Nineteen Can't-Miss Autumn Day Hikes along the Illinois-Wisconsin Border, Part 2

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

If living in a border county or traveling near the Wisconsin-Illinois state line, you may want to check out some of the great autumn trails in the region. The trails largely are in prairies, though two counties can be found in the Driftless Area along the Mississippi River and so are hillier.

Illinois

McHenry County
Day hikers can enjoy fall colors and the reflections of those harvest-hued canopies in ponds and lakes at Moraine Hills State Park. The 3.7-mile Lake Defiance Trail circles the lake, passing through woodlands and oak savannas. From McHenry, take North River Road south; the road becomes South River Road at the Charles J. Miller Memorial Highway. Turn left/northeast on Main Park Road. Leave your vehicle at the hickory ridge parking lot and take the connector to the main trail.

Stephenson County
A walk through a forest of oaks, hickory and walnut awaits on the plains of northern Illinois at Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park. Autumn is a particularly good time to hike the 2.6-mile High Point Trail. Located north of the park’s 40-acre lake, the four-loop trail winds past the tan and brown leaves of oaks and hickory and the yellows of walnut, as well as an evergreen pine planation. From Freeport, take U.S. Hwy. 20 west. Turn right/north onto Ill. Hwy. 73 then in Lena left/northwest onto East Lena Street and right/north onto County Road 7/North Lake Road. At the park, go left/west toward the Site Office and follow the road past Pine Ridge Campground to the parking lot. Cross the road to the trailhead. Note: The state park is closed for remodeling of facilities during 2020.

Winnebago County
Hikers can enjoy a blufftop view of a maple-oak forest at Seward Bluff in the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County. The 0.8-mile Seward Bluffs Trail sits above Grove Creek valley and passes through a forest of yellow-, orange- and red-leaved maples and tan-colored oaks. From Rockford, take U.S. Hwy. 20 west. Turn left/south on South Pecatonica Road and then right/west onto Comly Road. Go right/north on the entry road into the preserve and take the first right/north, crossing a bridge over the creek. The road curves in a U-shaped; park in a pullout and pick up the trail heading left/west from the center of the U-shaped curved. A stem leads to a figure 8 trail.

Wisconsin

Rock County
Hikers can see unique sandstone rock formations in an oak-dominated forest at Magnolia Bluff County Park. A 1-mile looping nature trail heads along the limestone and sandstone bluff, the county’s second highest point. Autumn is colorful in the forest of black, red and white oak, shagbark and bitternut hickories, American and slippery elms, black cherry, red and sugar maples, white ash, basswood, hackberry, aspen, white birch, black walnut, and butternut. From Evansville, go south on Wis. Hwy. 59 then left/south on North Croak Road. Enter the park by turning left/east and park in the lot where the road ends. Head straight-west from the lot and follow the loop south.
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A plethora of autumn colors await at the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville. More than a half mile of trails wind through the 20-acre site, where 4000 varieties of plants grow in 26 garden styles. The best sections in autumn include the North Woodland Path, which runs by a pond, and the woodland walk and woodland glen areas. From the intersection of Interstate 90 and U.S. Bus. Hwy. 14, take the latter northwest. Turn left/southwest onto Palmer Drive. The botanical gardens are on the right/north.

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Beautiful views of the Rock River amid a canopy of yellow and orange leaves awaits hikers at Big Hill Park in Beloit. The 190-acre park sits on bluffs overlooking the river. A great route is the 1.9-mile round trip unnamed trail that runs through the park's south side then turns north with the Rock River below and ends at a parking lot on the Big Hill's northeast side. From downtown Beloit, take Sixth Street/South Afton Road north. Turn right/east onto West Big Hill Road then left/north onto Big Hill Drive. Park at the environmental education center and walk south alongside Bill Hill Drive; the trailhead is on the road's left/east side.

