As hikes go, it is not bad, but much of the trail goes along the back yards of houses that abut the preserve so it is kind of like walking through a bunch of back yards.
The trail map shows a trail along the western edge of the preserve that only goes a short distance from the north end of the preserve before it seems to have been abandoned some time ago. It was all but impassable so we turned back.
The trail map is a bit of a bust. There is a segment of trail it does not show that we took back, along with the segment it shows along the west edge of the preserve that seems to have been abandoned, but the trails are well maintained and not real hard to follow. There are two creek crossings using stepping stones. The one we went out on had a fairly steep approach down to the creek but was not too hard to get across with some care. The other one we came back on was a bit harder as the first stone is not flat and level and is a little precarious for getting to the center stone. The creek is not real deep there so I skipped the first stone and just walked in the creek to the second stone.
The north end of the preserve along Kiowa Crossing Road where the preserve sign is located (and is the official address) is a complete fail as far as parking. There is nothing there, and nothing close unless you are willing to park in someone's front yard. We went to the south end of the preserve. There is a dead end street there at the entrance to the preserve where we parked in the grass next to (or maybe in) the preserve.
Wilma had a good time playing in the creek so it was not a bad experience although as a hike goes, it is not my favorite forest preserve. I think the west side of the preserve would make for a nice hike if there was some way to get to it, but for whatever reason the district has chosen to make that side practically inaccessible.
ETA 11-26-12: I emailed the district and asked a few questions and suggested they get some parking near the south end of the preserve. I suspected the trail along the west edge of the preserve was abandoned due to the low lying nature of that side of the preserve as it probably gets pretty wet. The reply confirmed that was why they abandoned the trail there after getting equipment stuck a number of times.
The reply did not directly respond to my suggestion about creating some parking spaces at the south end. I suspect that the neighbors prefer it not have any parking to discourage use of the preserve. I guess I am not real surprised they did not respond directly to this. The neighbor issue is always a tough one for any park or forest preserve to deal with, and this is a very well to do area of Roscoe, so that probably makes it a lot touchier to deal with.
They also did not respond directly to my comment on the stepping stone that is not flat and makes it harder to cross the creek than is really necessary. I don't know if that means they ignored it or just don't want to admit it might be an issue. Generally I have found they are pretty good on maintaining the properties, so it is possible it got added to the bottom of some one's "to-do" list.
2 comments:
I love along this forest preserve and your ideas behind why they did not put in a parking lot is pretty much true. The trials they have currently are just trials they mowed over that were originally put in by the neighbors so they could enjoy it. Clayton Andrews has kind of been last on their list of things to really take care of and have wondered why they have not just allowed a volunteer in the area to take care of the preserve instead of paying someone to do a half hearted effort at it. They have hardly tried to get anything going on the other side of the preserve. If they wanted to put a trail in, they would do it now while we are in a drought and everything is dry. The reason they put in rocks over bridges in was because a one car bridge at the end of North Ledges Drive, but was washed out when the creek flooded. They never replaced the bridge and won't put any new ones in for that reason, plus the cost. Rocks were the cheapest option for a low traveled forest preserve
Thanks for the comment. I noticed the bridge that used to be there. I wondered what had happened to it. The low lying nature of the area on the west side of the creek makes it tough to put in trails without raising the trail surface so it is not so wet. That is probably more than they are willing to do for this kind of a preserve.
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