This is a really neat park on the Sugar River. It starts at the "head gates" for the once brodhead…read moremill and hydro project. The park is a trail along the raceway, or mill race. This is essentially a man made canal that provides water to the mill pond in Brodhead. It is a lovely walk, very scenic with numerous wetlands, woodland, farmland, ending with a lovely stroll along the canal into the village of Brodhead. Here, along one side of the canal are numerous fun homes reminiscent of the canals in Amsterdam. If you choose to walk or kayak, once in Brodhead, stroll downtown to a local cafe or restaurant. Hint: This is a GREAT trip for a fun outdoor date! Even if the date doesn't go well, the scenery is lovely and you can enjoy the walk back alone. It's a 4+ mile roundtrip. Easy hike with gravel two lane path. Hint: Hint: oooh...you discovered the super double secret hint! This is a great place to bring your dog. Lots of room to run big! Fetch, swimming, ducks, and the water is clean so, your dog can enjoy itself! Hint: Hint: Hint: A super triple secret hint? Say it isn't so! Kayakers - pay attention! Here is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for kayaking that requires no shuttling! Put your boat in here, paddle up river a short distance (no current here) to the decatur tap, portage the dam, paddle down the Sugar River to where the race rejoins the Sugar River. Then paddle up the race to Brodhead dam. Portage the dam and bing bang boom, you're back on the race! Now it's an easy paddle up the race back to the head gates where your car is parked, waiting for you, with a cooler of beer in trunk! Cheers, you earned it! Hint 4X: A quadruple hint-o-rama....be still my palpating heart....If you want to get into kayaking and kayak this in a group, check out the Mad City Paddlers website for group kayaking and canoe trips! Or, send me an email, I kayak this at least once a year :)

The Forest Preserve Headquarters of Winnebago County is by far my favorite underrated park in the…read moreRockford area! Lots to explore and so many different, unique areas within the park. I love the view over the quarry in all seasons but it's especially beautiful in fall/winter. The walk through the woods and around the ponds and river on the other side of the forest preserve are gorgeous in spring with frogs and other small animals to find and lots of mossy pathways. It feels like a fairytale! (Photos by Figment Photography)

Great place to hangout and have a few beers and go on nature walks…read more I've never camped here, but I heard that its cool. There are a lot of nice shelters and a respectable playground. You can pick morel mushrooms here during the early-mid spring. There's a fair amount of wildlife (deer, turkey, woodpeckers, toads, etc.) as well. The conservation sheriff cruises through every once in a while to make sure no one's doing anything retarded. Its a popular hangout for delinquent kids during the day, so check your grills before you cook. There was piss on one of them once.

This is a really nice trail just south of the Wisconsin border. The Badger State trail connects to…read morethis approximately 17 mile long cinder trail. We rode this recently after an early morning of rain and the trail was in great condition with no puddles anywhere. A well drained trail. There are only a few benches along the trail and one area with more seating about 3/4 of the way south of the border. There are a few parking spots along the route but the largest is at the south end of the trail with a large area and a bathroom. Nicely done.

I was doing some research for bike trails in NW IL and wanted to find one that would be suitable…read morefor my nine year old. He's a decent biker but I didn't wan't a trail with swooping hills that would make it tough for a longer ride. The Jane Addams trail is as flat as can be without any hills in the section we biked, which was from the Wes Block Trailhead up to Orangeville, IL. The Jane Addams trail is 17 total miles in length and can be picked up at numerous streets and towns along the way. Two popular starting locations at the south end of the trail are Tutty's Crossing in downtown Freeport and the Wes Block Trailhead on the northwest side of town. From the Wes Block parking lot we proceeded north. We quickly found the trail to be exactly what we wanted. The path is smooth and easy to ride, and pretty well maintained (very little debris). The majority of the trail has tree canopy but you can also find the sun in many spots. Farmland, ponds, marshes, forests and rivers primarily envelope the trail on both sides. Four small communities are found directly along the path heading north from Freeport. The trail itself is beautiful. It's very flat and very smooth, and works well for children. You're one with nature on this path and will likely spot numerous birds, insects and animals along the way. We crossed paths with a frog (which my son nearly rolled over) a hummingbird, cows and some other stuff. There are other interesting sites to see including some old barns and structures, a train car, twenty+ bridges, and a few sections where you're between rock walls, which was one of our favorite parts of the trail. The JA trail didn't have a whole lot of traffic when we went. I believe we saw maybe four other bikers during our 11 mile ride north to Orangeville. Despite the lack of riders we saw several benches along the way, even a port-a-potty at one stop. Bring your own amenities (food/water) though, as the only two places you'll find either are in Freeport and Orangeville. If you're looking for a quiet and peaceful ride with a great escape into nature this is a great trail to experience. We rode the balance of the trail including over 22 miles and found every stretch of it to be perfect. Cheers!

