September 2020 – Hiking with Dillon

Dirksen Revisited

On Sunday, September 27, my husband, Dillon and I headed out to Dirksen Park in Pekin, again. I wanted to see if I could find where the trail crosses the creek, but coming from the opposite direction.

We cross the first bridge after leaving the parking lot and I noticed the leaves are really changing in the two weeks since I was last there. When we crossed the bridge, we headed left this time. Last time I was there, I had headed to the right.

It was a beautiful, curving path along the creek with some fun “obstacles” along the way. They are meant for the bikers, but hey, we can have fun on them, too!

After this area, we met the first steep incline of the day and it probably was the hardest one of the whole trail. I was glad Scott was carrying Dillon, this time. After a mile or so in a fairly wooded area, we came to an open pasture. It has a slight incline right when you come out of the woods, but heads back downhill after you get to the top.

After this spot, you are mostly back in the woods most of the time. We came up to the spot where AllTrails tells us to cross the creek. Again, we could not find any indication of where we are supposed to cross, so we kept going. We ended up doing the North Blue loop, which is about 3/4 of a mile. It was probably less pretty than most of the spots on Orange, but it had some really interesting spots.

We got to this one area when the trail is really close to the edge and you are pretty high up looking down at the creek. These next to photos are looking down at a bridge and then standing on that bridge looking up.

With the leaves starting to fall on the ground, Dillon wanted to pick up every single one and throw it in the creek. They definitely have some fun, huge ones in the park if you are looking to go on a leaf hunt.

This trail took us back to Orange, back to the area around the creek where it says we are supposed to cross. So we headed back on the same path as I did the first time visiting the park. I’m still frustrated I can’t find where it crosses, but really enjoyed this longer loop. I was glad we came back to check it out, so I know what to expect for the next time we go.

We ended up doing 4.4 miles. Its a hilly hike and keep your eyes peeled for mountain bikers, but overall, I really love this park and its becoming one of my favorites.

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and me!

Dickson Mounds Trails

On Tuesday, my sister, Dillon and I headed down to Dickson Mounds to check out their new trails. If you don’t know what Dickson Mounds is, I highly recommend checking it out. The Dickson Mounds Museum, a branch of the Illinois State Museum and a National Register Historic Site, is one of the major on-site archaeological museums in the United States. It offers a unique opportunity to explore the world of the American Indian in an awe inspiring journey through 12,000 years of human experience in the Illinois River Valley.

On September 17, Dickson Mounds posted on their Facebook page about their new trail system, so of course I had to check that out right away. When we arrived, the main parking lot at the museum wasn’t open yet, so we parked at the Prairie Hill parking lot. I have been going to Dickson Mounds for 30 years and never knew there was a playground on the property. We let Dillon play a bit while we got our bearings.

We figured out we would head North on Blue. When we got to the intersection of Blue, Green and Purple, we headed West on Blue/Green.

When we got to the area where Blue and Green split, we headed North on Green up to Red.

The trails had a good variety of forest and field.

The trails were cleared really well. There were a couple of hills, but nothing too crazy. There were plenty of good resting trees if you needed it.

We walked on Red down to the Museum parking lot and walked along the south portion of Purple back to Blue.

We then headed back through the Prairie Hill parking lot down to Yellow. We walked down the hill on Yellow to the bridge, but then decided to head back up. Going back up the hill on Yellow was the hardest part of the hike that day.

We ended up doing about 1.7 miles that day.

Overall, the trails were really nice. I highly recommend checking them out. They were mostly marked well, some areas confused us a bit, so I would make sure you have a map printed before you head out. They did have maps at some intersections, but not all.

You could definitely make a day of it. Go hike in the morning, have a picnic at the park, then visit the Museum.

Also, not far from Dickson Mounds is Emiquon Nature Preserve. At more than 6,000 acres, Emiquon is one of the largest floodplain restoration projects in the Midwest. I highly recommend visiting it, especially as we are nearing migration season.

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and I!

