Spring Lake Forest Preserve — Attraction in Barrington Township

Spring Lake Forest Preserve is one of the most unique forest preserves in the Chicago area. Perfect for nature enthusiasts, hikers, or horseback riders, Spring Lake is truly special for its enormous network of unpaved dirt and grass trails. Through this amazing network, you'll never look at the same thing twice. On the same token, the network can be difficult to navigate especially if you're new to the preserve. For those who aren't horseback riders, make sure to use the Penny Road pond and Beverly Lake entrances. This preserve has very high quality prairies, lakes, forests, and woodlands. While many areas do have invasive species creating walls of brush, the much more beautiful, actively managed nature of the preserve, coupled with the rugged network of trails means that you can truly feel like you're in nature and not just walking through it like at other more busy preserves. If you ride a bike at preserves, prefer well maintained gravel or paved trails, or like the company that a more well traveled preserve provides, Spring Lake may not suit you. But Spring Lake is, without a doubt, one of my favorite forest preserves as a nature lover...

Spring Lake (creek) cook county forest preserve may appear beautiful at first from a car window but it is basically enter at your own risk in most areas. Beverly Lake is labeled as secluded and due to this, there can be some scary people in the parking lot. The trails are rugged under the veil of conservation and someone who does not hike regularly in areas where roots and holes emerge, could get hurt.

The only actual trail head is near the riding center, and that was fought for in the early 2000s after forest preserve officials were told they couldn't enter and realized it was on forest preserve land.

Horizon Farms, which is practically adjacent and also one of the largest purchases of land for cook county forest preserve has been shut down for almost ten years since purchase. It sums up much.

Go to Dupage and Lake County to enjoy their quality trails which have a number of activities and feel safe. After you see the differences, remember that Spring Lake and Horizon are Cook county forest preserves, NOT Barrington Hills forest preserves, monitor this...

4000 acres. 45 miles of trails. Sounds great, right? Well, you'd be wrong. There is very little parking and there are no paved trails, or even crushed gravel trails. This is a publicly funded preserve for the horse owning wealthy people that live nearby. The trails are meant for horses only, as evidenced by the amount of horse of feces you will encounter if you attempt to walk these paths. Reminder folks: just because you own a horse, that doesn't mean you are above cleaning up poo. If you have any physical disability, you will not have an easy time finding a way to enjoy this publicly funded...