New improvement to kids play creek/stream is horrible. The creek used to always be flowing and full…read moreof water. Now you have to press a button wait for water and it pumps out a little not even enough for kids to play in. For the price you pay better off driving to a state park or going anywhere else but here if going with kids.

Certainly it's not anything comparable to the big popular arboretums and botanical gardens those…read moremay think of, but for Rockford it's good. It's not a humongous one, but there's plenty of ground to cover and nature to see. Klehm Arboretum has a respectable collection of flowers, plants, and trees. A lot of family activities. There's often some kind of special event going on for children and family things. A lot of the gardens are specific toward one plant species or a family. It of course has better viewing in the spring and summer, but any time of the year has something to check out. The visitor's center is the first place most people come to. Get a map. You can find out where all the gardens are and which paths to go on. It has a pretty cool pond garden in front you should stop at. There's a Prehistoric Garden featuring a T-Rex. Also children will enjoy the Fountain Garden. This is a way to cool off in summer. Even though the programs say there's an admission charge, you can still usually get in free. It's not like there's anyone at the gate. This is best in the summer, but there's also later year activities like hay mazes and whatever.

I love this dog park in Monroe. Small, but friendly people. Dog bags are available and the park has…read morebathrooms.

Kind service & so much fun. Did a Monday with kids & took us less than three hours. Can't wait to…read moredo it again!

This was my first time tubing in a river!…read more This place is almost two hours from Milwaukee! There's no cell phone reception but you'll have a great time without it. Make sure you download music before you leave home, and bring a speaker to play it as you ride along the river. When you arrive, there's not a ton of parking. I would recommend parallel parking on the streets and NOT parking in the 2 hour spots- those indicate that they will tow. Once you park, you go in a small building a pay for tubes. I believe it's $20 per person and $10 per "cooler tube". In the pictures attached you can see both types of tubes. This place is cash only!! They also have dog tubes. Not sure how much they cost, but they are pink and don't have a hole in the bottom. If you can snag a dog tube I would totally recommend riding in that as the water can get cold, and all my friends said their butts were really cold in the water. One of my friends and I did not have that issue with the dog tube. So once you get tubes, your coolers are checked for glass bottles! They are not allowed. They'll hand you ties to rope all your group's tubes together. You can see what I mean in the photos attached. From there you go to the river and basically tie all the tubes together, get in, and float for 4-5 hours! I would absolutely recommend taking some types of paddles/oars as we often ended up floating towards the banks of the river and had to find ways to push ourselves out. There were a few places you could get out of the river along the way, but at the first stop my friend got out and ended up walking into a bee hive! Stung 5 times. There's no first aid on the river, so if something like this happens to you unfortunately you just have to deal with it. It might make sense to bring a first aid kit just in case! In total there are four "markers" along the river. The exit comes after the fourth marker. When you go under the bridge you know you're nearing the end. When it's time to exit the river, there are employees that instruct you to stand and exit the river, leaving the tubes and all coolers behind. They pull all the tubes in and pass the coolers to you. There are a few portable restrooms there but I didn't use them. We then boarded a school bus (image attached) that took us on a 7 minute ride back to the original ticket purchase building, and that's the end. Overall, I thought it was fun. I didn't like that I had to pay in cash and I also did not enjoy that we were told we'd float for 3.5 hours and ended up floating for almost 5!

