Singing Hills Forest Preserve

Today we hiked in Singing Hills FP which abuts my townhouse community. We began on the trail I roughed out through the wooded portion of the preserve a couple years ago, where we discovered this guy sunning himself...



...and then we explored part of the 75 acre addition recently purchased by the Lake County Forest Preserve Board. This woods had been a shooting preserve and the signs remain...




... but the new land, comprised of wooded hillside and wetlands alongside the golf course, makes a wonderful addition to the preserve. A particularly lovely wooded knoll abuts our townhouses and would make a terrific walk-in picnic area for our residents. We passed this huge old oak tree with four trunks coming off the main trunk stem. What a wonderful climbing tree it would make for youngsters (as well as for the young at heart!)



Our bushwacking off-trail required that we check ourselves after returning home, and sure enough, I found a tick on my clothing. He is now swimming through the sewer system somewhere. So everyone - Be careful out there. They're back!