MAP LEGEND
OVERVIEW MAP KEY
DISCLAIMER
This book is meant only as a guide to select trails in the Chicago area and does not guarantee hiker safety in any wayyou hike at your own risk. Neither Menasha Ridge Press nor Ted Villaire is liable for property loss or damage, personal injury, or death that result in any way from accessing or hiking the trails described in the following pages. Please be aware that hikers have been injured in the Chicago area. Be especially cautious when walking on or near boulders, steep inclines, and drop-offs, and do not attempt to explore terrain that may be beyond your abilities. To help ensure an uneventful hike, please read carefully the introduction to this book, and perhaps get further safety information and guidance from other sources. Familiarize yourself thoroughly with the areas you intend to visit before venturing out. Ask questions, and prepare for the unforeseen. Familiarize yourself with current weather reports, maps of the area you intend to visit, and any relevant park regulations.
Copyright 2008 Ted Villaire
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by Menasha Ridge Press
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Second edition, first printing
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Villaire, Ted, 1969
60 hikes within 60 miles, Chicago: including Aurora, Northwest Indiana, and Waukegan/by Ted Villaire.2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-89732-663-6
ISBN-10: 0-89732-663-6
1. HikingIllinoisChicago RegionGuidebooks. 2. Chicago Region (Ill.)Guidebooks. I. Title. II. Title: Sixty hikes within sixty miles, Chicago.
GV199.42.I32C478 2008
796.5109773dc22
2008015801
Cover design by Steveco International and Scott McGrew
Text design by Steveco International
Cover photo by Chuck Eckert/Alamy
Author photo by Michael Roberts
All other photos by Ted Villaire
Maps by Steve Jones and Ted Villaire
Menasha Ridge Press
PO. Box 43673
Birmingham, AL 35243
www.menasharidge.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My gratitude goes to all the staff and volunteers who provide the essential service of maintaining the parks and trails in the Chicago region. Without these committed individuals, our local sanctuaries wouldnt exist. In particular, thanks to staff at the Thorn Creek Nature Center, Starved Rock State Park, Bristol Woods County Park, and Goose Lake Prairie State Park. Thanks to friends, coworkers, and family (particularly to my brother, Lou) for their support and encouragement during the books research and writing.
TED VILLAIRE
FOREWORD
Welcome to Menasha Ridge Presss 60 Hikes within 60 Miles, a series designed to provide hikers with information needed to find and hike the very best trails surrounding cities usually underserved by good guidebooks.
Our strategy was simple: First, find a hiker who knows the area and loves to hike. Second, ask that person to spend a year researching the most popular and very best trails around. And third, have that person describe each trail in terms of difficulty, scenery, condition, elevation change, and all other categories of information that are important to hikers. Pretend youve just completed a hike and met up with other hikers at the trailhead, we told each author. Imagine their questions; be clear in your answers.
An experienced hiker and writer, author Ted Villaire has selected 60 of the best hikes in and around the Chicago metropolitan area. From the greenways and urban hikes that highlight the lakeshore to flora- and fauna-rich treks amid state parks in the hinterlands, Villaire provides hikers (and walkers) with a great variety of hikes all within roughly 60 miles of Chicago.
Youll get more out of this book if you take a moment to read the introduction explaining how to read the trail listings. The Topographic Maps section will help you understand how useful topos will be on a hike and will also tell you where to get them. And though this is a where to, not a how to, guide, those of you who have not hiked extensively will find the introduction of particular value.
As much for the opportunity to free the spirit as well as to free the body, let these hikes elevate you above the urban hurry.
All the best,
The Editors at Menasha Ridge Press
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ted Villaire finds himself feverishly drawn to the natural beauty of the Great Lakes region and regularly feeds his open-air addiction with activities like bicycling, paddling, camping, and hiking. He received a bachelors degree from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a masters degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Villaire has worked as a news reporter for various daily and weekly newspapers; his freelance articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Des Moines Register. In between freelance writing assignments, hes either out tromping around or at home tending to a growing list of injuries acquired on Chicago-area soccer fields. Get in touch with him by visiting www.tedvillaire.com.
PREFACE
Theres no arguing with the benefits of wandering through the woods. Whatever were looking forfresh air, exercise, time with (or away from) the family, a bit of adventure, or a momentary escape from the concrete gridtraipsing through the local landscape helps us take stock of ourselves and the world around us.
The best thing about hiking in the Chicago region is the variety of scenic spots, each with a distinctive topographical flavor, its own combination of plants and wildlife, and its unique seasonal ambience. When its time to dodge city living for a while, a short trip to Lake Michigan is the first idea in the minds of many. Mesmerizing us every chance it gets, the Big Lakes endless blue horizon is no small part of the regions allure. Profoundly intertwined with the areas weather, economic and social history, and, of course, its visual charm, this exquisite diversion is in Chicagoans own front yard. Heading inland away from the lake, there is no shortage of patches of parkland that can provide us with a respite from our daily routines. These are places that invite us to trace the routes of meandering rivers, wander through expansive prairies, and scramble up steep, wooded hills. These are places we go to enjoy a picnic in a dappled oak savanna, or where we can sit on the edge of a quiet lake while admiring a field of water lilies beyond the weeping willows.
Spring and fall provide some of the best times to explore local trails: temperatures are moderate, bugs are dormant, the number of visitors is minimal, and lovely surprises often present themselves to those who look. Spring, of course, brings a sensory banquet as buds pop, wildflowers bloom, and the landscape becomes braided with intermittent streams. The only thing more pleasurable than the awakening of spring is getting hit with a Technicolor blast in fall. Places such as Deer Grove Forest Preserve, Morton Arboretum, and the Bailly/Chellberg Hike at the Indiana Dunes are a few spots where one can witness brilliant displays of autumns leaves. Fall also offers opportunities to swim through a sea of prairie grass as the mauve stalks of big bluestem reach heights of eight to ten feet at places such as Goose Lake Prairie State Park and Chain O Lakes State Park.