Trail Distance: 3.5 miles
Trail Surface: Woodchip
Type of Use: Fat tire/mountain, Leisure/touring
Towns:  Palos Heights, Crestwood, Orland Park, Oak Forest Country Club Hills, Tinley Park, Flossmoor
County: Cook
Intensity of Use: Medium
Setting: Lake, waterfall
Connecting Trails: Tinley Creek
Directions for parking: Park in the lot west of Harlem on Route 83.
Trail Map:

Rider's Comments: When Palos Heights converted an unused plot along the Cal-Sag channel from a dump to a 158-acre nature preserve complete with a large lake, prairies, wetlands, a waterfall garden, and 3.6 miles of trails, it caught the attention of then First Lady Barbara Bush.  The unique design of this preserve allowed it to earn the 1992 National Landscaping Award, presented by Bush.

When you first visit the preserve, you will encounter a beautiful waterfall and a rippling brook complete with ducks and butterflies!  Take the mile long trail along Katherine Lake, a 20-acre manmade lake, and you will reach an overlook of the Cal-Sag channel.  Reforestation attempts are underway by local children complete with spruce, pine, and other deciduous trees.  At the west end of the lake is a 1/2 mile trail through lowlands.

The east end of the lake boasts a nature center and the Buzz N' Bloom prairie, which contains over 100 native prairie species.  Take a trail through the prairie and you will reach a footbridge over another bubbling creek and eventually Harlem Avenue.   There is an underpass on Harlem allowing access to the 33-acre Eastern Preserve with two miles of trails through woods and prairies!

Beaver, coyote, and fox have been spotted here as well as great horned owl, black-crowned night heron, and many types of nesting birds. Bank swallows are being attracted to the area through the installation of clay tubes along the channel.

For Detailed Information Contact:
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
536 N Harlem Av
River Forest, IL 60305
708-366-9420 or 773-261-8400

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