It's a great place for beginners!!! They teach lessons And…read moreis a small place for exploring and practicing. Go on not a busy day like week days to avoid traffic while snowboarding Plus I use Groupon when I go FYI for cheap/ discounted tickets.

was here with my buddy this season, i went to the side of the water because i didn't want to be wet…read morethe rest of the day if i had not made it across. when my buddy did the same, he was harassed by so called staff members who had no identification or proof that they work there. My buddy is not the same skin color is me and is a darker tone. seemed very racist and i even seen the profiling first hand. should never go here and they should be closed down.

I actually found out about Fullerton Woods - Des Plaines River Trail off of AllTrails application…read morevia Google Play. It was one of the few trails that would allow me to cover at least 10 miles. Plus, it consisted of some of the perks that I love about trails, such as it being shaded, having soft terrain, and that therapeutic feeling of nature, so why not?. I drove about 8 miles to Fullerton Woods from the west side of Chicago and it was totally worth it! The Des Plaines River Trail was not congested at all in comparison to the Lakefront path in Chicago which I wasn't in the mood to run today. Oh, the thought of being on the Lakefront path with the sun melting me away was not in my interest, so I sought out something different. Shame on me! I packed my trail running shoes, but did not utilized them because the paved portion at the beginning of this trail threw me off. So, with that I encourage you to bring out those trail shoes if you plan to run this trail as I did, but its ok if you do not have any trail shoes. On this trail you will encounter hikers, dog walkers, mountain bikers and trail runners which all are friendly from what I have noticed. The encounters with the mountain bikers can throw your pacing off depending on how many there are in a pack. With that, I recommend taking it as the time for a short rest break to hydrate or gather yourself until they pass by on whatever portion of the trail you may be at if there isn't enough room. My end milage ended up being 8.44 miles, but it easily could have been more if I would have taken a turn, heading under W Lawrence Ave bridge towards Catherine Chevalier Woods. I kept this run simple, looping around at Robinson Woods South because it was my first time out, but next time I plan to not be so attentive to my route and ready to explore the trail more. And on a side note, another entrance that will put you at a more reasonable area to get good trail mileage at is Jerome Huppert Woods which is on the other side of Fullerton Woods. A tip on how to not get off track on this trail is to stay along Des Plaines River, which you can see on your left hand side while going further out on this trail. If you cannot see it, then you may have went in the wrong direction, but I assure you it is not hard to miss. I really loved this trail! And will most definitely be returning because its distance satisfied my preference of the mileage I wanted to accomplish without doing it in the blistering heat and on a hard surfaced pavement. Thomas G

The first little hike is nothing much, but coming back I turned onto a trail, went under a bridge…read moreand found the real trail. At sunset, in the middle of the city I was pleasantly surprised to greet this deer! This is a great getaway when you're just on your way home from the store!

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.

I can't say much about the skiing itself, but our group of friends had an absolutely amazing time…read moreat the tubing area. It was well organized and a lot of fun for everyone. We also rented an Airbnb with an indoor heated pool just down the street in Spring Grove, which made the the weekend amazing. We went tubing first and then fun in the pool afterward. It turned into an awesome day and a really fun experience overall!

This review is only for the tubing portion of Wilmot…read more For a relatively flat geography, Wilmot is able to provide a decent tubing experience. There are several adjacent, straight runs (apparently 22, but not all utilized on our warm February day) which provide a decent and safe velocity for young and old alike. There's a conveyor/escalator type of tow that allows tubers to stand and hold their tube to get up the hill. Here's the downside... $55 for 2 hours is steep! Especially for the lack of variety in slope. The food and souvenirs are also way overpriced and it feels unreasonable for a large family to pay to go tubing here. Based on the prices online, it would be better to get a lift ticket and ski rental and have the day to ski, than to pay for 2 hours of tubing. I still recommend Wilmot for the experience. For my neighbors in the Chicago suburbs, it is a nice change of pace for a winter activity.

We always have a wonderful time spending a weekend here every year. We are return campers with a…read moregroup of ours. The large bunk house has plenty of room for all of us to be able to mingle and sleep. Staff members have always been helpful and friendly. Looking forward to our next visit in a few short months.

These people are wonderful! Our truck blew its turbo and we had to get it replaced. We were stuck…read morehere for a week and they made our stay very enjoyable. For one thing once we parked the camper we had no way to move it. Lisa the manager and all the campers came together to hook us up to their one water source (later on that) to help us fill up our tank. We came in not knowing what was going to happen and they bent over backwards to make it all work (we were there for 7 days with no reservations). The hiking around them was great. I was able to take my very active cattle dog for a 5-6 miles hike everyday. They also provide firewood, we love campfires. The campgrounds are beautiful and green. They also offer tent sites and cabins. I would loved to have given them a five star but they need a few improvements to give the RV'ers better access to water. Putting water at each RV site would be great and a few along the tent area. A sanitation dump would also be great since they don't have sewer available at the sites. I complained of the showers being cold and they said they had put in a work order, took six days. Not acceptable! Thanks Lisa and Brittany for everything!