Walworth County
Among the best places in southwest Wisconsin to enjoy fall colors are its moraine ridges. They offer terrain relief and slopes where different trees can flourish. One great trail for hiking a moraine is the 9-mile round trip Lake La Grange Trail. Part of the trail climbs to a ridge 200 feet above the surrounding terrain, sporting a hardwood forest of yellow-orange-red sugar maple, bronze basswood, and gold to maroon-colored white ash. From Whitewater, take Bluff Road east. Turn right/south on Duffin Road. Park at the Ole Oleson Historic Log Cabin and from there join head east on the connector to the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Go south on the Ice Age Trail.

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A pleasant walk through the woods past a tiny stream at Price Park Conservancy near Elkhorn will delight day hikers, especially during fall. The 0.51-mile Red Loop heads through a forest of sugar maple, shagbark hickory, elm, oak and dogwood and and a grove of evergreens near a tributary to Sugar Creek. In autumn, the trees turn orange-gold, with an occasional purple crown. From Elkhorn, take U.S. Hwy. 12 north. Turn right/east onto Potter Road. then left/north onto Hodunk Road. The parking lot is on the left/west.

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A pleasant walk alongside a small creek through a woods awaits hikers at Springs Park in Delavan. During autumn, the trees shimmer gold on the 1.3-mile round trip trail next to Swan Creek. The trail is located in the lower part of the 33-acre park. In Delavan, from the junction of Spring Lane and West Washington Street, take the latter east. Turn right/south into the park.

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Though known for its beautiful Lake Geneva shoreline, Big Foot Beach State Park is an excellent place to enjoy autumn leaves. Each fall, the leaves of hardwood trees turn gold, orange, russet and olive. One of the best routes for walking under the harvest-hued canopy is the 1.3-mile Yellow Trail, which loops through the park’s wooded western section and past Ceylon Lagoon. In Lake Geneva, take South Lake Shore Drive south to Buttons Bay. Turn left/east into the park and leave your vehicle at the first lot on the road’s left/north side. The trail is on the lot’s north side.

Read Part 2

Nineteen Can't-Miss Autumn Day Hikes along the Illinois-Wisconsin Border, Part 1

Hiking trail along Pike River, Petrified Springs Park, Kenosha County.

If living in a border county or traveling near the Wisconsin-Illinois state line, you may want to check out some of the great autumn trails in the region. The trails largely are in prairies, though two counties can be found in the Driftless Area along the Mississippi River and so are hillier.

Illinois

Boone County
Native prairie, small towns, an apple orchard, and a woodland with beautiful fall colors awaits hikers on the Long Prairie Trail. The paved rail to trail route runs 14.6 miles from northwest of Caledonia through Poplar Grove to northeast of Capron. A great segment is Caledonia to Beaver Creek just past Poplar Grove, as it largely stays away from the highway. Park in Caledonia in a trailhead lot at the corner of Main and Front streets for a 10-mile round trip. Trees buffer both sides of the trail almost the entire way.

Jo Daviess County
An impressive array of fall colors await at Apple River Canyon State Park. The 2-mile round trip River Route Nature Trail parallels the Apple River in one of the few Illinois counties that is part of the driftless area. Giant old sugar maples with amber, orange and scarlet leaves grace the picnic area at the trailhead. On the trail, musclewood resembles a small beech tree, but its dense orange-red canopy delivers far more spectacular colors. From Galena, take U.S. Hwy. 20 east. Turn left/north on North Canyon Park Road. Once in the park, leave your vehicle at the lot on the road’s west side before crossing Apple River.

Lake County
Hikers can ramble through an oak woods at the Van Patten Woods Forest Preserve. The 1.7-mile Yellow Trail – located on higher ground just east of the Des Plaines River’s – is a great way to enjoy fall colors, as the oak leaves change in late autumn to tan and brown with a few even orange and scarlet. Acorns abound. From the Wisconsin-Illinois border, take Interstate 94 south. Exit south onto U.S. Hwy. 41. Turn left/east onto Ill. Hwy. 173 then enter the preserve by going left/north. Make a right/east onto Forest Preserve Road. Park in the third lot you come to; it will be on the right/south. A connector trail links the park to the Yellow Trail.

