Sand Ridge is a part of the Forest Preserves of Cook County system. You almost miss it when you…read morepass by!
As a nature center, it has an interpretive center in addition to the trails, gardens, and prairies. When I was there there was an exhibit about Lake Chicago, which may or may not be a permanent exhibit.
I attended the night sky walk they hosted inert and it's a good location for such a program. It's a heavily wooded area, and whilst it's very near the city, it's a better place from where to stargaze. We went on a short hike, in part to help adjust our night vision, and followed with using the large telescopes that the nature center has.
There are many trials here for a leisurely walk or a more advanced hike. I am not opposed to the concept of a night hike (I actually think it's pretty cool); what concerns me more is not being able to see the trail and whether there's a lot, root, or other obstruction on the trial. The trail we used here was pretty level and had few trip hazards, though they don't generally allow evening hikes--that was specifically a feature of this program.
Some of the attendees at the program I attended were fairly inconsiderate. Some were loud and constantly talking (had they not been talking as much and kept the volume much lower, we might have seen other creatures, or those like bats might have swooped down closer to us). The guide did remind folks of that, but I don't think it helped. I think what annoyed me more was that for a night hike and a 35 minute walk to develop some night vision, there were people taking photos with full flash. Rude. You don't have to document ever moment of a kid/persons life!
I'm not sure I'll return to Sand Ridge for a program unless it's something I REALLY want to attend. It's pretty far from me--I live in the north side and this place is a good 55 minutes from me when traffic is reasonable. Also, I got here about 15 minutes before the start... but they didn't actually begin the program until 20 minutes after the stated start time. I totally understand waiting a few minutes, maybe as much as 10, for latecomers; oftentimes that would mean they were waiting for me! But 20 minutes is really excessive, especially for a program that was billed as 1.5 hours. The guide said something about another hike (I couldn't hear since I was near the back), which I may have been able to join if it had started promptly, and they said that though the program had an end time of 9 they could go as late as 9:39. I needed to leave at the original time since I have an hour long drive to get home, so I ended up leaving about half hour early. I took a look in one of the telescopes but it didn't look any more magnified than what I could see with the naked eye (i overheard someone else make the same comment). They did mention sky tracker apps which help one view and learn what is in the night sky, so that was helpful.
The trail we walked was not accessible. There were some areas that where wooden planks were laid down, ostensibly because there was marshy area it was providing a path over. They may have an accessible trail here (just inside the entrance I saw something that could have been), but I'm not sure. I do wish the FPDCC would list more information in their events--particularly basic information like whether it's accessible or not.
