Veteran Acres is one of the crown jewels of the Crystal Lake Park District. Located on the site are the Crystal Lake Park District Nature Center, Rotary Building and Oakwoods Lodge.
Passive recreation lovers enjoy groomed cross country ski trails in the winter and hiking trails through natural areas including Sterne’s Woods and Wingate Prairie, an Illinois Nature Preserve. McHenry County Conservation District’s Prairie Trail also winds through Veteran Acres.
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I’m doing a 3.5 mile loop starting at the Nature Center. The wetland here is known as a Fen. Fen’s are similar to Bogs, in that they are peat producing wetlands. Fens are less acidic and therefore produce and support more natural diversity. Hiking trails through natural areas including Sterne’s Woods and Wingate Prairie, an Illinois Nature Preserve. McHenry County Conservation District’s Prairie Trail also winds through Veteran Acres.
There are two parks, Veteran Acres and also Sterne’s Woods. This is the lake at Veteran Aches. Spin around to and see the whole area. Its a beautiful day, join me.
Walking through Wingate Prairie. You can see that this is a well kept path. What interests me in this video is the hibernation of the prairie flowers and colors.
Too much to describe in writing, so watch the video : ) Seriously, most of our hikes involve wetlands and I had no idea how diverse and important these glacial artifacts are to the midwest ecology.
Use the 360 video features to spin around and view this area. Before hiking in the midwest, I would generally ignore fields like this. Now, I better understand their significance and why these hiking oasis exist in the middle of farm land.
This is a shorter hike and something that a family can easily knock out together.
I love this wall of pine trees. I wish the pine smell could be described in our videos as the sun sets on a beautiful October day.
Short and sweet hike. I recommend this for anyone looking to enjoy an easy day hike.
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