Into the Wild

Moraine Hills Trails

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McHenry County, Illlinios

Gerardia

Photo: Sheri Sparks/Root Resources

A must-do for area bikers as well as nature lovers on foot, the winding, hilly trails at Moraine Hills State Park pass through more than 2,500 acres of quiet kettle-moraine landscape. The park’s entire trail system covers more than ten miles in a series of connected loops that wrap far out around beautiful, rich savannas, open uplands, lakes, prairies, a bog, and riverside wetlands.

Bikers can begin their trip at the Opossum Run parking lot, just off Main Park Road. Heading northwest around the 3.2-mile Leatherleaf Bog trail, civilization seems further away with every push into the cool shade of towering red, white, and bur oaks. The scenery on this stretch is so enchantingly beautiful that bikers may need to remind themselves to pay attention to the twists and turns of the trail. The well-maintained crushed-limestone trails (best for mountain bikes, but generally fine for road bikes) are well respected, but it wasn’t always so. After a period of unfortunate damage to some sensitive plant areas, the state Conservation Police aggressively pursued off-roaders, and the campaign has served as a good deterrent. Years of controlled burns and management by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are evident in the expansive wildflower colonies (especially in spring) and the clear view to the water’s edge. The trails pass several islands, where herons stand knee-deep in open water that glistens in the evening sunlight.

Moraine Hills wetlands, from the trail

Photo: Ray Mathis

Traveling south around the far side of Leatherleaf Bog, bikers can choose to take the 3.7-mile Lake Defiance Trail or the 3-mile River Road Trail. At Lake Defiance, visitors can walk out onto a boardwalk over the water. The lake’s large waterlily colony can resemble solid ground in the quiet, shallow waters of this glacial lake, one of the few in Illinois left with a natural shoreline. Look for sedge wrens.

For a longer ride, cyclists can head south at that central trail junction toward the River Road Trail and through the tunnel that leads into the McHenry Dam section of the park. Here, a three-mile stretch of the Fox River Trail provides a flatter ride. The trail circles Black Tern Marsh (there once was a black tern colony here; now it instead hosts numerous other birds). It passes near the edge of a pool where children — or adults, for that matter — can count fat bullfrog tadpoles. Dragonflies the size of small helicopters fly next to bikers as if challenging them to race. At one point, the landscape drops about ten feet on either side of the trail. To the right is the Fox River; to the left, the marsh backwaters. Something about this setup promotes a concentrated bird-viewing experience: visitors may see everything from yellow-throated vireos and warblers to wood ducks, rails, yellow-headed blackbirds, black-crowned night-herons, and sandhill cranes. Visitors can stop at a roofed overlook jutting into the marsh for one last look before heading back north.

— Lynda Wallis

Related Articles

Moraine Hills State Park (Illinois Department of Natural Resources)

Profile on Moraine Hills (Into the Wild, Winter 1998)