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!