I found the Des Plaines trail on a south end, where it starts, to be a lot of dirt,, not that well marked, and noisy as it runs under the tollway, Then to get to the north section, it's posted as a dead end at a rail road, but you're supposed to ignore No Trespass signs and cross over? I didn't, but found out later that's what people do.
No one mentioned the Chicago Lakefront, as the OP wanted suburbs, but that is the prettiest, busiest, most crowded. Worth it though, if you don't get jacked parking your fancy SUV.