34 LAKEWOOD FOREST PRESERVE LOOP

LENGTH: 2.6 miles

CONFIGURATION: Loop

DIFFICULTY: Easy

SCENERY: Oak forest, marshes, lakes, prairie, savanna

EXPOSURE: Mostly shaded

SURFACE: Wide dirt

HIKING TIME: 1–1.5 hours

DRIVING DISTANCE: 44.5 miles from Millennium Park, downtown Chicago

ACCESS: 6:30–sunset

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: No

FACILITIES: Pit toilets and water at the trailhead. The preserve has picnic areas, shelters, playgrounds, and lakes for fishing and also hosts the Lake County Discovery Museum, described in Nearby Activities below. In winter, an ice-skating rink and a sledding hill open at the Millennium Trail parking area.

MAPS: Use the mapboards on the trails; USGS topos Grayslake, Lake Zurich, IL

SPECIAL COMMENTS: Most users of this trail are equestrians. Always give them the right-of-way. No dogs allowed. On summer evenings as the sun goes down, check out the cluster of bat houses across Ivanhoe Road in the picnic area on the left. Across the park road from the bat houses, you can explore more than 3 miles of woodland trails.

GPS TRAILHEAD COORDINATES

Latitude 408668

Longitude 4678617

Directions

Follow I-90/I-94 northwest from Chicago. Continue on I-90 for 15.5 miles after I-94 breaks off. Exit on IL 53 and head north for 5.4 miles until reaching US 12 (North Rand Road). Turn left (northwest) on US 12 and proceed 10.8 miles. Turn right (north) on West Old Rand Road and then drive 300 yards until turning right again on Ivanhoe Road. Stay on Ivanhoe Road for 1.3 miles, passing the equestrian parking area on the right. Just after the major forest preserve entrance on the left, turn into the parking area on the right, next to the service buildings.

IN BRIEF

This quiet hike takes you through a gently rolling oak forest dotted with cattail marshes and attractive lakes. After finishing up this hike, you may want to explore one of the best county museums in the state or go for a spin on the forest preserve’s bicycle/pedestrian trail.

DESCRIPTION

During much of the 1800s, Lakewood Forest Preserve was little more than a source of lumber and firewood for local farmers. After the Civil War, however, trees were cleared and small farms were built in the area. In 1937, some of these small farms were absorbed by Malcolm Boyle as he assembled a country estate that included livestock, orchards, gardens, and crops. Many of Boyle’s efforts are still visible today, such as 16 major structures and the landscaping around the lakes. In 1961, Boyle’s estate was transformed into a dairy farm that lasted only a few years. During the next 30 years, the county slowly acquired nearly 2,600 acres, making it the largest forest preserve in Lake County. Many of the former estate’s buildings—including a couple of barns and a chicken coop—are still in use as offices, storage, and the museum.

From the parking lot, follow the wide trail on the right as it heads south alongside Heron Pond, named for the great blue herons often seen along its shore. At the first junction, take the trail to the left and stay left as you pass a couple of junctions. While there are a handful of unmarked junctions throughout this hike, it’s fairly easy to navigate. If you do get disoriented, trail boards showing your location are posted at most major junctions. Keep in mind, though, that the mapboards don’t show all of the short connector trails.

After dropping down a small hill and walking along the pond’s wooded shore again, the trail rises steeply under a thick canopy of oak. The path curves right before arriving at a T-junction. (To add a half mile to your hike, take a left at the T and pass through oak woodland as you make your way near a couple of houses and a large horse facility.) To continue the hike, hang a right at the T and then take an immediate left. This fairly flat stretch of trail runs through stands of quaking aspen and to the right of a spacious prairie dotted with black willows in the low spots.

Continue straight ahead at the junction, passing a cattail marsh on the right; the landscape here becomes more rolling. Bur oaks multiply and provide more shade for the trail. Just before the trail turns right, you’ll pass a marsh on the left thick with grasses and cattails. Stay left as the trail dips and rises to the next junction and then descends a big hill and passes a series of intermittent streambeds on both sides of the trail. After entering a savanna, the trail runs through clusters of buckthorn on its way to the next junction. Staying left at the junction brings you through a short loop and close to the shore of a large marsh fringed with oak and cottonwood trees. While it’s difficult to get much of a view of the marsh’s open water through the thick cattails, you can do a little bushwhacking on the shoreline to seek out a better vantage point. This search may be rewarded by seeing a kingfisher, some waterfowl, or a hawk perched in a tree above the edge of the marsh. Stay to the left as you complete the short loop and swing around to the other side of the marsh.

Continuing through a savanna, take the next right on a short connector trail that leads to a couple of lovely little lakes. Beaver Lake offers grassy areas in which to sit down and enjoy the scene. The land around the lake is densely wooded, while the water’s edge—stretching out of view to the left—is sprinkled with stumps and fallen trees. Heading left from the junction takes you through more savanna and past a junction on the left at Acorn Lake. This lake is smaller, largely covered with algae, and swampy in parts. Continuing straight ahead past a couple of junctions on the right brings you back to the parking lot.

NEARBY ACTIVITIES

The Millennium Trail is a bicycling/pedestrian trail that is slowly taking shape in the mid-section of Lake County. The Lakewood section of the Millennium Trail runs through woodland and savanna and next to a marsh and a few lovely lakes. While fairly popular with cyclists on warm weekends, the wide crushed-gravel trail offers plenty of room for hikers too. Catch the trail from the parking lot at the corner of Ivanhoe and Fairfield roads, just a half mile east of the trailhead for the hike above. From this parking area, you can explore many miles within this slowly developing trail network.

The highlight of the Lake County Discovery Museum is an exhibit showcasing the largest public collection of postcards in the world. Kept in a nearby building at the forest preserve, the 2.5 million items in the collection were once owned by Lake County resident Curt Teich, the owner of what was one of the largest printers of postcards in the world. The exhibit features rare and unusual postcards and examines postcard artists and themes. Other exhibits at the museum are focused specifically on Lake County history, such as the founding of Zion and the abundance of lotus blossoms that brought tourists to the Chain O’ Lakes area. Outside the museum are sculptures of an American mastodon and an Indian trail-marker tree.

The museum is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call (847) 968-3400 or visit lcfpd.org/discovery_museum for more information.