Having some shopping to do and (we thought) a softball game for Steve, we took the bikes over to Deer Grove to ride the mountain bike trail. For 19 years I lived near the preserve and spent much time there, biking the perimeter trail over a hundred times and hiking the dozen interior trails so often I knew every twist and turn. In the winter, I'd bushwack/explore off-trail and I've visited every section of this magnificent 1800 acre preserve, the first the Forest Preserve District of Cook County purchased 90 years ago to preserve the rolling upland forest, wooded ravines, wetlands, picturesque meandering creeks, and two lakes. I love this place so much that when hiking, I always took a garbage bag and over the years, removed dozens of bags of trash left behind by the a**holes of the world.
So, several times a year I return to my old friend to bike or hike, and each time it is a glorious reunion, replete with many fond memories. In this photo, Ellen coasts down one of the many hills...
... and here she negotiates one of the "legal" single-track segments across Quentin Road in Deer Grove East.
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