BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER & AUTHOR OF THE “NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND” BLOG
I’ve driven past Willow Springs Woods (near Willow Springs, Illinois) innumerable times on the way to Red Gate Woods, Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve, and Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. One day last October, I decided to stop to take a quick hike before heading to Cap Sauers for an all-day hike.
I’m glad I stopped. I hiked in solitude amidst towering oaks that were just beginning to show their fall colors, the sound of birdsong, and views of the last asters of the season. The asters were a welcome sight given that nearly all the other blooms were spent. The preserve is hilly in some parts, and hiking up and down the hills makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something even if it’s just a hike. I spent about 30 minutes walking the Yellow East Trail, 1.2 miles of which traverse the hills above Flavin Road/104th Avenue. There are also small creeks just off the trail if you’d like to explore a bit.
Earlier this week, I returned to Willow Springs Woods. I once again enjoyed a short hike there before heading to Cap Sauers Holding, which is about a 10-minute drive away. The woods were alive with harbingers of spring. Cutleaf toothwort blanketed the forest floor. Birdsong was my soundtrack as I mostly walked the Orange Trail that headed east toward Old Country Lane. Three bluejays chased one another in the trees and sky as I walked. Robins bounced around on the ground looking for food, and I was reminded of the robin who has built a nest under our deck overhang. (I hope to see some babies in the next week or so.) A chipmunk stood still long enough that I probably could have painted a quick picture of him as he perched atop a log. The preserve had recently reopened after closure for restoration activities. Over the years, volunteers have removed invasive plants such as honeysuckle, barberry, reed canary grass, and thistles, as well as non-native trees, to open the canopy and restore native species. I also walked a bit of the Yellow Trail that travels along the hills above Flavin Road/104th Avenue. Despite it parallelling the road (but rising high above it), it’s a pleasant walk that I preferred over the eastward trail.
I hiked in solitude. I savored the flowers and birdsong. It was a beautiful, sunny morning on a day that would reach the mid-70s. Willow Springs Woods was a good opening act for the great Cap Sauers Holding, which I’ve written about often here at “Nature in Chicagoland.”
Making a musical comparison, I’d say hiking at Willow Springs Woods before Cap Sauers Holding is like enjoying an Ashley Monroe performance before seeing Dolly Parton perform . . . or seeing:
Marshall Crenshaw before Elvis Costello
Beat Happening before the Minutemen
Anita O’Day before Ella Fitzgerald
Digable Planets before a Tribe Called Quest
Long Ryders before the Jayhawks
Superchunk before Pavement
Frank Sinatra before Tony Bennett
But, of course, these are my personal forest preserve and musical preferences.
Now that I’ve riled up both nature- and music-lovers, I encourage you to visit both destinations. We are so lucky to have these vast wildlands close to the city in the Palos Division within the Forest Preserves of Cook County. God bless the visionaries who protected this land decades ago, as well as the professionals and volunteers who are engaging in the herculean task of restoring it in some way to pre-European–contact Illinois.
The Willow Spring Woods parking lot (near Picnic Grove #1) is an excellent starting point for several longer hikes. For example, you can take the Yellow East trail to the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. On the way, you’ll travel through the beautiful Cranberry Slough Nature Preserve. In 1965, the preserve was dedicated as only the fifth nature preserve in Illinois. These preserves protect the highest quality natural lands in the state. Cranberry Slough Nature Preserve is special because it contains one of only a handful of peat bog ecosystems in Illinois. “A unique ecological community developed in this hollow, formed by an ice block stranded during the retreat of the glacier some 14,000 years ago,” according to Forest Preserves of Cook County. “Plants such as sphagnum moss, a more typical inhabitant of the cooler climes of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, share company with familiar prairie and woodland species, such as white wild indigo, marsh blazing star, and tall bellflower.” A slough is the colloquial name for a shallow pond or wetland.
Note: It’s about 4.5 miles one way from the Willow Springs Woods parking lot to the nature center. The entire Palos Trail System is 42.1 miles in length.
You can also use the trails to connect to:
- Spears Woods: To learn more, check out my article, Spears Woods: Room to Roam Amidst Rolling Hills, Sloughs, and Oak Woodlands
- Hidden Pond Woods (via a connection to the Orange Trail): For more info, check out my article, Hidden Pond Woods: What if You Held a Nature Party and No One Came?
Things to Know Before You Go
Entrance: Willow Springs Road/Flavin Road, southeast of S. Archer Avenue, Cook County, IL 60480
Click here for a trail map.
Hours: year-round: sunrise to sunset
Dogs allowed (on-leash only)
There are two picnic groves with shelters. Both have a capacity of 200 people.
Copyright (text): Andrew Morkes
Copyright (photos): Andrew Morkes, except Bluejay (Frank Miles, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS) and Cutleaf Toothwort (Jessica Bolser, USFWS)
Looking for some great nature destinations in Chicagoland? If so, check out my book, Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit. It features amazing destinations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Click on the title to learn more. The book has 306 pages and 210+ photos and is only $18.99. Nature in Chicagoland received great reviews in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown, This Week in Birding blog, and Beverly Review.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT ANDREW MORKES
I have been a writer and editor for nearly 30 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the author and publisher of “The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends” blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I’m also a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school.
In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 60 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, the Vault Career Guide to Accounting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series) and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades and Cool Careers in Science series).
Here’s a list of the environmental-focused titles that I’ve written:
- Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit
- Wind Turbine Technicians (Great Careers Without a Bachelor’s Degree series)
- Environmental Scientists (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Renewable Energy Careers (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Environment (Getting Started series)
- Solar Power Technicians (Careers in Infrastructure series)
One thought on “Willow Springs Woods: Rolling Hills, Peaceful Trails, and a Great Connection to the Palos Trail System”