This is the place where the 2006 movie the Lake House was filmed starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu…read moreReeves! I advise to research this fantastic time travel romantic film that is based on the Korean film Il Mare! Maple Lake is part of the beautiful Cook County Forest Preserve. This is one of my favorite places to visit in Illinois!

The entire, enormous area of Palos Forest Preserves are just amazing, so much love. You can camp,…read moreyou can boat, you can hike, and, more importantly (at least for me) is the single track mountain biking that can be had. I have been coming here early and often of late and just today brought my friend and my Son, for his first excursion of single track biking excitement. She doesn't bike but loves to hike so we broke out on the bikes and she went walking ahead. Before that we ate a light lunch near Maple Lake, incidentally the only lake in that area where you can rent a kayak/boat or byo...other nearby lakes, like Bullfrog, require you to actually camp in order to utilize the lake for any sort of boating. This location, as with most Palos Preserves specific locales, is very well maintained, clean and just stellar all the way around. Will be back, again, again, again, etc.....

Great place to kayak, hike, bike, fish, picnic and basically anything else outdoorsish. It is a…read morebeautiful space, just like everything else in the giant area that is the Palos Forest Preserves.

Love this place for canoeing and bbk. The people at the boating area are supper nice, informative…read moreand prompt. They accept credit cards!!!! They have a few options. They have canoes and kayaks. Definitely coming back soon

Nice park with great views. Some 30/50 amp sites. Check the…read morewebsite for specs. No water during winter months. That means no water at the dump site as well during this time.

We got back yesterday after a great two night stay in a heated cabin here. I took my teenage son…read moreand three of his friends. We camp a lot and were looking for a winter adventure over break. Bullfrog was 45 minutes away and definitely did not disappoint. First of all, the area is gorgeous. I have never been to Willow Springs and was amazed by the landscape. Hills, woods, lakes, the Des Plaines River, huge Cook County Forest Preserve areas, with ample shopping and restaurants nearby of needed make this an ideal camping destination. The campground has a welcome station with after hours gated access. We were the only campers in the cabins and our first night there were a couple other groups using tents. It was amazing basically having this place to ourselves for about $100 a night. The cabin is accessible for those with special needs so it has a roll in shower and ADA accessible routes and features, for those seeking those amenities. It had 4 bunk beds in the main sleeping area, a separate bedroom with two beds, and the aforementioned bathroom. There is a wall unit for AC and heat in both sleeping areas so our comfort was at peak level. Those babies put out the heat and fast! This was especially great after we took an 8 mile hike which included a trip to the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. The cabin and surroundings were immaculate. There are also a couple heated bath houses, dining pavilions, and docks for fishing or enjoying the beautiful views. In addition to the large cabins they also offer smaller ones without heat for warmer trips. Boat rentals are available when warmer out, as well. I saw canoes and other manual craft behind a fence by the welcome station. Inside the station they sold ice cream bars and much needed firewood bundles for $5. I would guess in the summer they offer more treats. The cabin featured a large fire pit with a swing out cooking grate, which was much appreciated. We cooked many a thing on it! A picnic table is also provided at each cabin. The staff were super friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this place for your next camping and hiking adventure. We look forward to returning this summer!

Burr Ridge has some parks, including this small one in a residential area. It supposedly is open to…read morethe public but it feels exclusive to the houses around it. Lake Carriage Way Park is in a subdivision. Good quiet atmosphere in spite of not much to do. The main thing is a big pond. Coming here is a little confusing. It's on a residential street of the same name so it's pretty easy to find it. The trouble about it though is what to do when you're here and trying to get into this. It's like, where do you park? There's no parking spaces. It's that which makes it seem like it's only for the residents around here. There's only a street. Apparently you can park on it. The park itself is small but nice. It has a big pond that takes up the majority of space that's easy to walk around. There's also a playground so kid can have fun. Have fun for a few minutes at most then go somewhere else. It doesn't have bathrooms or any amenities like that so it's not intended as somewhere you go for long. The only parking option is on the street, but look out for Karen residents who think they own this.

Lake Carriage Way Park is a tiny Pleasant Dale (Burr Ridge) Park District park located in the…read moreCarriage Way subdivision, near 55 and County Line. Though it is in the subdivision it is of course open to the public and is frequented by those looking to fish or just relax. There is no actual parking lot but you can park on the side streets of the subdivision, which is very quiet and never crowded. The main feature of the park is the large central lake with fountains. Throughout the summer there are many birds present (mainly ducks and geese) and there are various benches set up all along the pond for viewing. Many come to fish in the pond, so it is stocked. There is a large gazebo with the best view of the park. To the right of the gazebo is a small playground where children from the subdivision often play. There is a paved trail all along the pond, which meanders back into the woods at the northern most portion of the pond. This trail continues back into the subdivision a little way. Though it offers few amenities, it is a wonderful place to walk if you are in the area. It is very tiny and you can walk the duration of the pond in about 5 minutes. The park is dog and child friendly. Unless you're looking to fish, I'm not sure that it is someplace that you'd drive to specifically to spend time at, but if you're looking for a quiet location to go on a lunch break and work in the area, it is a great place to check out!

I haven't been to Little Red Schoolhouse since I was a child. I love that you can visit it but not…read morejust that they have a nature center a whole other building that you can explore. There's critters to see and learn about paths all around a water area. There's also an outdoor children's nature play area. It's just a really great place to go explore. I definitely recommend going here! Please check out my pictures to see what you're missing!

Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center is a great and inexpensive family day option! It offers free…read moreparking and admission to all. One can explore the old Nature Center with historical facts or the new Nature Center with a kid's play area and animal exhibit. The snapping turtles were an absolute hit with my niece and nephews! Outside, there are two owls and a hawk as well as two nature trails and some kid's activities. Each trail is maybe 0.5 miles and 1.3 miles which is perfect for kids. Along the trails, be sure to stop at the lookouts to enjoy the views. They even have short peeking slots for the kids. I had the best time visiting Little Red Schoolhouse and seeing all their updates from when I last visited as a kid. Highly recommend for all!

Waterfall Glen is a beautiful display of nature. Trails offer a robust adventure. Two parking lots,…read moreone off of Cass Avenue and the other off of Lemont Road.

Beautiful place, lots of walking trails. The waterfall was pretty. They have a public bathroom and…read morea big parking lot. One suggestion is to mark waterfall trails from parking lot.

Palos Preserves has a lot going on. You can fish; in fact, I saw a few people doing that. There…read morewere several people biking through the preserves (some casual, some much more hard core). Walking trails, which is what I was using with the group I was in. Of course, Camp Bullfrog is a major attraction at this site, situated on Bullfrog Lake; you can rent paces for camping anywhere from 2 or 3 days up to 10 days per month. And there's also picnic groves around the place too. There are a few port-a-potties, and there may be an actual restroom with flush toilets a bit southwest of Bullfrog Lake; I forgot to check. Nearby are Sagawau Nature Center and the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, amongst other places. Palos is an International Dark Sky location, so the Forest Preserve District of Cook County sometimes has programs here. There's some hilliness here, and some of the areas I was in were not accessible--though it's possible the campsite is. You should contact them if you are in need of an accessible place to recreate.

Never in a million years would I have believed you if you told me that one of the best running…read moretrails in the USA was in IL. But that's exactly what I found at Palos Forest Preserves. I ignored the Yelp map directions, which drops you in the middle of the street, and instead followed that street until it became a dead end. I parked in the parking lot by the dead end and began my trail there. This ended up being about a 2-2 1/2 hour adventure, at about 16K steps (running half way). The trail has some nice markers to help keep you on the right track, but more would be even better because I ended up doing "eenie meenie minie moe" at several junction points and just hoped for the best. My favorite part about these trails were the inclines and natural obstacle courses. Watch out for the trees though. A couple of the roots reached out and grabbed my foot on more than one occasion, causing me to kiss the ground. I'm certain I heard some giggles coming from the treetops. Cheeky lil bastards. The views were breathtaking during my autumn visits. Very peaceful in many areas and not too crowded, unless you came on the weekend when the bikers take over. They treat it like it's their world, which is very annoying. If I lived in the area, I would definitely frequent these woods with my mountain bike. If running/hiking was fun, biking would be a blast! However, I would remember to share the trails with pedestrians.

You can get on to the Yellow Trail if you head across the field and into the woods. The field by…read morethe parking lot is a nice flat open space, great for picnicking. There's lots of parking and it doesn't seem like too busy a park (but not creepy or deserted--a welcome change from the likes of Swallow Cliff, for example). There are little lakes around of course, but it's not right on a lake lie some of the other parks--I'd say that's an upside and a downside in that it lacks the beauty of a lake, but probably lacks the mosquitoes, too. Out in the woods at Cherry Hill is a different story--out in the trees that place is literally swarming with mosquitoes, so don't forget your bugspray.

Offshore contacted Eddyline and changed their order with them so I could have two matching colored…read morekayaks, a Caribbean 12 FS and a Caribbean 14 FS, and delivered them to my home in Noblesville Indiana. My local Eddyline retailer was unable/unwilling to do the same. Great communication and pleasant demeanor. Highly recommend Offshore in Lake Bluff.

We spoke with Sam from Offshore, regarding repairs to our Zodiac boat…read more After much discussion with Sam his integrity became apparent in that his honest opinion was that spending additional money to repair this boat would not be worth while. He is to be commended for his honesty in appraising the return value for the expenditure for the need repairs. He took the time to honestly evaluate our Zodiac boat rather than turn just a "quick profit". We honestly would not have know the difference. He runs his business in a forthright manner to be commended in this day and age the "Quick Profit". Thank You M. Jens

Want a free workout that will kick your butt? Head over to the Swallow Cliff stairs. There are…read morepeople of all fitness levels that make the trek here. Stay to the right and keep your own pace. The forest preserve has done a nice job maintaining the area. There are tables to have a picnic, clean bathrooms, and seasonal café. There is a decent amount of parking too. It does get packed if weather is nice. People like to use rocks to track their loop numbers. Signs say no dogs allowed on the stairs.

Love swallow cliff stairs! This is definitely a workout!! My goodness this is nothing like regular…read morestairs or a stair climber. For those that even exercise regularly, this is a tough workout and you really have to build up to it. Nice location, great walking trail in addition to the stairs. Everyone that goes is very friendly. In the summer the smoothie shop is open. Police regularly patrol the area. Super big parking lots. The only issue is that you're really supposed to walk up one side and down the other - but often people are walking up and down the main flight of stairs which is annoying. Aside from that, it's a great experience.