Wisconsin

Grant County
Day hikers can explore an oak savanna that’s nearly 300 feet above the Wisconsin River at the Boscobel Bluffs State Natural Area. In autumn, the bluffside lights up in an array of colors. The 3-mile round trip trail climbs 400 feet on an old logging road along the Lower Wisconsin River valley’s south flank. After passing through a globally rare dry prairie, the trail reaches a savanna offering the yellow to brown leaves of bur oak, the rich gold of shagbark hickory, and the maroon of American hazelnut. From U.S. Hwy. 61/Elm Street in Boscobel, turn east onto Mary Street, which becomes Freemont Street and then County Road MS. Just past Oakes Street, a parking lot is on the left/north.

Green County
A variety of fall colors – including the golds of shagbark hickories, rich yellows of birch, and the bronze of dried prairie grass – await hikers on the Havenridge Nature Trail in New Glarus Woods State Park. The 4.2-mile trail heads through each of the park’s landscapes. Some of the trees here are enormous, as the hilly New Glarus Woods escaped the logger’s ax in the 1800s. Basswood, black walnut, elm and oak also can be found in the park. From New Glarus, head south on Wis. Hwy. 69. enter the park by turning right/west on County Road NN. Park in the first lot on the road’s left/south side.

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Tree leaves along the scenic Sugar River turn gold each autumn, making for a wonderful walk. The 2.5-mile round trip Sugar River Trail West runs on an old jeep trail that hugs the Sugar River between Brodhead and the Decatur Lake dam. Closer to a floodplain forest, this side of the river offers more trees than the Sugar River Trail that travels through farmland east of the waterway. From the junction of Wis. Hwy. 11 and County Road E in Brodhead, go north on the former. Turn left/west on Decatur Road. The parking lot and trailhead is at the Sugar River’s west side.

Kenosha County
Among the best places to see fall colors are streams, where the leaves reflect beautifully against the blue water or brighten a gray sky. Such is the case at Petrifying Springs Park, where an unnamed trail traverses 2 miles (round trip) through a woods and alongside Pike River in the park’s southwest corner. Be sure to take the side trails with footbridges crossing the river, where you can enjoy orange and yellow leaves on trees and shrubs, some of them falling into the water and slowly gliding downstream. In Kenosha, from Wis. Hwy. 31 exit east onto Berryville Road/7th Street. Take the second right/south. Drive 0.17 miles to the second parking lot. Pick up the hiking trail from the paved sidewalk on the lot’s west side, going southwest into the woods.

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Hikers can experience the richly colored orange-red leaves of the hawthorn tree that grows along Pike Creek near Kenosha. The 0.4-mile looping Hawthorn Trail runs in the Hawthorn Hollow Nature Sanctuary and Arboretum. Hawthorns grow from 16 to 49 feet tall, and when more shrub than tree-like, their leaves branch out all around the trunk from the ground to its top. A bonus in autumn: The woods is a major stopover for migrating songbirds. From Kenosha, head north on Wis. Hwy. 31. After crossing Somers Road, turn left/west into the nature sanctuary. Park at the nature center; the trail begins west of it.

Lafayette County
Ridgetop views, an oak woods, and prairie grasses await hikers on the Windy Ridge Trail at Yellowstone State Park. The 1.7-mile trail passes through an oak grove, where leaves shine tan, red and brown overhead and oodles of acorns crunch underfoot. From Darlington, take County Road F northeast. Turn right/southeast onto N. Lake Road. Go left/northeast on the road leading tot he campground and park int the lot past the turnoff to the campground. Walk the road south back toward the turnoff; the trailhead is on the road’s left side.

Read Part 2

Best sights to see at Gateway Arch park

The Gateway Arch and St. Louis skyline from Malcom Martin Memorial Park
Trail at Gateway Arch National Park.

Among the best ways to see Gateway Arch National Park’s top sights is via a day hike.

Formerly known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the St. Louis, Missouri, site became America's 60th national park in February 2018.

Just three short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – the historic Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse, the Mississippi River, and great views of the arch and downtown skyline.

