What else are you going to do in 70 plus degrees on a Saturday in March? Yes, go for a 3 mile walk!…read more My wife and I have been itching to go for a walk since we go here every Saturday from Spring to late Fall. The entrance we go to is off Dundee road and i had plenty of parking! The trails are well kept and the trees look great in the summer and even more beautiful in the fall. There are gravel trails and paved trails. We typically use the paved trails. People are very courteous when running or riding bikes. They call out that they are passing which it great for safety reasons. The different birds and sometimes we see deer grazing and it's beautiful to see. Along the path there is a radio controlled area where people can fly their gas powered airplane. It is pretty to cook to see and they are very skilled! It has a runway which looks cool, like it is a mini airport. I highly recommend coming here during the summer for hiking, biking, roller blading, picnics, etc. I'll update pictures for each of the seasons!!!!

What a beautiful day it was to attend a cystic fibrosis walk with some of my colleagues. I enjoyed…read morecoming here.

I returned here after visiting about 30 years ago, and was very impressed with the trails. You can…read morespend many days here and still not see all the areas the park offers. We parked at the Oak Opening area and hiked down to Lake Defiance, taking the Lake Defiance Trail. We stopped at the Nature Center to see some displays and chat with the ranger, and then continued our hike. Seeing the moraines, the leftover hills and ridges from the retreating Wisconsin Glacier, 10's of thousands of years ago, was a geologic trip through time. This is a great local state park that does not have an entrance fee! (None of our state parks have entrance fees to the best of my knowledge!) This is a place I can't wait to get back to explore, right in the backyard of the Chicago 'burbs!

Very thankful my son recommended training for long runs at Moraine Hills. His mapping of the route…read moreprovided a great roadmap. There is signage, mileage marking and different surfaces (soft and asphalt). for the trails. The varying elevations provide great opportunities to train well. It did not disappoint. Thank you!!

The bog itself is a small loop like 1/2 a mile. There's another trail around it, who knows how far…read moreit goes. Definitely cool to be on a bog, and walking on the supported apparatus is fun as they wiggle all over and you might fall in! Kewl.

I first visited Volo Bog in the early 90s with an environmental biology class I was taking at CLC…read more I've returned many times since then to hike the large outer ring trail. I recently returned with a group to see a presentation slide show and do a guided walk through the bog interpretive trail and had a really great time. It was the first time I'd done the guided tours or experienced the presentations. The docents and people working here are really great and you can tell they enjoy what they do here. They were very friendly and open with our group and everything was very informative. The fall colors were beautiful! I wish I'd seen a muskrat this time but the temp was chilly and they were probably all hunkered down. I did see lots of birds! If you enjoy nature you should definitely visit Volo Bog.

Prairie Wolf has a 1-mile self-guided trail and a 1.75 -mile for hiking, biking and XC skiing. The…read morepreserve includes a 20-acre wetland as part of its 435 acres. Enter off Rt22. The Prairie Wolf Off-leash dog area is accessed off Waukegan Road. An annual or daily permit is required. The area I've pictured here, is off Old Elm and there are no trails or parking in this upper northern section of the preserve. Prairie Wolf is another name for coyote and certainly you can hear the packs howling and yipping (especially January through March).

Great little trail! Stroller and dog friendly! Great for bird watching! Can't wait to visit again!read more

The park in general is very nice and beautiful. Lots of thing to do. That alone is 5 stars…read moreespecially being so close. But the thing that ruins it is the Rangers/dedicated law enforcement for this area. They are just fishing for whatever like they have nothing better to do. I've heard stories but my personal story is I got pulled over, complained about how I was speeding and then threatened to search the car. Absolute power trip. Other then the tyrants that work here very beautiful place.

Very rude front desk staff. Ruined the experience of wanting to take the trail walk. She was…read moreunwilling to listen

Grassy Lake is a nice place for a good walk in nature. Bikes are not allowed here so it is good…read morefor a quiet stroll without a biker flying by you. Barrington does an exceptional job in keeping this place in tip top shape. The signs and paths are well marked. My only gripe is, the paths don't form a loop, so once you reach the end, you have to turn it around and head back the same way you came.

There was a family event here so we decided to come check the place out. Even though my kiddo is…read moreonly two, she liked seeing some of the stuff they had on exhibit and they also had coloring pages and whatnot. We got here near the tail end of the event, so we didn't spend much time inside and went walking along the little trail where they had signs up with information about turkeys spread out through a little loop around the woods. It's a lovely preserve, and I'll bet it's particularly beautiful in the spring and summer. The building is small but sufficient to have some programs and there are bathrooms here. There are a few outbuildings as well; I'm not sure if there are programs there too or not. There's a good deal of parking here. Keep an eye on their calendar to have an excuse to come out, or just spend some time wandering the trails in peace and quiet.

This place is stunning. My neighbor told me about it and I promptly took a drive up here that…read moreafternoon just a few days after "peak" fall colors. It's amazing. I wasn't adequately prepared because it was a spur of the moment decision, so I didn't have a jacket or warm enough clothes, so I didn't stay or walk around too long. (And sadly their giftshop didn't have any sweatshirts -- I would've bought one if they had because it would've solved my problem. So, note to Ryerson: sell sweatshirts in the fall!). I've since come back here for an art exhibit (see my review on the Brushwood Center page for that info). I cannot wait to return again in the spring and definitely multiple times next fall. I want to explore it all.

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.

Dirt trails biking, hiking and horseback riding. Canoeing along the Des Plaines rivers sand bank if…read moreyou want to go fishing