Let us all learn from the spring-induced joi de vivre of 14-year-olds Chuck Bensfield and Tim Malinski.
Wading calf-deep in the cool, murky edges of a stream along the Illinois Prairie Path in Wheaton on a recent Sunday, the pair trolled for bugs, frogs, snakes, catfish and any other critters.
“We catch stuff, look at it, and let it go,” explained Bensfield of Crystal Lake. This day’s treasures: a bucket of rust-colored leeches and shiny black water beetles.
Granted, wading with leeches may not be everyone’s idea of a fair-weather frolic, but it’s the principle that matters: With the final frosts of May behind us, it’s time to get out of the house and take a walk.
The city and the suburbs offer almost as many places to explore as there are blooms along Daley’s beloved boulevards. Treks through woodlands, swamps, bogs, forests and prairies with side trips for shopping, food and museums abound.
Here are a few of our favorites:
Illinois Prairie Path, main stem
Imagine wetland wet enough to fill 7,000 swimming pools. Now, imagine the number of frogs that much water could support. Now, imagine all of them croaking at once. Lovely, yes? Frog symphonies run through summer in the Lincoln Marsh on the Illinois Prairie Path.
To catch an impromptu concert along the 61-mile-long Prairie Path, start is at the zero mile marker by the northwest intersection of Liberty Drive and Carlton Street in Wheaton. Look east, and take in the intriguing metal sculpture that commemorates the old Chicago-Aurora-Elgin electric railroad line, along which the trail runs. Head north, and over the trestle toward Lincoln Avenue. If you’ve got children in tow, you can stop at the tot lot on your left. Past the tot lot, step over a foot bridge and into the splendid Lincoln Marsh area.
The trail is moderate enough for non-fitness buffs to handily navigate. (Our group included a chunky, snuffling, 14-year-old lap dog, and he was just fine.)
Hike in a loop, and you can end your walk about two blocks west of your starting point, at the terrific Pad Thai Etcetera Restaurant (563 Liberty Drive, Wheaton).
The zero mile marker at Carlton and Liberty is also within walking distance of the DuPage Art League at 218 W. Front St., which has monthly exhibits by area artists in all media.
For more information: Illinois Prairie Path, 630-752-0120 or log on to www.IPP.org; Pad Thai Etcetera Restaurant, 630-653-5337; the DuPage Art League exhibits, 630-653-7090.
Looking for water
A leisurely stroll down the flat trails along the Chicago River is not as easy as it may seem: Finding this patchwork of paths can be a devilish business. But what we found was a strip of river trail and a walk that captures the dual essence of Chicago. City-of-big shoulders grit and industry and a lush, woodsy oasis are part of this ramble around the Northwest Side.
We started at Horner Park, a 55-acre swath of green at California and Montrose Avenues. The trail on the east side of the park unfurls along the west side of the river. The park is a magnet for kite enthusiasts, picnickers and ballplayers. On a recent Saturday, the air there was redolent with both barbecue and the sound of thunder, the storm’s portents having little apparent effect on outdoor cooks.
Alas, Horner’s pleasant riverside path comes to an abrupt finish at Irving Park Road, but despair not: A second trail picks up across the street at California Park at Irving Park Road and California Avenue. We headed south past the wheelchair baseball diamond and exited the park on its southwest side on California Avenue. From here, the view is of blockish, no-nonsense buildings–beauty in the Sandburgian form of urban brawn.
Going on faith–we couldn’t see the river, but we knew it was around here somewhere–we walked west on California past the McFetridge Sport Center and Gordon Tech High School to Irving Park Road. Two stoplights east on Irving Park is Clark Park, a place bordered on the west by the Chicago River and an adjacent trail. This path, which runs from the park south to Belmont Avenue, is a little wonder.
Step onto it and the traffic sounds all but disappear. Concentrate hard, and all you will hear is rushing water and rustling leaves.
Art and architecture
in Oak Park
The crouching men–stunning, stone creatures hunching on the north face of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio at 951 Chicago Ave. in Oak Park–are an intense, artful highlight of a ramble through the historic district of Oak Park.
Once the dwelling place of the iconic architect, the Home and Studio now serves as a starting point for guided tours. It also houses a shady cafe and the Ginkgo Tree Bookshop, a trove of all things Wright.
Those on self-guided walks can take in Wright’s genius by stepping north on Forest Avenue from Lake Street. The scope and beauty of the homes is exemplified in the Moore-Dugal residence, completed by Wright in 1895.
The sprawling, four-story dwelling at 313 Forest Ave. evokes the fantastic romance and intrigue of the House of Usher, only instead of a sense of doom, one walks away giddy with a sense of glory.
