I love streetviewing all the different local parks near me in Bolingbrook/Naperville IL USA. They all are so very different. I think there are many people who don’t understand how diverse the many local parks are. I hope that my streetviews of the trails through the parks encourage people to explore them. Because Illinois is mostly flat, many of the parks offer easy hikes through forested areas. However, if you know where they are, you can also challenge yourself with some steep hills. If you prefer biking, there are paved trails and off road trail opportunities. The lakes, ponds, and rivers provide a way to kayak and even, in a limited way, to sail. The parks can be enjoyed all year long. All the parks have intense color in the fall, but my personal favorite season in the parks is winter. After a good snowfall, you can use your snowshoes or cross-country skis in a quiet and beautiful setting.
There is one local park that has all of this (except sailing). It is Knoch Knolls Park.
Knoch Knolls Park is near me in adjacent Naperville, IL USA. My wife and I visit Knoch Knolls at all times of the year. For us, this is primarily a walking park. From the accessible parking lot through the dirt and bark covered trails to the farthest you can go and back again, it’s about a 3.5 mile hike. A good distance for an afternoon stroll when it’s reasonable outside. We live in the midwest where it gets to 100 degrees F in the summer, and down to -20 degrees F in the winter, so it’s not always reasonable outside.
In the spring the bluebells are ridiculous! The only problem hiking in the spring is that the trails become muddy (like they were today) for a few days after each rain storm. We come home with a lot of mud sometimes. It doesn’t hurt to wear waterproof hiking boots. Here’s a photo taken at Knoch Knolls in the spring showing the bluebells flowers carpeting the forest floor with trees leafing out and a blue sky.
I (my wife is an on-trail biker) like to go biking through the Knoch Knolls forest on my mountain bike, but I usually wait for summer when the mud dries up. So in the summer I go off-road mountain biking from home to Knoch Knolls and back again. Inside Knoch Knolls, there is an inner trail that’s not to be missed, as that’s where the deer hang out.
I have also kayaked starting at the north parking lot bridge area, then down the DuPage river. It’s normally nice and relaxing in the summer. Don’t go in the spring unless you are extremely skilled as the water is much faster then.
We hike through Knoch Knolls all summer, but we go in the mornings on hot days. Here’ a picture of our turn around point, the confluence of the two forks of the DuPage river, and we’re on the inside.
Every now and then we find something new and different. Here’s a photo of some golden mushrooms growing at the base of a tree. I wouldn’t eat them and they may not even be mushrooms. Let me know if you can identify them.
On our way back from the turn around point, there’s a bench we often sit and chill. It’s a quiet, peaceful place. You can really enjoy the forest here. This is the panoramic photo of the tree across the trail from our bench. The tree is so close to the bench that it takes multiple shots to get the whole tree in the photo.
When we hike in the fall, the trees are even more beautiful. First the yellows, and then the reds. Here’s a photo of fall at Knoch Knolls from our bench. The tree trunk on the left is the same one pictured above.
Sometimes when we’re hiking we are in an large open field and the fall trees across the field are gorgeous! Here’s a panoramic across the field of the fall trees.
The best time of all is when enough of the leaves have fallen on the trails and we crunch-crunch-crunch through them. Here’s a photo of my wife who is very happy to be hiking that day because the balance of crunch to color on the trees was perfect.
And in between fall and winter is when the trees have dropped their leaves and the wind has blown the leaves off the trails. Here’s the same tree shot near our bench today, 3/27/19. You can see how close the tree is to the bench.
And finally winter, when I go cross-country skiing. I even did a 360 tour during this ski through Knoch Knolls. You can see it on Google maps by clicking this link. Here’s a photo of a winter scene showing the trail through the forest and the DuPage river down the cliff.
So this is the nearby park that we visit in every season, even today we hiked Knoch Knolls. If you haven’t been there, you should make a point of visiting this wonderful park. It has almost everything you could possibly look for in a park.
Enjoy!