The Hernandez Picnic Grove is part of the Forest Preserve of Cook County system. This place is…read morepacked during the summer with people having their cookouts and parties. It's a large area with trails for walking and biking and Gompers Park is here too where there's a playground. (The two don't have a fence or anything separating from one another.) There's a large parking lot that can get quickly filled up, so Foster is a one-lane street oftentimes during the summer since folks park along Foster. The North Branch Trail System, which is 20 miles long, starts here and continues to Glencoe, where it ends at the Botanic Garden. I haven't biked much of the trail; only about two and a half miles from the trailhead here at Hernandez to Lechowitz Woods for a five mile round trip, but it was nice seeing part of the city from a different viewpoint. I'd love to ride along other parts of the trail and maybe someday make it the full twenty miles! Once upon a time after World War II, they had some pre-fab homes erected on this site for all the returning veterans to have their families. This caused some NIMBY issues around the neighborhood and the houses were in pretty poor condition since they weren't expected to be permanent, but they were gone within about a decade. I found that pretty interesting when I learned that tidbit.

Great place to park for a hike across the river. Hike across the park and you can access an old…read moretrain track then head into woods by river

Have to say this park has actually gotten better. It used to be pretty sketchy but it was okay the…read morelast time coming here. Touhy Park is known for the baseball diamond mostly. One of the few good parks around it. You may see a few homeless people but they're usually just sleeping. Checking this place out one may think the park is actually big. It's a lot bigger than it looks. There's a few areas of it that are separated. A lot of it is known as being a hangout. There used to be a lot of homeless guys and tents. A few still around but the park is a lot cleaner. The rest of the park has facilities for sports. Along Clark Street are the tennis courts. The baseball diamond is on the east side. Has a small parking lot. There's also a few paths. Great to see this park is a lot cleaner. It's located between Clark and Paulina. This is ironically not along Touhy Avenue but still only a few blocks north of it so whatever.

I don't quite know what to make of this park anymore. I used to go here all the time to walk my dog…read moreand a couple other neighborhood dogs. Sometimes I'd go on the walking path and other times I'd just walk by it. I completely misunderstood why there were so many tents in it a couple years back and daydreamed of my Girl Scout camping days. Then I realized homeless people had tents here. I know there's another review on here in opposition to that, but I have the exact opposite reaction and respected that it gave them a place to sleep peacefully and semi-privately. When I walked by, it just looked like people camping. Fast forward to the tents being removed, and the park is getting weird. In the summer months when kids are playing soccer and baseball, and some are resting in the grass, it feels warm and family-oriented. But children are back in school, and now it's like a free-for-all. I walked into the entrance IN THE MIDDLE OF A SUNNY DAY and a lady had pulled her pants down and was squatting and urinating in plain sight behind the bleachers. Then, she just walked off. Anybody in the houses behind the bleachers could see her bare butt. I walked in the other direction cause I still wanted her to have the privacy she clearly didn't feel she needed. And she strolled away like it never happened. And now I'm seeing a bunch of people who DEFINITELY should be in somebody's high school homeroom just hanging out. There are some other folks on benches who may or may not be homeless, but they're always friendly, wave and I greet them and go about my business. But then I come back to see an entire bleachers removed altogether. Where are the people who want to watch a baseball game or soccer game supposed to sit? Why am I seeing less dog walkers and people playing Fetch? Why are people loitering by the entrance? I don't know what's going on with this park. It's giving me the same kind of energy I get when I walk under the viaduct at the Howard Red Line. I'm hoping it doesn't become seedy.

Good park located in Edgewater. It has a location that's shared with a high school. Senn Park has a…read morelong history, and on this very site, some things happened before this. Maybe the history is better than the park itself. The current features include baseball fields, basketball courts, and other facilities for playing. Before this was a park, it was site of the Nicholas Kranz homestead and inn called the Seven Mile House. It's been said that Abraham Lincoln attended a caucus of local farmers during his 1860 campaign for President. The sculptor Charles Keck created a statue. As for the other parts of the park, there's plenty to do for athletes. There's also the ADA approved playground. It has a water spray feature. This and the high school are named after Nicholas V. Senn. He was a physician and the founder of the Association Of Military Surgeons Of The United States, and was a President of the American Medical Association. The experimental research performed by him included acute pancreatitis, head and neck oncology, the intestinal tract, leukemia treatment through x-rays, and plastic surgery. Has a pretty busy location. It's on Ridge close to Clark and Thorndale. This is often busy with students, but it's also okay for younger children, and the facilities are open to the public or whoever.

Beautiful walking trail. The trail is clean, well-paved and safe. Lots of people on it but not too…read morecrowded. Only one downfall for someone recouping from surgery, no places to seat for a break.