Ulrich Wildlife Preserve

On Saturday, we headed out with some friends to check out the new trails at Ulrich Wildlife Preserve in Morton. Having grown up in Morton, I never knew about this park until a couple of years ago when I saw there were some geocaches placed here. I never made it out there to find them because the fact that it was just woods without any trails unnerved me a little bit. I didn’t want to get lost in a place I wasn’t familiar with. Fast forward to 2020 and the Morton Park District has decided to start developing a trail system after years of talking about it.

When you arrive, it is located at the dead end of Turtle Creek Trail. Right now, there is not a parking lot or anything, so you just park in the street in front of people’s houses.

As you head into the park, right away you see a trail, so we headed in that direction. There are not any maps or trail markers at this time, so you basically need to figure it out for yourself. It seems a little daunting, but since I was recording our route in AllTrails, it wasn’t that bad.

The trails are pretty established. The park reminds me a lot of Dirksen or Forest Park. All forested, however, it borders a creek, and that made for some fun playtime for the toddlers.

The park also has some fun “obstacle” course activities that the kids enjoyed. Nothing huge, but for a toddler, it was pretty cool.

They also had some really nice bridges and boardwalks that were built this summer.

There were a few hills, but nothing crazy and my friend’s toddler who isn’t quite a year older than Dillon was able to walk the entire route that we did. Dillon did a little bit at the end.

We didn’t see a lot of wildlife outside of some squirrels, birds and chipmunks, but we did see some pretty cool fungi.

Overall, this was a really nice park and I would like to try to make it back out there soon to check out more of it. Hopefully in the next few weeks when the leaves start changing.

My fitbit said we did around 1.3 miles. I was recording it in AllTrails, but accidentally turned it off while we were playing at the creek.

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and I!

Gold Mine Trail

Today, Dillon, a couple friends, and I checked out the Gold Mine Trail at the Mackinaw River State Fish and Wildlife Area. This was a trail none of us had been to before and there really aren’t a lot of reviews out there on it. Its roughly 2.5 miles long and a loop. After you park, you walk past the dove fields. This time of year, there is hunting in progress, so just be cautious of dove and squirrel hunters.

After you get past this, you enter into the woods. The trail is very well maintained and about 3 people wide most of the way.

About 75% of the trail is pretty flat. The rest that were inclines were not that bad. Somewhat steep, but short. The trail splits at one point and there is a sign that says “Long Trail – Short Trail”. We went to the left on the Long Trail.

We were the only ones on the trail the whole time we were there. Walking in, we saw someone dove hunting in the distance. Leaving there was someone in the parking lot. Although the trails are really well maintained, I don’t think its a very busy area.

We came up to a creek which follows along the path a little ways, which is pretty dried up right now. This area is a little more rolling and very pretty and peaceful woods.

Shortly after this, we came to a “T” in the road with a sign pointing “Long Trail” at the direction we came from, “Short Trail” to the right, then another trail to the left, but no sign saying what it was or where it went. We decided to hop on “Short Trail” since we figured it took us back to the parking lot. It was a fairly good incline up, but short and the trail lived up to its name because we reached the original “T” from where the two split in no time at all.

At this point, we decided to do another loop, just to get some extra mileage. My fitbit registered at about 2.15 miles at that point, but my AllTrails recording was showing just at 2 miles. We turned back the way we came so we did the loop backwards.

At one point, I let Dillon out to walk a bit, although it didn’t last long because he was getting too distracted and I was ready for lunch.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trail. I’ve submitted it to AllTrails so it hopefully shows up as a new trail in the app. It currently is not listed. I would like to go back to see where that other trail leads to, sometime. Maybe you have done this and know?

With doing the loop twice, we did about 4.25 miles today, so not too bad!

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and I!

3 Miles at Comlara Park

Today, Dillon and I set out at a new to us park, Comlara Park in Hudson, Illinois. Comlara Park has a little bit of everything. Hiking, fishing, boating, camping, etc. You could make a weekend out of it there. I decided to check out the John English Memorial Trail, which is 4 miles, out and back. Dillon was on my back and a friend joined me carrying her 18 month old on her back and her 4 year old walked.

