Des Plaines River – Cook County (Chicago), IL

The unpaved Des Plaines Trail follows the Des Plaines River through more than a dozen forest preserves in Cook County. Today, we start our hike from Chevalier Woods, just south of highway 90 on East River Rd. We are hiking (there and back) roughly 12 miles to Sunset Bridge Meadow on North Av.

Des Plaines River Trail: Chevalier Woods to North Avenue. Starting in Rosemont at the Catherine Chevalier Woods, we begin an 11.4 mile hike. This hike took us through Robinson Woods South, Schiller Woods South and into Elmwood Park before turning around and retracing our steps along the Des Plaines River to reach the trailhead again.

This Cook County, City of Chicago, Des Plaines River hike begins with a great example of why urban areas need designated green space – the larger the better. One minute into the hike, we see our first deer, and this was not the only deer we saw. We were both surprised at the wildlife.

This hike is a hidden gem that runs North-South in alignment with the Des Plaines River, the City of Chicago, and Interstate 294. Believe it or not, my dad compares this hike to river hikes he does in Switzerland. I enjoy seeing all the people on the trail and the energy of people interacting within nature.

We discover how easy it is to hike this trail, lots of facilities nearby if needed. The Irving Park Rd. crossing was simple on this day.

We are hiking in November and the Des Plaines River is low, so we went under the Irving Park bridge rather than fighting the traffic above. As a reminder, we are taking what we can get during the pandemic. We are hiking these local trails because we can. Dad talks a lot about communing in nature without traveling very far.

As we walk past the western portion of Indian Boundary Golf Course, Dad talks about playing this course a few years earlier. His best memory is overshooting the green on a drivable par 4 green with a 300 yard drive. His return chip hit the flag post and he ended up with a tap-in birdie. Nice job dad, it’s almost as if you wrote this description yourself.

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We walk past the St. Joseph Cemetery in River Grove and talk about some Chicago gangster history. Baby Face Nelson, a gang member with John Dillinger, is buried at the St. Joseph Cemetery. Baby Face Nelson was fatally shot by FBI agents during a gun fight in Barrington. Wounded, he escaped to a safe house in Wilmette and died.

If you are into Urban Art as much as I am, pause the video and look around with your 360° controls. I know Urban Art is controversial. Consider a new definition of graffiti as art work that expresses modern urban themes but falls outside of traditional canvas presentations and is made by artists who are often excluded from traditional art education.

In this video, shot with my Android phone, I talk about my interest in Urban Art (Graffiti). I walk in and out of the bridge supports showing all the beautiful work. I spent about 30 minutes at this outdoor museum and I have a great time. I know Urban Art can be controversial. From a natural stand point, this has nothing to do with nature. Urban Art is painted on manmade structures. These structures are the elements that destroy our natural habitat.

Sit back and experience the sounds of a freight train. On many hikes we try and capture the theme and feeling of the hike through sound.

We come to the bottom of our there-and-back hike at the Sunset Bridge Meadow. Located on North Av., the Sunset Bridge Meadow is exactly what the name implies; a meadow and also a bridge with a western view for watching sunsets. I start the video talking about my dad being on the phone with his dad, you can hear their conversation in the background. Normally, we don’t talk on the phone during a hike but I didn’t fully explain the connection. On his 50th birthday, my dad was reunited with his birth-father. This was one of only a handful of times that they’ve talked with each other.