a hotel/conference center. This land is currently cris-crossed with hiking and biking trails, and those are being expanded into a regional network that will provide almost unlimited connectivity with other paths and trails extending throughout the Chicagoland area. This park has the distinction of more tourist visits per year than any other park in the State. And, of course, it surrounds the North Point Marina, providing it with a unique setting – it’s almost an island – where active recreation can meet passive activities to refresh and recharge the soul.

North Point Marina

North Point Marina \ itself offers a world-class experience. With nearly 1500 slips, it is ranked among the very largest inland marinas in the entire United States, and by a significant margin the largest on the Great Lakes. Aside from newly upgraded pier facilities, it offers a wide range of amenities, including modern locker/shower facilities, a swimming pool, a large sheltered sandy beach, and both a restaurant and a brew pub during the summer season. Skipper Bud’s has both a sales/rental facility and a maintenance/storage hub to keep boats at their best. And over 40 charter captains run fishing charters out of the commercial docks.

Spring Bluff Forest Preserve

West of the North Point Marina, north of 7th Street lies the Spring Bluff Forest Preserve. This land encompasses several hundred acres of wetlands, streams and marshes. The Preserve includes a well-maintained gravel/asphalt walking path that provides access to a bird-watching tower. Stand up on a steel platform and train your binoculars on an amazing variety of birds, ranging from arctic terns to snowy egrets, from sandhill cranes to great horned owls. All these and many more

The Lake County Forest Preserve District began purchasing last at Spring Bluff in 1963 and over time, removed all of the buildings that remained on the site. Restoration of the site began in 1982. Spring Bluff is in the Lake Michigan Dunes Section of the Northeastern Morainal Natural Division. It is a complex of beach-ridges and dunes formed in the Lake Michigan basin between 3000-4000 years ago when the lake was about 20 feet above the present stage. This ridge and swale topography has given rise to a diversity of plant communities including sand prairie, sand savanna, marsh and graminoid fen which provide habitat for many migratory and breeding wildlife. Records of notable breeding species include Henslow's sparrow, king and Virginia rails, upland sandpiper, least and American bitterns and common snipe. In addition, these communities support a rich diversity of plant species including royal fern, hoary and fringed puccoon, butterflyweed, white wild indigo, ragged fringed orchid, prairie lily and button blazingstar. Special Note: The gate is locked to vehicle traffic. Park in the marina parking lot in the northwestern corner of the marina. Follow Main St. (7th St.) to the end and turn left and follow road to the end and turn left to the parking lot entrance. Enter the preserve on foot through an open gate on the north end of the parking lot. After passing through the gate, head west around a pond and then head south which is the preserve border.

Robert McClory Trail

For the most part, the trail follows an abandoned railroad line. Initially created in 1836 for stagecoaches to transport people from Chicago to Green Bay, Wis., the Green Bay Trail later became the route for the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad. It was eventually abandoned in 1955, and in the 1960s it became a multi-use trail running parallel to the Metra rail line.

The trail is mostly asphalt on the southern end, although it does detour through some surface streets on occasion. As the trail moves its way north, you'll get some crushed limestone thrown into the mix.

Easy access and a flat, well-maintained trail make this one of the more popular cycling routes in the northern suburbs. You get some tree cover along the route, which is helpful in hot or windy conditions. There's not much of a challenge to the trail. It is a former rail bed but it does offer lots of amenities along the way.

The trail in this area is maintained by the Lake County Division of Transportation.

Lake County Bikeways Map