Historic Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse
The urban Gateway Arch Trail allows travelers to explore Westward Expansion of the United States. Running about a mile in length, the trail takes you around and to the top of the 630-foot high Gateway Arch, let’s you learn about how Thomas Jefferson and pioneers shaped the West’s history at the new Museum at the Gateway Arch, and offers a tour of the Old Courthouse where slave Dred Scott sued to gain his freedom. Among the best spots to begin the hike is the Riverboat/Arch Bus Drop-Off. This allows you to start on the arch’s east side with the Mississippi River behind you, so that you enter St. Louis and the West just as so many pioneers and settlers did.

Mississippi River views
A nearly mile-long riverfront trail runs along the Mississippi River from one end of the park to the other on the St. Louis side. The confluence of the Missouri River with the Mississippi River just north of the city marks the northern point of the “middle Mississippi,” which runs 190 miles south to the Ohio River confluence. Unlike the Mississippi River to the north, the middle section is fairly free flowing. Pick up the trail from the bottom of the Grand Staircase on the Gateway Arch’s east side.

Views of Gateway Arch
Without a doubt, the best view of the arch and at night of the St. Louis skyline is across the Mississippi River at the former Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park. The part of the national park in East St. Louis, Ill., features the impressive Gateway Geyser (which can shoot water into the air as high as the Gateway Arch at 63 stories) and the five-story Mississippi River Observation Deck. To reach the park, from St. Louis drive the Eads Street Bridge across the river then go left on Riverpark Drive, left onto South Front Street, then left onto West Trembley Avenue to the parking lot. The 0.55-mile Malcolm Martin Memorial Park Trail circles the park’s greens.

Walk heads to 11-story Chicago lighthouse

Grosse Point Light

Grosse Point Light aerial map. Click for larger version.

Lighthouse aficionados can explore one of the few light stations in the Chicago metro area at Grosse Point Light in Evanston.

The brief 0.1-mile walk heads to an 11-story tower that guided ships along the Lake Michigan shoreline to Chicago Harbor. It sits north of Chicago, the king of ports on the Great Lakes.

To reach the lighthouse, from Interstate 94 in Evanston, exit onto Old Orchard Road and head east. At Gross Point Road, turn left/northeast then at Central Street go right/east. Turn left/north onto Sheridan Road and take the very next right/east. Park in the lot for the Harley Clarke Mansion. The lighthouse is south of the Clarke Mansion.

The 113-foot tower rises over a 3.5-acre site only a few hundred feet from what is now Lighthouse Beach. It protected ships from dangerous shoals just off the shore in Lake Michigan.

141 steps
After several shipping disasters near the point – particularly the 1860 sinking of the Lady Elgin, which claimed more than 300 lives – a lighthouse was constructed there in 1873. The lamp was lit the following year.

The keeper's quarters, made of Cream City Brick encased in concrete bracketing, follows the Italianate design. It is yellow with red trim and a red roof.

Its conical light tower stands on a concrete foundation. The tower consists of two walls with air space between them. The inner wall is 8 inches thick and rises vertically while the outer wall is 12 inches thick and slightly inclined. At the base, the tower is 22-feet around but narrows to 13 feet 3 inches at its parapet. Inside, 141 steps lead to the top. Glass and iron construction make up the lantern section, and the roof is copper sheeting.

In its heyday, the lighthouse flashed twice every 15 seconds. The light could be seen up to 21 miles away.

Tours and beach
The lighthouse was automated in 1935 and temporarily inactive from 1941-45, as a precaution against possible air raids. Since then it has served as a secondary navigational aid.

One local legend states that in 1674 explorer Father Jacques Marquette landed on Grosse Point. There is no historical evidence, however, that the landing occurred.

Despite Chicago’s rich maritime history and role as the largest Midwest port, Grosse Point is the only real lighthouse museum in the metro area. The grounds can be walked any time of the year with the keeper's quarters and the tower open on summer weekends. Tour sizes are limited to 12, and children under 8 years old are not allowed.

After taking in the lighthouse, you can extend the visit by heading to Lighthouse Beach. A path from the Clarke Mansion parking lot heads east to the sand beach.

Ten haunted Midwestern hikes to take this Halloween

This Halloween, day hike a haunted trail…if you dare. Allegedly haunted trails – sporting ghosts, monsters and extraterrestrial visitors – abound throughout the Midwest.

