Nice place for a walk and to observe nature. During the winter the indoor bathrooms are closed, but…read morethere is a porta potties. (Bring your own TP and hand sanitizer!) Trails had maps available and decent signage.

This is a great place for a pet friendly, on-leash walk with your dog. The limestone trails are…read moreflat and soft, and the trails around the water were busy, even on a chilly morning. There's a lot to see here and a variety of ways you can head on the path. I saw plenty of people fishing, no boats out yet, and a lot of other dogs and strollers. If your dog is not good around many other dogs or people, this might not be the place for you to walk on a busy day. But I did notice other directions you can walk, away from the water, that doesn't have as much traffic. The views are nice (if you can get past the fact that the giant mound you're seeing is garbage underneath) and the grounds seem well-kept and clean. There's plenty of parking, too. The only negative is getting around the goose poop and some litter blowing around in areas. But overall, it is a nice place to get some exercise in.

This Forest Preserve has a large indoor Nature Center, bird watching, caged owls, hawk, hiking…read morevarious tree species and trails! This Forest preserve has it all. The Crabtree Nature Center & Trails is a fun place for the whole family. There are varying trails depending on the distance you want to cover: short & longer up to 3.5 miles approx. Trails are well maintained however it's good to know that they are not paved and are mostly grassy, a bit muddy (if it's wet) and uneven in places. The path offers plenty of shade and nice bench seating areas along the way. It's a very pretty trail and the fall foliage is beautiful!

This nature preserve offers year round activities and is perfect for families who love the…read moreoutdoors. There are trails , a nature center and even a small bird habitat with owls and hawks. Plenty of parking. Free admission. Check their website for exact hours.

This is a 2200 acre park in the Chicago area. It is massive. Great trails to hike or bike on with…read morebridges over the busy Higgins Road going through the middle of the park. They have an elk pasture on one side which was neat to see and great for kids. I was in town for work for 2 weeks. My wife and I stopped by here after I got off of work but in November it gets dark way too soon. We could only visit for a short time before it got dark. I would love to come back here and hike or bike for miles and miles through this lovely park.

I've fished Ned Brown Busse Woods Forest Preserve more times than I can count now. It's not the…read moregreatest place to catch a fish consistently, but the scenery is stunningly beautiful. I've rented a boat with a trolling motor here, and the help is friendly and helpful. They sell live bait, as well. I'm more familiar with the Forest Preserve now, but in general would love to see more signage/maps and a "You Are Here" on a map or two. I recall first trying to find the fishing wall and walking forever with tackle, not knowing if we were on the right track. This place is great for biking, but I wouldn't mind seeing some shorter official paths built, for walking and hiking. My son and I improvised a path here once, to make our hike shorter. Check out the Elk, hike, bike, fish, have a stone soul picnic- it's a great oasis!

This is an enjoyable trail for all levels of walkers. Fully paved with creek, flowers and many…read morebirds and bunnies around. You can access this trail from many different streets and Meinke Recreation Center off Wise Rd. It's nice during the day but after the sun goes down there are many mosquitoes due to heavy tree canopy and the creek (I think). Best to walk daytime hours.

This place is a hidden gem.... literally. Well, not literally a gem, but literally hidden. GPS told…read moreme to make a right, where all I saw was a Nissan dealership. Nope, and instead I ended up circling around. But sure, enough, make a right when the GPS tells you too. Ignore that the car dealership is there, and pay attention to the fact there's a giant sign letting you know Vogelei Park is there. We had a barbecue at one of the seating areas with a roof and it was OK. The engineers who designed and created the shelter's roof apparently didn't like the sunrise, as the way it was angled, the unusual early June 90-degree heat and sun shone right on us during the early evening. After it got dark, the shelter had lights that illuminated, which was a bummer. Overall though, it's a great place to consider for a BBQ. BATHROOM REVIEW: Located in the building, the bathrooms were good, for a public park bathroom. It had a couple of urinals and stalls. Sit or squat? Squat.