We parked at the park and had to walk a little ways to the trailhead, but you could definitely park at the Visitor Center. There are a few parking spots that are 2 hour parking. Parking at the Visitor Center would put you right at the trailhead.

Right away, you get some great views of the Evergreen Lake. We saw some geese and cranes on the lake, but that was about the extent of the wildlife.

The trails were all maintained really well. There were a couple of offshoots, so I was glad I had the AllTrails app to refer to, because there weren’t any signs.

The trails were also mostly flat, a couple of spots were hilly, but nothing crazy. We even saw someone pushing a stroller.

We ended up turning around a little after 1.5 miles. Since my friend’s 4 year old was walking on his own, we decided to turn back before he tired himself out too much and couldn’t walk back. He did awesome for what we did, though!

The last .2 miles, I let Dillon out of the carrier to walk on his own. He really loved chasing his friend and stopped to pick up a ton and VERY sticky pinecones. I think he still has sap on him 11 hours later, even after a bath.

Overall, this is a really nice trail, especially if you have young kids that are able to walk themselves. They could probably do most of it. I would really like to go back to this park and make a weekend out of it, camping, kayaking and hiking.

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and I!

Everett McKinley Dirksen Park Hike

On Saturday, September 5th, Dillon and I set out to hike the Running Deer Trail at Everett McKinley Dirksen Park in Pekin. After reading the reviews on AllTrails, I knew I needed to record the hike because the trails can get really confusing. Dirksen Park is about 400 acres of woodland and prairie. It used for mountain biking and hiking and there are quite a few offshoot trails from the old days it was used a BMX park.

I made sure to spray ourselves down with bug spray before we headed out. I’m not sure if it helped or not, but the trails did not seem that bad when we were there.

We set out and right away you cross a wooden bridge with no rails. I’m the type of person that hates heights if I’m not enclosed and will not walk over sidewalk grates. This felt like I was walking over those. Had there been water in the creek, I’m not sure I could have walked over it. It made me pretty nervous!

Once we crossed the bridge, we headed right. I think the official map shows the route going left, but I don’t think it matters.

The trail takes you along the creek, which in early September was pretty dry, but I bet its beautiful when flowing.

Right off the bat, we came to a “Y” in the trail with no signs or directions telling us which way to go. Luckily, I was recording our route, so I knew to head left. This happened a few more times and I was glad I had the app.

There are some pretty good elevation changes, but nothing a novice couldn’t do.

Dillon loved to stop and feel the bark on the trees and I used that as a good excuse to catch my breath after a steep climb.

We crossed another creek, which was fairly dried up again. This bridge was not as scary as the other.

Most of the hike was wooded, but we did come to a small prairie opening that made for some pretty views.

After crossing the prairie, this next wooded area was my favorite part of the trail. The woods were a little more open, not a lot of under story growth. We saw a deer in here, and you walked along a ridge that overlooked the creek, which was beautiful. I bet its awesome in the Fall.

After this area is where I got lost. Somewhere around 2 miles, the map shows you crossing a creek. I could not for the life of me find this crossing. There is another trail that heads North and we started wandering on that a bit, but after pulling up a different map, I could tell it would take us way out of our way and I didn’t want to get stuck somewhere being alone with Dillon.

I headed back to try to look for the crossing a little bit longer, but did not have any luck. I decided to just turn back and go the way we came.

On our way back, I encountered two mountain bikers, but they were the only people I saw the entire time.

When we got back, my overall mileage was just at 4 miles, so even though I didn’t complete the loop, I’m still proud of what we did.

I will try this one gain, but I think I will head in the opposite direction next time to see if I can find the crossing coming from the other way.

The park is beautiful, but not well marked. There are not any “You Are Here” maps and there are some color markings on trees, but most were pretty worn off. I would recommend it, but make sure you have a good map, or are using the AllTrails app.

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and I!