Deer Run Forest Preserve

My original plan was for a 5 or 6 mile hike at a forest preserve to the west of Rockford, but a weather front was rolling in from the west so that seemed like a mediocre idea so we went to Deer Run Forest Preserve to the south and east of Rockford.

We ended up walking about two and a half miles in an hour and 20 minutes. I flirted with the idea of walking on all three of the loops shown on the trail map, which would have been 5 or 6 miles, but the weather front that appeared to be coming in convinced me otherwise. It didn't rain on us, and as of 6pm it has not rained where I live, so I might have been OK, but I live quite a distance to the north (15 miles or so) of the FP where we hiked, and the rain seemed to be going to the south of where I live.

I wore my new ICW boots. They are heavy but I found them pretty comfy and they have some ankle support.

I initially was planning to start on the trail near the entrance on River Road but despite a sign that said "open", there was a chain across the entrance to the trail, so we drove down to the other parking lot and started the hike from there.

Lots of water, but no bugs. Maybe the coolness discouraged them - it was in the upper 50's.

These signs are at the trail head.

The trail is mostly a mowed path through the weed fields, but there is also some wooded areas that it passes through. Lots of wild flowers. We also saw some geese, what I think was a blue heron, and a lot of other birds I could not identify.

 Milk weed.

 A trail map on the trail that has a "You are here" arrow that is a half a mile off. I sent the FP district an email about it.

 Some interesting yellow fungus growing on a tree.

The trail runs along the river and/or creeks for much of its length, but the banks are pretty steep and there is not much in the way of access to the water.  I might have been able to get to the water if I really had to, but I could see little gullys, and small hills of dirt, holes, and mud. I really did not want a broken ankle.

 Seeing these sand bars I thought maybe there would be some access, but no luck.

 A couple of places the path widens and is mowed to the river bank. But no access to the water.

 Finally, the horse crossing. Good water access here.

 Wilma goes in for some water and to play a little in the river. Its at least a couple feet deep, so I was not going to try and ford it. Wilma would have had to swim across.

Overall, a pleasant little trek with the creek beagle, even though there was not much water access, despite being within 50 yards of water through much of the hike.

Wilma did investigate some fresh horse droppings she found on the trail. She sniffed them up and then grabbed a mouth full, but dropped it when I yelled at her.