HIDDEN PARK ALERT!! HIDDEN GEM ALERT!…read more When the sun came out one afternoon after a cloudy, dreary week, I knew I had to find some outdoor spot to frolic about in. Since I was in Palatine at the time, and wanted to go home to Roselle without driving too far out of my way, I pulled up the Yelp app and typed in "park." Too many places popped up, none were what I was looking for. So I tried, "zoo." One of the first things to pop up was the Northern Illinois Raptor Center. What!? I did a quick search on what it was, expected there was some kind of magical owl zoo somewhere, and headed out this way. The drive to this park is very easy to miss. I did miss it, and had to do a long turn about through a neighborhood to get back to the entrance, which is located off of Higgins at the intersection of Golf, in between a couple car dealerships. The easiest way to find it is to look for the Hoffman Estates Park District sign and turn RIGHT THERE. Then you'll see a barn at the end of the drive and a park. Whew. I got out of my car, walked over to the barn and older building, found locked doors, wandered over to a map, scanned the map, saw absolutely no mention of any raptors or owls or birds, and decided, "Screw it, I'll just go walk around the park since I'm already here." Fortunately, my disappointment was quickly dissolved after one leisurely lap around the park. Here's what Vogelei has: - A pond that's part of the Bio Swale Water Quality Initiative. I'm still not quite clear on what it is, but it's a water system that cleans storm water runoff of man-made chemicals while providing a habitat for animals and helping the environment. Whatever it was, it sounded and looked awesome -- grassy, marshy areas, a walking path, a picturesque bride and gazebo. And white birds with long legs that fly away when I try to take pictures (darn bird). - A rose garden. Not a very big rose garden, but it's a nice little rose garden with blooms bigger than my hand. I kid you not. Crazy giant flowers. - Lots of grassy areas for picnicking, hooping, and running around like crazy. The park district also holds concerts (mainly for kids) here sometimes. - A playground jungle gym that's shaped like a barn. Sweet. - A splash pad!! It's basically a large, squishy pad with sprinklers. It's turned on during the day -- all you have to do is press down on one of the buttons on the padded surface to activate the water that shoots up. Yes, there is a chance you could get wet doing this. It's fun. Take it from this lady with the crazy hair (oh, what a sight that must have been)! - A conifer garden: an area with a bunch of tiny pine tree bushes. - Safety town. One of those little set-ups where kids can ride their tiny bikes around a little town and learn how to be safe when they cross the street and all that fun stuff. - The barn. Apparently the barn holds some kind of banquet room that you can rent for events. Cool. The park district's summer camp also uses the building for the kids -- I kind of felt like a creep walking in there. Not sure what that other, seemingly abandoned building was for. I probably spent a good forty-five minutes lurking around the park. Not bad. Still no awesome owl zoo, though. Disappointed, I left and wrote this review. As I was finishing up this review earlier this morning, I decided I really needed to go back and find that mysterious magical bird zoo before finishing this review! Back I went... and instead of an empty park, I was greeting with a full parking lot and tons of camp kids. Definitely not the kind of scene for aimless wandering with a camera. Fortunately, someone pointed me in the direction of the raptor center... YES! IT EXISTS! ... which was in a cluster of tiny house-like buildings, surrounded by a fence to keep people out. There were no birds. The birds will be on display later this year or something. Bummer, but so glad I figured out this mystery! SO. This definitely isn't your typical suburban neighborhood park. I won't go out of my way to come back here again (OK, maybe I will -- because I already did), but if I'm in the area and looking for a quiet park to hang out in, I'd re-visit. Nice job, Hoffman Estates.

Daughter had her wedding here in December a beautiful white building with snow was awesome. They…read moresupplied the chairs and table tables.-if I remember correctly. It was in 2014. Would definitely recommend spring summer winter fall. I think this building would make anything look beautiful.

My brother and sister-in-law went to Walton Island Park in Elgin to take pictures before their…read morewedding on their wedding day. As the name suggests this park is made up of an island and several bridges in the middle of the Fox River. There is a walking and running trail, fishing spots (with the appropriate permits of course), and benches and shaded places to sit and enjoy the nature. While we were visiting, the trees had turned color in the fall and added to the beauty of the area. There are some fantastic places to take pictures. The park even comes with a gigantic American flag. For a beautiful park to experience and enjoy, I highly recommend Walton Island Park!

These woods are absolutely stunning!! Even after getting 4 miles in, there are still plenty more…read moretrails to walk. I love the feeling of being secluded from the world after a super long, and overstimulating work week, and these are some of my favorite trails to walk alone with my dog, or with a group. I have been visiting these woods for the last 5 years, and they never get old. Port-a-potties at the entrance, and plenty of parking.

Don't bring your dog here. Whoever put it on a list of top 10 places to walk your dog, is…read moredelusional in the worst way. The plants are 90% poison ivy EVERYWHERE. There are also lots of foxtails. I can see how it would be nice for a bike ride, but not everyone is obsessed with plant ID apps, and it was not relaxing restraining a 70 lb dog from sniffing all the poison ivy. I got a poison ivy spot on my hand in the first 5 mins. Even if you stay only on the gravel, there are 5 million mosquitoes. Beautiful location but not relaxing at all! Some people running are extremely rude/ignorant and expect you to jump into poison ivy to make way for them when there is enough room for them to pass you anyway. Bad vibe. Not what I came to nature to find.

Fantastic preserve that's easy to pass by. Reed Turner is a small preserve that has single-track…read moretrails throughout the preserve. This is not a huge preserve so if you want to log miles, this may not fit the bill. A beautiful woodland preserve with a creek and ravines and great beauty!! Well worth a visit and many repeated visits over the seasons!

Neat little woodland in Long Grove with several trails that go through a creek, a pond, and a lake…read more Here you'll find pure undisturbed nature (you'll have to hike on unpaved roads) with lots of beautiful flowers, animals, and insects. There's majestic trees, great water views, and a great variety of plants. Worth a visit if you want to get away from the typical forest preserve.