Drinks were good and quick, even though they were busy. Great to be able to stop in, warm up and…read morehead back out for a little more skiing.

Hot Dog Mountain is back baby!! Grand Geneva's terrain park is making a serious comeback. The jumps…read moreare insane and the rails are ridiculous. They might have the most rails in Southern WI. They've been making a ton of snow and creating some fantastic features every week. The black diamond is really a black diamond. I'd love to see some of the features become permanent like the giant jump on "A". Thanks for all your hard work! Let's shred the gnar!!!!

We have now been to Big Marsh Park twice and absolutely love it! We are always looking for places…read moreto hike outdoors surrounded by natural wild space near Chicago, and here is a Park with miles and miles of pathways right in the city! If you like to hike outdoors, head over to Big Marsh Park today! Once a terribly polluted area of Chicago due to steel factories and industrial waste, Big Marsh Park has undergone extensive reclamation and restoration work to be the gorgeous natural wild space it is today! However, the park does not hide its past. Signs and relics of industrial destruction are left as reminders of what can happen when human industry is left unfettered without environmental regulation. Also, fishing and swimming are not allowed in the water. In addition to miles and miles of beautiful pathways for walking, hiking, and biking, Big Marsh Park also has massive mountain biking pathways, biking parks, and skate parks. Plenty for kids to come and have outdoor fun! There are plenty of spaces for picnics and outdoor crafts. Furthermore, there is a gorgeous museum that tells the story of the area, past, present, and future. It is new, informative, and clean. The bathrooms are green-designed and very nice. There is plenty of parking for visitors and public buses that come to the park. It is hard to get to with pot-hole infested roads, but well worth the trek! If you like the outdoors, learning history about Chicago, and exercise, head over to Big Marsh Park today!

I'm a veteran mountain biker and a suburban dad so I was skeptical of a city bike park. The area is…read moreforeign to me and looked pretty industrial especially the landfill within a stones throw from the park. Boy howdy was I surprised. The City of Chicago has created an oasis for bikers, hikers and skateboarding, but mostly biking. The park has a nice sized pump track, some short but we'll thought out single track and enough features to challenge most riders. My son and I had a great time and most definitely will return.

The entrance to Pick Park is hidden away in an Elmhurst residential area…read more Much of the entrance area was sectioned off during my recent trip in March of 2024. There are signs indicating plans for "park and facility improvements". The trail is a paved path, so it's ideal for biking and walking. There are a few areas that you can follow a short dirt path and get up close to Salt Creek. Salt Creek is a very zig zagging creek and there are bridges that allow you to easily pass over it. If you follow the trail south, you'll end up at Rotary Park in Villa Park, IL. You can either cross a busy road (St. Charles) or go thru the underpass. There are some portions of the trail that show just how close you are to the busy streets. In one of my photos you can see Portillo's on the other side of Route 83. I prefer the parts of the trail that are more natural. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new improvements will look like. Hopefully they will have restrooms!

Absolutely awful experience…read more The lines were insanely long, and they barely moved. We stood there, only to be told that adults weren't allowed to go down together. What's the point of coming with friends or family if you're forced to go one by one like children? Staff were rigid and unhelpful, offering no real explanation. The whole place felt disorganized and frustrating, turning what should've been fun into a waste of time. Cold, crowded, and needlessly strict. Definitely not worth it.

I was really disappointed with our experience here. The lines were extremely long and moved…read morepainfully slow, which meant we spent far more time standing around than actually snow tubing. The hills themselves were also poorly designed or maintained. Instead of tubing all the way down like you'd expect, our tubes kept stopping halfway down the hill. It completely ruined the fun and momentum, having to scoot or walk the rest of the way down in the snow defeats the purpose of snow tubing. On top of that, the staff was unnecessarily strict.

This park is especially good for young children from 1-5 years old. There are not many parks that…read morehave this many things to do for this age range (especially the 1-3 year olds) so I was very excited about it. There were many toys that made noises, rocking horses, a large green dome with holes, and a smaller playground with slides. They are still fundraising to build a playground for children 5-12 years old. Once that playground is built I'm sure it will be even more of a hit for families. That said there are features that the 5-12 year olds will like! Two large slides, an obstacle to climb on, and a glider swing. There are also several walking trails. My son loved this park! We will definitely be back.

Finally a park designed for kids with Autism or special needs. Great for all kids but this one is…read moredesigned for there safety. There so much to do that you can spend hours here. There is plenty of shade as well. The park is very hidden but if you see the horses head your in the right spot. There is a bit of a walk to get there but you'll be amazed once you reach the park. Plenty of spots for strollers and they have larger porta potti's. There are two playgrounds that are for older kids that I wouldn't recommend for kids 3 and under but everything else the younger kids can do.