Among the trails you might day (er, night) hike are:
g Try spotting Wisconsin’s most famous ghost on Military Ridge State Trail: see trail
g Look for Bigfoot while day hiking Minnesota state forest trail: see trail
g Search for ghosts of orphans on Charley Western Trail in Iowa: see trail
g Walk atop alleged secret UFO base in Wisconsin recreational park: see trail
g Look for sea monster on Minnesota-Wisconsin border lake see trail
g Avoid hell hounds and girl’s spirit in Midwest’s most haunted swampland: see trail
g Share Upper Peninsula lighthouse with dead keeper’s ghost: see trail
g Frolic with murdered woman’s spirit on haunted sand dunes: see trail
g Keep eye out for human-eating demon on Lost River State Forest trail: see trail
g Head to ancient crater that attracts aliens in western Wisconsin see trail

Happy Halloween!

Find out about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Hike new trail through region that celebrated Illinois’ first Thanksgiving

Made-up news story
leads to celebration
in Sangamon Valley

These days, suburban housing developments are filling the broad flat fields of western Springfield, Ill. Nearly 200 years ago, though, it was dotted with prairie homesteaders who first celebrated Thanksgiving in Illinois – largely because of a hoax.

Day hikers in the Springfield area now can cross this historical region via the Sangamon Valley Trail. A 1.6-mile (3.2-miles round trip) segment of the trail makes for a perfect hike to reflect upon Thanksgiving blessings.

To reach the trail, from Interstate 72, take exit 91, heading north on Old Route 54/Wabash Avenue. Turn left onto County Road 3 South/Bunker Hill Road; after passing Lenhart Road, take the next right into Centennial Park. The parking lot is to the right of the entry road.

From the lot’s north end, walk west between the two holding ponds. Then cut across the grass, following a makeshift dirt trail to the SVT.

Former railroad bed
Paved and flat, both walkers and bicyclists use the trail, which opened in summer 2011. The pathway used to be tracks for the Chicago and North Western Railroad.

Before the railways crisscrossed the country, this area was home to the few Yankee settlers among the Kentuckians and Virginians who pioneered central Illinois. The Southerners saw little reason to celebrate the “Yankee” holiday of Thanksgiving.

Then in autumn 1838, the Chicago Democrat newspaper published a proclamation, issued by Gov. Joseph Duncan, declaring Nov. 29 as a day of Thanksgiving. Simeon Francis, the Connecticut-born editor of the Sangamo Journal that covered these parts at the time, reprinted the article, heralded the bringing of a great New England tradition to the Prairie State, and asked for anyone who had a pumpkin to deliver it to him as such a squash was an essential part of the celebration.

And some did celebrate it.

Unfortunately, the proclamation turned out to be a hoax. In the Dec. 1, 1838, edition of the Sangamo Journal, Francis ran a retraction.

“A large lot of pumpkin pies”
The push for Illinois’ first official Thanksgiving soon followed, however. On Nov. 4, 1842, the Presbyterian State Synod meeting in Bloomington adopted a resolution calling for Thursday, Nov. 25, to be an observance of Thanksgiving. Feeling the political pressure to respond, on Nov. 12, 1842, Gov. Thomas Carlin named the last Thursday of December as “a Day of Thanksgiving” throughout the state.

That gave Frances the last laugh. On the pages of the Sangamo Journal, he hailed the two proclamations, and to educate his Southern neighbors, he wrote that the Thanksgiving meal required turkey, chicken, geese, partridge and “a large lot of pumpkin pies.”

As to the Sangamon Valley Trail, trees nicely wall it through Centennial Park. Upon leaving the park at Lenhart Road, the trail opens to farmland. The trail does cross two roads – Lenhart and West Iles – so watch for traffic.

Greenbriar Drive marks a good spot to turnaround. If you have a little more energy, however, keep walking to Archer Elevator Road, which is 2 miles one-way (4 miles round trip), or all the way to Stuart Park on Springfield’s northwest side, for a 5.5-mile one-way (11 miles round trip) hike.

Find out about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.