Great park located around Yorkville with a few big lakes. It has lots of hiking trails. Silver…read moreSprings State Park gets its name from the pool of bubbling water. Of course, there's tons of other things to see around it. The popular activities include boating, fishing, and picnicking. Bigger park with a lot of history. It's an area that was purchased by the state in 1969 and turned into a park. The park was originally 1,250 acres, and added a prairie restoration project in 1980 among expansions since. Kind of what the land was like before settlers took it. There's a path that goes through it where visitors can check out animals, grass, and wildflowers. A few man made lakes are highlights. Loon Lake is the biggest one, popular for fishing or getting photos. A refreshment stand is located by it. The spring is the biggest attraction of the park though. Amazingly the water in it never freezes. There's amazing plantlife around it including watercress. Also fun when it's colder. There's a toboggan hill that's fairly steep. Among the kinds of trails are equestrian. There's also plenty for basic hiking. Has lots to look at here for hours and you can even stay overnight by camping. It's got an area that's available for youth groups. This area is only reachable through backpacking so it's far away from loud noises or vehicles.

Serene lake with a good 2-mile hike along lake, river, woods amd some prairie. It was a quiet…read moremid-day walk one snowy day... until I pass by a group of kids screaming and sledding along a slope, how fun :)

My wife and I love this area for taking peaceful walks, and we especially love when we come across…read morethe deer, if you're calm and quiet enough, they will not run away!

I've came here a few times and I wonder why my review got deleted? This place is absolutely…read morebeautiful! Tons of stuff to do and see, the trail has recently been repaved. Very well maintained by the city of Plainfield. Plenty of parking but use advisory from coming in from the Lockport road access.

Nice little lake in the neighborhood A couple of people…read morewere fishing, walking dogs, kids on scooters, joggers, and a few shaded areas just to relax. It's not necessarily a place to go out of your way to find but if you live in the area, it's s nice spot, for a walk, jog, or picnic.

Cool spot that I didn't realize was in the area. Looking for a good meeting spot to meet friends…read morefor a walk, found Sagawau. On the day of my visit, we saw this black netting/screen. Curious, we stopped to ask staff. It turns out on Sundays they do bird banding. This was very interesting how they catch birds, take data, and release back into the wild. I recommend! The nature center was well kept and had clean bathrooms. They close the area at 4 pm daily. Check it out for a nice walking and educational opportunity.

Sagawau is waaaaaay out in Lemont, so pretty far from me, and it's also bit confusing to find when…read moreyou get there. But I really enjoyed it so I'd say it's worth it, and now I'll know where I'm going in future! Word to the wise: There's the large parking lot, and what looks like a driveway is not. Park in the lot and use the wide paved path to get to the nature center. The purpose of the first preserve system was to both preserve and conserve, but also to provide natural areas in which people could recreate. They also have a nature center here with exhibits, as well as a variety of programming. I came for a program. A land acknowledgement was provided to connect the land to its history, and the people who once called this land home. I came for a hummingbird program, which took place in the hummingbird garden. The garden had quite a few bees and some wasps, but those insects are actually invasive in this area so you may see traps out for them so they don't take over the hummingbird garden. There are hummingbird feeders around to bring the hummers out. But nectar isn't their only source of food; they'll eat insects and invertebrates. Most importantly, they need pesticide-free habitats to survive. It was interesting to learn that hummingbirds live only in North, Central, and South America. When colonizers came into contact with hummingbirds, they thought they had no feet and that is where their scientific name is derived. Hummingbirds are surprisingly loud! The ruby-throated hummingbird is only ruby throated for the males. Juveniles and females have a white throat. But the color only comes out with the light, as it's iridescent, so the males may look black. Ruby throated is the only native one in Illinois. The juveniles are about the weight of a penny. In migratory season, they try to double their weight in order to sustain their migratory most fly over the Gulf of Mexico, which is a single flight of about 600 miles. They can do that flight in 16-24 hours. Hummingbirds fly with a figure eight pattern, which allows them to be one of the few birds that can fly backwards. It also allows them to hover! Migration is hard, so why do they do it? At least in part, it's because there's less competition. Apparently day length is a trigger to let birds know when to begin migrating, and the plants and flower on which they rely for food usually coincides to their migratory season. The nesting behavior of hummingbirds draws a direct line between environmental stewardship and habitat protection. They line the nest's outside with lichen and plant scale, and line them inside with soft things like dandelion fronds. Air pollution won't affect the hummingbird directly, but it will affect lichen and thus the integrity of their nest and subsequently their success in breeding. They will use spider webbing to bind their nest, which makes spider conservation important too. How fascinating how these things all connect! Whilst visiting Sagawau, I learned that this preserve is a licensed bird banding station--not just for hummingbirds. Banding allows us to gather much of the information that we have about birds in general. The information gleaned from banded birds can tell us about their migratory patterns, lifespan, and so on. I believe they have some events during the year where you can observe this process. In addition to their great programs, they have a nature center with exhibits related to the natural history of Sagawau and the region. One of the things that makes Sagawau so unique is it is a dolomite prairie, of which only about 500 acres exist in the world--over 100 of those acres being here. There are several trails to walk, and they have maps showing these to help guide your way. And this site turns into a cross-country ski location in the winter! In that season, walking is not permitted on the trails because they're used for skiers. They have lessons and equipment rental, but you can also bring your own gear--you just need to call first to make sure it's open for skiing, dependent upon the snowfall. I saw more open acknowledgment of snakes here than at some of the other preserves, which may make me nervous to visit very soon--snakes in just about any capacity (cartoon, real, image, etc.) creep me out more than anything. But, Negin is the employee that led the hummingbird chat, and she was really great. Welcoming, inclusive, knowledgeable, and friendly. I'd love to attend more of her programs.

