Google Earth says the whole length of the path is 3.25 miles which would make it 6.5 miles back and forth. I did not use the GPS for the western part of the walk but Base Camp said the eastern part was 4.2 miles, so that would leave 2.3 miles for the western part. So that would mean Hononegah Forest Preserve is located about 1.15 miles from the western end of the trail, not quite in the middle, but a good place to park to walk to the western end and back, so that is what we did on Saturday, 1-7-12.
It is not a scenic path. It runs along a fairly busy road, without any screening from the traffic, and is rarely more than 15 feet from the road. We encountered only 2 other people on the path today, a middle aged couple out for a walk. I was kind of surprised as often I have driven on the road and seen a fair number of users.
It is a residential area, and the trail abuts peoples' yards most of the way, so it kind of gives me the sense of walking through someone's yard. There are some trees that screen the path from the yards most of the way.
The video I made was an experiment that did not go as well as I had hoped. I just took cell phone pictures and narration to the cell phone while we were walking and stitched them together later. It might have worked better to do the narration later. One of the issues turned out to be that the software I use to stitch the photos together into a video montage cannot read the audio created by my cell phone. I may play around with this in the future. Or maybe not. I don't even know if I have a microphone for my computer.
We came back on Sunday and walked the part to the east of the FP. It is also mostly along Hononegah Road, and is mostly residential as well, but becomes retail and commercial near route 251 (N. Second St), and is more wooded once one gets to the part to the east of route 251.There was nothing in the way of facilities along the part we walked Saturday. The part we walked today had benches and trash cans every few blocks. It even had a water fountain - not working at present. It is probably shut off for the winter. There were several creeks along this part of the path that Wilma appreciated. It was 23F when we left the house and it warmed up considerably during our walk. It was 38F when we got home.
This is the GPS track for Sunday.
Some plaques at the FP commemorating the people who got the path moving.
A sign as we started on the path at the FP.
Some obscure mountain climber who was born in Rockford. The tourism bureau thinks he is worthy of a sign for some reason.
There is a side path under the creek bridge near the FP that appears to go into Kelly Meyers park. Possibly somewhere we will go walk sometime.
Dry Creek as it enters the FP.
Some of the benches have dedication plaques. Some don't.
View of the north branch of the Kinnickinnic Creek. This was taken on the path east of route 251 not far from where the path ends at Main Street and Elevator Road in Roscoe.
It ends and the Leland Path begins at Main St and Elevator Road.
I took this picture near the FP on the way back. Another obscure Rockford historical figure.
Look closely. There is a blue bowling ball in this garbage can at the FP.
Wilma falls into the creek at 9:58.
ETA 6-9-12 I submitted this trail and a review of it to TrailLink in Jan of 2012.
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