Easily my favorite trail. Growing up this used to be train tracks but since 2008 it's a trail…read more Convient to use however a woman was sexual assaulted recently so be careful. Awesome place for the neighborhood

Better alternative to the crowded trail along the lake. It has plenty of beauty of its own to see…read more North Shore Channel Trail goes from the Ravenswood neighborhood to Evanston, a long ways. Has lots of nature to come across. There's a few parks along it and other fun things. A lot less crowded on this trail and it's still got pretty good views along it. It's about 7 miles from the beginning to end, so that's a good way to work out. This begins at the intersection of Francisco and Lawrence in Ravenswood. First it goes north through River Park. There's trails on both sides of the channel most of the time. It goes all the way to Green Bay Road and McCormick Boulevard in Evanston. The trail is made of variously of asphalt, gravel, and crushed limestone. Has to be one of the less appreciated trails around here. It's not as popular as the one by the lake to be sure. There's plenty of parks along the way so these make for good places to stop for bicyclists, runners, or whoever.

How did I not know a paved, uncongested bike trail ran along the river from Lawrence to Golf where…read moreit turns to fine gravel and continues on... I don't know apparently to Wisconsin? OK, that might not be true but it at least hits Wilmette. Regardless, it's an absolutely wonderful surprise. You can pick it up on the north side of Lawrence between Sacramento and California. It takes you along the east side of the channel, through parks and under cross streets until almost Devon. There you jog northwest on Lincoln to re pick it up on the west side. You follow McCormick through Lincolnwood and Skokie with trees and sculpture and happily few people to keep you company. It's a great little ride. Maybe 10-12 miles round trip with all the twists and turns. I also love that I've seen none of the super serious jackwads with their full body spandex and forward triathlon bars going 35 miles an hour and looking at you like you're in the way if you ride casually. There are a few other cyclists and walkers. At the lots along McCormick folks clearly park and walk to the many benches to eat lunch on nice days. But even on a beautiful weekday in the low 80's with little wind I was alone with my thoughts and camera most of the time. There are port-a-potties at one of the lots near the midway point but once across Lincoln there aren't water fountains like there are in the city parks. If you really need hydration you can always jump off the path, back into real life just a few hundred yards away, and grab something to drink. Make sure you to remember to press the pedestrian button at intersections once out of the city or you'll never get across. Also even though it's a lot of fun don't accelerate through the downhill blind turns as you hit the under passes. There are lots of strollers and moms with kids in tow. Save those collisions for the d-bags on lakefront path.

This isn't your fancy schmancy Riverwalk downtown. No, no, my friends this is the…read more North Branch Riverwalk! Currently this isn't a very long section of paths, just including the Richard Clark Park, some boat rentals that happen at the Park and a complimentary boathouse, then The Garden dirt bike path. Right now it's just .6 of a mile if you go the whole path but I usually go back & forth so I can at least get over a mile. This is a nice little path though depending when you go, it could be a bit weird. This is clearly a spot highschool kids to smoke up. Some hide in the woods and you just get the scent hitting you. Others sit along the path eating pizzas, leaving their garbage, intimidating people walking by while blasting music. It kind of ruins the nature feeling of this place and is disappointing. Mostly because trash is left everywheeeeerrrre. I don't get why people can't clean up after themselves? And breaking bottles all over the ground is dangerous for all the pups on the paths. But also, no efforts are made on an even weekly basis to keep things looking nice. Ah well. There are apparently big plans to expand the North Branch Riverwalk announced last year but I didn't see much progress this year. Actually I see no progress and it was supposed to be done this year. https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160309/roscoe-village/cool-bike-path-that-will-soar-over-river-has-name-start-date I'll keep on watching and hoping this area improves even more!

Apart from the highly visible homeless issue at the NW corner of the park, have many happy…read morechildhood memories at this local bit of well maintained grass. Frequently see people playing with their dogs or weekend softball games taking place here. The field house hosted many of my family events over the years as well. Oddly, the basketball and tennis courts were removed sometime along the way. The play area for little kids has greatly improved with great playground accessories and rubber mats.

Dunning and Dunning-Kruger. What is up with all the softball diamonds now? The swings are still…read morethere. The jungle gym isn't. I'm not sure if monkey bars are a public health hazard of some sort. I know the lead paint was. The foursquare diamonds are new --- or at least new to me. The first time I saw fourquare was in the 80's in a rival city. We used to have this thing called 'hopscotch'. I never played. This has never been such a nice neighborhood, but I've been here dozens of times when I was younger. Have fun, don't smoke, and don't let your parents put you into one of those baby-style swings when you can almost swing over the bar using the regular ones. It used to be a lot of fun to swing to the inflection point and jump as far as you can from the swing. I'm too old to tell you to do that or not to. Stay safe though.

We have been doing Kiddie College at Wilson Park for three years straight because of how awesome…read moreMs. Justine is. She does an amazing job and my kids have both absolutely loved her. The other staff are also super nice. We have had nothing but great experiences here. The playground itself is a great one. It's fairly new and it's always clean. They have a small sprinkler play area with a slide too.

Staff is not trained or very patient in dealing with children, they tend to discriminate and pin…read morepoint certain children. The staff is not diverse and does not deal with diversity very well. They also tend to be rude. Park does not offer much.