Have a good jog or just have a pleasant time walking around this park in Aurora. It of course has a…read morelake in the middle of it. Waubonsie Lake Park is located in more of a residential area but it gets outsiders. A few amenities. There's a playground and a shelter. Chill place for the most part with people just walking around. It's basically just a lake with a trail around it. There's a little bit of parkland. All of this is surrounded by houses. It seems most people here are from around it. A few things for families. There's a small playground along with pretend dinosaur bones to climb on. There's also modern playground equipment like slides and swings. Also there's a shelter by the lake. This is good for picnics. Good park for exercising or playing around. It's located on Kautz Road. This is good for children, adults working out, or whoever.

Very nice & peaceful I walk here weekly basic to clear my mind and breathe fresh air a few times I…read moresee deers rabbits lots of fishing near me but I'm not here for that ..let me get my walk on buddy..

I love this place. That's a few trails, a bathroom, grills, tables. A nice area to play games ball…read moreor anything that needs room. I nice parking lot

Veterans Woods is a family favorite where I've taking my guests and dogs for over 15 years. Come…read morefor a hike and stay for a picnic at 1 of the 4 gazebos. Also a few special feature's I love is the eclectic red water pump, beautiful prairie field, & 3/4 mile deep woods trail.

Fairly large park with a soccer field, hills, 2 playgrounds, basketball court, and plenty of…read moreparking. My visit here was to check out the frisbee golf course and I was pleasantly surprised at a few features. First, there is quite a bit of elevation changes across this course, which make it more fun and challenging than some of the other nearby courses. Second, the views in the park are beautiful, particularly at sunset. Third, the course takes you on a wide variety of different nature and shooting situations. Fourth, you don't really run the danger of throwing your disc into water, holes, or other unrecoverable situations. It was not too busy here when I visited and parking was plentiful. I would gladly visit this park again for some more disc golf in the future.

Oak Field Oaks has two parking lots. The lot by 87th street is quiet and gives a woods setting. The…read morefrontage road lot leads to the dog park.

This is a nice small walking path that isn't overly crowded. A good portion of it is shaded and…read morethen a small portion has some open prairie area. There's one main circle path that generally takes us twenty minutes. There's an option to extend the circle to make it longer about halfway through. We came at the end of October and weren't strict with keeping our dog directly on the main path. I extremely regretted it as I removed 7 ticks off of him after our trip. Lesson learned! If you are looking for a quick 30-45 minute, easy path that is mostly shaded, this spot is perfect!