For the full Des Plaines River trail attempt I started at the North end along Russel road and was dropped off early morning. For the first 30 miles I had cached water bottles about every 5 miles but couldn't find one of them in the woods so it got a little dicey without water or fuel for an hour. Around mile 37 I had 3 water bottles dropped to get me to the end. For fuel and hydration I drank about 135 ounces of water, averaged about 200 calories of tailwind per hour (except the hour I lost my bottle) = 1,600 tailwind calories, every 2 hours I added a GU (4x = 400 calories). It was nice not having to carry to much water most of the run but it was a pain to stop and mix a new bottle 8 different times.
The northern part of the trail from mile 0 to mile 31 is in great shape in Lake County and didn't have to deal with any major road crossings or anything else. From mile 31 - 53 the trail is in a lot poorer shape with only a few sections maintained decently. Also in the southern section there are some pretty large roads you have to cross and even got stuck by a freight train for a bit. I was thankful to have been able to do this trail in Chicago in early December with decent 30 degree weather and no snow. The trail was very busy at certain points around mid-day as everyone else was also out trying to get maybe one last glimpse of outdoor activity before the Chicago winter. Throughout the trail there are many spurs off onto different trails that could be easily confusing as I hadn't seen any of the trail south of mile 35 before. Luckily, I had programmed the route in my watch for directions and was able to stay on track, which I would recommend to anyone else trying this route. There are also some sections that are more road or sidewalk rather than nice trails in the northern section. Overall a great day for the run and great to see the entire trail!