Forest preserve named for several waterfalls on Sawmill Creek as it empties into the Des Plaines River

How to Get There

Overview

Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve is a forest preserve in southern DuPage County, Illinois between the towns of Darien and Lemont. It is named for several waterfalls on Sawmill Creek as it empties into the Des Plaines River. Rocky Glen Falls, the largest waterfall in the preserve, is actually a natural dam in the valley glen. It completely surrounds Argonne National Laboratory. It is also home to a popular model airplane field, located in the southwest section of the forest preserve. Hikers can also make the interior trip to St. Patrick Cemetery nestled deep in the preserve. The 2,492-acre Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in Darien is an ecological parcel of open space within the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Waterfall Glen's prairies, savannas, and oak-maple woodlands contain 740 native plant species, 75 percent of all the plants known to grow naturally in DuPage County. There are over 300 species of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles and another 300 of invertebrates use the forest preserve either year-round or during their migrations.

In 1925, the Forest Preserve District purchased its first 75 acres at Waterfall Glen, the Signal Hill and Rocky Glen areas. Rocky Glen soon became the site of the forest preserve's well-known tiered falls, which the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed in the 1930s. In 1973, the forest preserve added over 2,200 acres of surplus land from the U.S. Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.

Trails

The main trail is 9.5 miles long, 10 feet wide and made of crushed limestone. Hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders and cross-country skiers can enjoy some of Waterfall Glen's scenic areas via four mapped trails, which contain almost 11 miles of limestone- and turf-covered routes. Visitors on foot can explore the narrow, unmarked footpaths that crisscross through Waterfall Glen but should remember that these paths are not marked and may not meet with the marked paths.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0