Schoonmaker Park and Harlem Township Bike Path

Google Earth view.

Wilma and I went to Schoonmaker Park (Harlem Township) today for a nice walk on the Harlem Township Bike Path. It consists of a lower (SW) and an upper (NE) loop inside Schoonmaker Park on Ventura Blvd in NW Machesney Park and some connecting segments, and a few short segments for access to neighborhood streets. I traced it out in Google Earth and the total length of the paths is about 1.6 miles. We walked some of the segments twice going back and forth and the path we took traced out to about 2.25 miles.

The park also contains Rover Run Off Leash Dog Park, which we visited after our walk on the bike path. I have no idea why I took so many pictures or spent so much time on this review of a nice, but run-of-the-mill type park. Bored, I guess.

We only saw a few other people on the path - one jogger, and a dog walking his two humans.

I snapped some cell phone pictures along the way. It is not an unusual park. A couple of fields, two baseball diamonds, basketball court, tennis courts, picnic areas, grills, and benches. It also has bathroom facilities that are padlocked. They have been this way as long as I have been coming here with Wilma to the dog park. There used to be a port-a-potty. Maybe it has been removed for the winter. The water fountain has been shut off as well. So no toilet or water, at least right now.

This is the view of the parking lot after you come in off of Ventura Blvd. The path is to the right, the tennis courts in back to the left, and the picnic shelter in back to the right. You can see the playground between them in the far background.

The path is asphalt and has been recently sealed.

The field to the south of the parking area. It does not seem to be dedicated to any particular activity. I have seen people flying kites and flying RC aircraft here, among other things.

There are some concrete mile markers along the path. I don't know where they index from.

There are a number of memorial benches scattered along the lower path loop.

View of the south field from the SW corner of the park.

The entrance off Ventura Blvd. You can see both ball diamonds and a tornado siren. Both diamonds have benches for the teams playing and small bleachers for fans.

Besides the concrete markers along side the path, there are painted markers on the path. Again, no idea what they reference from.

View of the playground. The picnic shelter is in the back to the left, and the tennis courts in the back to the right.

This is the Lansdowne Drive trail head.

For some reason at this entrance they have made this maze. There is barely enough room to squeeze by to get in. Someone has made clear what they think of the rule about motor vehicles.

Continuing on the path we see a view of the small dog part on the left and the main dog park on the right.

The smaller, upper loop circles this empty field, I don't recall ever seeing it used for anything except once they were burning debris there.

The path to the Miller Lane trail head.

The view looking in from the trail head. For whatever reason when they made the path they put an asphalt path on the right side of the chain across the path. But, the right side is very close to a fence, so predictably people have gone to the left instead to avoid the fence.

Going north from the Miller Lane access segment, there are wooded areas to the west. They appear to be private and most are signed as such. There are several prairie type fields, some hardwood, and a couple of areas with pines. To the east of this segment is the backyards of homes.

This gate looks to have been blocked by the tree for some time. There are a number of paths that lead into the various wooded areas from the bike path.

This might have been a garden at one time.

Rivercove Court trail head.

There is a brushy patch at Riverhill Court. Someone has put a lantern of some sort inside the brushy area.

It is not on the map, but there is access to the bike path from the street here as well.

There is a parking lot at the end of this segment at Ventura Blvd (Ventura curves around the park and heads east from here.

For some reason they installed a sign behind a post here.

One of the backyards on the east side of this segment. There is a woodpile to the right out of the picture.

The main dog park as seen from the upper loop.

The picnic shelter as we went back to the car. There are grills at the shelter and on the other side of the path from the shelter.

Bathrooms have been padlocked since we have been coming here for 3 or 4 years.

The basketball court is to your right here, and the padlocked toilets in the back to the left in this view from the parking area.

The sign out at Ralston Road and Ventura Blvd.

It really is a nice park. It is well maintained. I have seen the former Harlem Township Supervisor Doug Aurand locking up the place at night a couple of times when Wilma and I visited the dog park on previous occasions.

ETA 6-9-12 I submitted and reviewed the bike path at TrailLink in Feb 2012.