Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve
Now that the school year has started, I'm pretty confined to the northern Illinois area most of the time. With that said, I still need to get my hiking and nature fix! I have found that there are plenty of forest preserves in my area that are worth checking out. Many of these forest preserves I've never been to, so I'm starting a journey in which I will be visiting more of these places.
Navigating
Anyway, one popular spot that often comes up on my internet searches while looking for places to go is Waterfall Glen forest preserve in DuPage County. Basically, this park surrounds Argonne National Laboratory. I took I-55 to get there and it was only a few minutes off of the expressway. Columbus Day was a very busy day to visit, so I'm not positive if it is always a struggle to find good parking or if it was only because it was a fall holiday weekend. There were a lot of cars parked out on the street. The waterfall parking area was very small, but I was able to snatch a parking spot in there. Here is a link to a map of the area. I parked off of Bluff Road.
The Trails
If you take a look at the map, you can see that there is basically a giant, 9.5 mile trail going in a big loop around the place. There are some little side trails though, such as the one to go see the waterfalls. I did not hike the whole loop. There was just not enough time for that.
Instead, I hiked around in the waterfall area. I was hanging out around a little creek, getting nice shots of the water. Eventually I came to the small falls that are the main attraction of the park. There were kids goofing around on the falls. Being that this was the only time I've been there, I'm curious if that is very common there. Overall, the trails were nice and so was the foliage.
Hammocking
Once I felt that I had seen enough of the trails, I found a great spot near the creek where I could set up my hammock. As very busy as the preserve was that day, I was still able to find near-solitude not far from the main areas. A couple people came around (including a few kids that just stood there and stared at me) but it was very quiet and peaceful.
I had a very pleasant time visiting Waterfall Glen and it was pretty close to home. I'm sure I will be back there to explore other parts of it. In the mean time, please check out my corresponding YouTube video here to see more.
MY HAMMOCK:
Navigating
The Trails
If you take a look at the map, you can see that there is basically a giant, 9.5 mile trail going in a big loop around the place. There are some little side trails though, such as the one to go see the waterfalls. I did not hike the whole loop. There was just not enough time for that.
Instead, I hiked around in the waterfall area. I was hanging out around a little creek, getting nice shots of the water. Eventually I came to the small falls that are the main attraction of the park. There were kids goofing around on the falls. Being that this was the only time I've been there, I'm curious if that is very common there. Overall, the trails were nice and so was the foliage.
Hammocking
Once I felt that I had seen enough of the trails, I found a great spot near the creek where I could set up my hammock. As very busy as the preserve was that day, I was still able to find near-solitude not far from the main areas. A couple people came around (including a few kids that just stood there and stared at me) but it was very quiet and peaceful.
I had a very pleasant time visiting Waterfall Glen and it was pretty close to home. I'm sure I will be back there to explore other parts of it. In the mean time, please check out my corresponding YouTube video here to see more.
MY HAMMOCK:
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