Atwood Park 11-26-11

I emailed the Rockford Park District not long ago and asked if there were any hiking opportunities in any of their parks, and if so if there were maps available. I got this response back from someone that works at Atwood Park.

"There are 334 acres of hiking trails out here at Atwood Park, 2685 New Milford School Rd. We have trail maps (see attached) and the park is open to the public. We have a north and south side to our park, separated by the Kishwaukee River. There is oak/hickory forest, a restored prairie, marsh area and a quarry. It is also quite historic, as Atwood Park was the site of the Camp Grant rifle range during WWI and WWII. There are still remnants from that area (target pit, bunkers, trenches) as well as several structures built by the CCC. An additional attraction is our Birds of Prey area that is housed just down from the main lodge. We have a bald eagle, owls, kestrel and a turkey vulture!"

I don't know if that means there are no other places with any trails in the RPD or not. In any case, this is a place well worth going to for an afternoon or morning hike.

I got my chance today. I missed the quarry and marsh, and the remnants of Camp Grant the email mentions. Maybe next time. It was precipitating the whole time, either light rain or drizzle, but neither Wilma nor I melted. We both got pretty damp. My jacket is not waterproof, not really even rain resistant.

The birds of prey exhibit is OK, but I think I would prefer to see the birds of prey flying about instead of caged up. Perhaps they are birds that have been injured. The red tailed hawk we saw looked like he might have been injured. I especially liked the turkey vulture.

This is the site that was once an army camp - Camp Grant. There are signs about every ten feet it seems warning of possible unexploded ordinance.

There is an obstacle course up by the lodge. They don't call it that. Something more PC like "challenge course". Don't recall for sure.

The trail system is pretty extensive. Mostly well groomed and pretty well marked. If you have a trail map and pay attention (like I didn't) you can't really get lost. There are some trails not on the map, along with what I now realize are firebreaks through the prairie areas.

There are some informational signs out on the trails but a number of them have faired poorly in the weather, and are not readable anymore.

We did 4.5 miles (per Mr. GPS) in just about 2.5 hours. A nice leisurely pace. We could have probably gone another 4 or 5 miles without repeating trails (except at the river crossing). A fair amount of grade change along the way as well.

I saw few people in the park. Possibly due to the weather. We ran across a single hiker along the trail and saw one car moving along the park road at the entrance we unintentionally went to. A couple of people at the birds of prey exhibit, along with someone I took to be a bird keeper.

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I kind of had in mind walking around the perimeter of both sides of the park but as you can see I got sidetracked a few times. I made a wrong turn onto a trail and headed in the wrong direction and was not paying enough attention to even notice until it was real obvious. This is in a park with marked trails and a trail map. The other day I was in a place with no trails and no map of any consequence, and managed to not get lost. Got to pay better attention to what direction the trails are going.

I was getting pretty wet so I cut short our excursion in favor of going back to the car and breaking out the thermos of coffee I brought with us.

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I don't recall seeing any bathrooms there. I will have to email them and ask them. Maybe there are some at the lodge but it was closed today.

ETA 11-28-11: I got this reply back from the Park District.
"No bathrooms this time of year - only during summer months."