Continue north on Forest Avenue to Chicago Avenue and then go east to Oak Park Avenue. A few short blocks south and you are at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace (339 N. Oak Park Ave.) The elaborate, turreted Queen Anne home where Hemingway lived until he was 5 is a gracious stunner.
A bit further south, and you’re at the steps of the Ernest Hemingway Museum (200 N. Oak Park Ave.)
You can finish up your walk by creating art of your own at the Mad Pottery Bar (121 N. Marion St.). Pick from hundreds of unpainted pieces, brush your own brand of creativity on it at one of a few dozen tables draped in butcher paper, and they’ll fire it for you.
For information: Hemingway Museum, 708-848-2222; Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio hours, 708-848-1976; the Mad Pottery Bar, 708-660-1707 or log on to hometown.aol.com/tmadpotter.
Dead men resting?
No one knows what lurks in the depths of Ingleside’s Volo Bog. But for a look at a real-life bogey man in all his spooky splendor, one need only head to watery refuge at 28478 Brandenburg Rd. in the northwest suburb.
Before you set out on the trails around the wetland roughly 12,000 years in the making, check out the photos of the “bog man” in the converted dairy barn that now serves as the Volo Bog’s visitors center.
Here you can learn that in Europe of old, bogs were hangouts of murders and thieves, and prime places to dispose of bodies. Little children could be frightened into minding with tales of monstrous “bog men.” Because the bogs are were rich in preservatives, long-dead bog men occasionally surface. Photos of several such fascinating creatures unearthed in Europe are on display.
Might a hiker over the boardwalks of Volo Bog encounter any such mummies?
“No one really knows what’s down there,” says Stacy Iwanicki, Volo Bog’s natural resource coordinator. There are, it should be noted, local legends of cows and horses disappearing in the area.
Walkers can take a half-mile path out into the bog, or hike the 2.75-mile Tamarack Trail around the bog. The shorter trail provides a wrinkle in bog time as walkers trek over boardwalks and on wood chip paths through the stages of bog formation. The Tamarack Trail includes a “floating bridge” that is wonderfully wiggly–and possible encounters with anything from a pygmy shrew to one of six species of bats.
For information: Volo Bog, 815-344-1294.
Shopping and fishing
For those who want to mingle hiking, fishing and shopping, the Fox River Trail as it runs between Geneva and Batavia makes for a splendid outing. A good starting point is in Fabyan Woods, on Bennett Street (Illinois Highway 25), just south of Route 38 near Geneva. Hike a mile north along the river through the woods, and you are at an embankment that backs into the cafe of the Mill Race Inn (4 E. State St., Geneva). Fishermen there on a recent Sunday were casting for walleye, bass and northern pike while diners looked on from above.
A bit further down the trail and you’re in a shopping mecca, the center of downtown Geneva. Here, primarily along Third and State Streets, browsers and buyers can find everything from designer pet jewelry to bolts of Chinese silk to holiday themed Hummel figurines.
For more information: Fox River Trail, 630-232-2631; Geneva Chamber of Commerce, 630-232-6060; Mill Race Inn, 630-232-2030.
Of lawn bowling and
Clarence Darrow
All’s quiet on the lawn bowling greens southeast of the Museum of Science and Industry. River Forest’s Tom Michael is the picture of ferocious concentration as he chucks heavy black orbs down the crewcut lawns of the Lakeside Lawn Bowling Club. It’s still early in the season, but soon, lawn bowlers from around the world will be descending in their de rigueur whites to play this sport of ladies and gentlemen, Michael says.
We stumbled onto Michael’s game after an amble northward that started on the Lake Shore Path behind La Rabida Children’s Hospital at 65th Street and Lake Shore Drive. For a sweeping vista of water, boats and hundreds of chattering gulls, stroll north and stop at the gracefully sprawling 63rd Street Beach house, a genteel old lady of a structure.
Continue north and you’re in construction territory, part of the city’s “Neighborhoods Alive” project. Bad news: Construction is ugly. Good news: There’s a spanking new underpass just south of 59th Street where you can walk under Lake Shore Drive from the eastside lake path to the westside lawn bowling by the Museum of Science and Industry.
You can stop at the museum if you like, but we opted to take the trail around the backside of the storied home of coal mine replicas and educational Omnimax adventures. There, paths lead over the small, sturdy Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge, a legacy to the famed attorney who (among other accomplishments) saved Leopold and Loeb from the electric chair. If you’re ambitious, you can continue north on the Lake Shore trail all the way to the lands beyond Rogers Park.
Instead we headed back south, savoring the day.