My wife grew up in Janesville, so we stopped by with our four-year-old granddaughter, who…read moreabsolutely loved the playground. Unfortunately, it was drizzling, so we didn't stay too long.

For a community park, this beats every other park I've been to thus far. We frequent this park…read moreoften during the week. Not in the winter, but in the summer we may be here 3 to 4 times a week. Some times we rode our bikes, 5 miles away from our home, to the park traveling on the ice age hiking trail and what a glorious trail that is. Once summer arrives, we eagerly await the opening of the wading pool. The closest thing we have to a beach really. The park is very well kept. The grasses are well maintained and trimmed. Restrooms are clean. There's also the travel center on the grounds, that also acts as the welcome station for Janesville. If you go there and tell them you are newly arrived they will give you a packet which includes several saving coupons that can be used at various stores and eateries. Parking is abundant and can be found at different locations through out the park. There are many picnic tables with fixed grills ready to be used. I bring a grill top just to be safe and clean when using these grills. You can fly kites, have large parties as people often do, and there are even short hikes with trail heads close by. The main attraction is the play ground itself. Designed like a large forest camp with many places to climb, run, explore it truly is heaven for kids as they run around expending energy. There are slides any one can go down. These have rollers so no matter how you are you will go down, and fast too. You really have to watch yourself coming down these type of slides. I have seen many adults land smack flat on their buttock, and I laugh every time watching them remembering my first time too. There's also rings for kids to strengthen their grip and rocking platforms to help control their balance. When the wading pool is open it gets crowded but several life guards are always present to make sure there is no misbehaving by kids as well as adults. The spouting whale slides and umbrella water rain falls are excellent attractions for the kids to take pictures on. The surrounding area also offers kids to begin their exploration of nature. There is lots to see in plants as well as bugs. Many have vibrant colors and are so strange looking that makes them very interesting. We loved coming here. It's a great way to spend family time while your kid unleashes that bottled up energy and get a good work out building his physical abilities with coordination. Many fond memories and pictures are here. Wish there was one close to us now.

First time wakeboarder here. I've skied many times but never got up on a wakeboard. After failing…read moreseveral times I'm happy to report, with the help of the talented and patient staff, I got up and rode for my first time! Came here with my family and we had an absolute blast. Very cool park set up with a cable system. It's tough to initially get the feel of taking off from a dead stop on the dock, but I do like the fact you're level with the water. Once you get a feel for it, the turns are also difficult (for a newbie) but not impossible. For the advanced riders, they have tons of features to ride on (or jump off of). As mentioned, the staff are friendly and helpful. They are all VERY good wakeboarders so they know their stuff. You can bring your own gear or rent from them. They have slow speed sessions or normal sessions, so if you're a beginner, go for the slow. A few small criticisms I had that would be easy to fix: -We came for a slow speed session and I was bummed they bumped up the speed halfway through the session right when I started getting the hang of it and I started falling again. I wish they wouldn't advertise a speed and then change it midway. They did bump it back down at the end of the session, which was good. -I think they need a little more padding on the shore by the first turn. If you fall there, to get onto the shore, you need to walk over rocks and they're painful on bare feet. -Our two younger nephews got a small burn on their shoulder from the life jacket rubbing against them? the adults were fine so not sure what that was about. All in all, a very positive experience for us and Rockford is very lucky to have a place like this! Can't wait to come back!

West Rock is a prime example for how EVERY cable park (and business) should be run. The staff are…read moreall-time, the park layout is incredible, the locals are very friendly, and the vibes simply can't be beat. This family owned & operated business does wonders with the community and is beyond passionate about the wakeboard industry. We travel from CA every season because we LOVE this place so much. I wish it was closer to the west coast, but the location is what makes this place beyond special. If you're looking into trying wakeboarding for the first time, West Rock is BY FAR the most affordable and provides the best experience for any ability level. Ask about their never ever (first timer) classes if you've never ridden before. A private coach will go above and beyond to get you riding and loving the sport as much as we do! Thanks for always delivering a 6 star experience for every day we ride your park!