Be a Trailblazer: Hike McKinley Woods

Editor’s note: We want you to Be a Trailblazer this year, so we will be hiking at various preserves throughout the year and documenting it for you. Journey along with us as we blaze a trail through the preserves and hopefully encourage you to do the same.

^{|  Story by Meghan McMahon |}

^4/14/2025

Sometimes hiking is about the exercise over the experience, and sometimes it’s about the experience over the exercise. Our hike at McKinley Woods — Frederick’s Grove was definitely the latter.

In spring, especially early spring, it’s hard to resist the urge to take your time as you walk, soaking it all in. Every day can be a new experience as green starts to creep in and then dominant the forest landscape.

Speed was the last thing on our mind at McKinley Woods. We walked so slowly on our 1.35-mile hike that the fitness app we used to track our distance and time repeatedly asked if we had finished our walk and simply forgotten to stop tracking.

Not that the entire hike was devoid of a fitness element. We like to think our thighs got a decent workout with all the crouching down to get a closer look at all the ephemeral wildflowers peering up at us from the forest floor. And our neck got plenty of action too, constantly pivoting from looking down to up as the sounds of birds singing distracted us from the beauty of the flowers at our feet.

What we were most excited for on our trip to Frederick’s Grove was the wildflowers. Our hike was still so early in the season that we weren’t sure much would be in bloom yet. Things started off slowly as we headed down the Trail of the Old Oaks. We didn’t see much in the flat area at the top of this natural surface trail. As we started hiking down the trail’s incline, though, there were new things to see at every turn.

We saw spring beauties, bloodroot, rue anemone and cut-leaved toothwort in bloom. The prairie trillium and Virginia watercress plants were getting close to blooming, and at the bottom of the trail we saw patches of Virginia bluebells a few weeks away from providing their much-loved pop of color.

The thing about many of the spring ephemerals is they are small and subtle. If you’re walking at a brisk pace, you’ll miss them. To truly appreciate them, you have to go slowly, looking among the blanket of brown fallen leaves for peeks of color popping through.

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Pro tip: If you’re still learning your spring ephemerals, download the Seek app to your phone to help. The app, from iNaturalist, uses image recognition technology to identify plants and animals that you capture using your phone’s camera. Seek isn’t always useful in identifying plants that have not yet bloomed, but it does a good job quickly IDing flowers.

The birds are another one of the sweet treats of spring. No matter where you go at this time of year, the birds are making their presence known — to us and their fellow birds. We hoped to see or at least hear a warbler or two on our hike, but it was still a little too early in the season.

We did, however, see many of the usual suspects: robins, cardinals, dark-eyed juncos and sparrows. One pleasant surprise was seeing several wood ducks flying out of tree cavities high up in the trees, calling out as they went.

As is usually the case, we heard many more birds than we saw. We heard the laugh-like call of northern flickers, the “fee-bee” whistle of black-capped chickadees, the shout of blue jays across the forest and the “peter-peter-peter” of one tufted titmouse intent on getting its point across. We also heard the songs and calls of eastern towhees, brown-headed cowbirds, house finches and eastern meadowlarks, to name just a few more.

Woodpeckers were making a statement too. We could hear their repetitive drumming near and far and were particularly amused by a pair of downy woodpeckers that seemed to be using their own version of Morse code to tap out messages to each other.

As you walk down the ravine on the Trail of the Old Oaks, make sure to take the opportunity to enjoy the view. At points, you get sweeping views of the river below, and in early spring the subtle shade of green is like a blanket covering the forest.

Once we got to the bottom of the trail, where it lets out at the preserve campground, we wanted to poke around a bit more, so we headed toward the I&M Canal and the Des Plaines River. We were hoping to see some turtles or even snakes basking in the sun, but it was still a little too chilly on this spring morning.

Our visit was after recent heavy rains, so parts of the trail were slick and soupy. Boots are definitely recommended for a spring hike here. The campground area was largely flooded, but elsewhere the trails were all passable, although there were puddles and standing water in a few spots.

Pro tip: If you’d prefer a walk in the woods without the steep inclines of the Trail of the Old Oaks, try the Upland Trail instead. This short, 0.44-mile natural surface looped trail is accessible from the upper parking lot at Frederick’s Grove. It doesn’t have nearly as many wildflowers as you’ll see on the Trail of the Old Oaks, but you’ll still get to enjoy the sights and sounds of spring.

A third natural surface trail, the Heritage Trail, is accessible from the lower parking lot. The 0.43-mile looped trail also traverses forested habitat, but it is closer to the I&M Canal.

If you want to make a morning or afternoon of your trip to McKinley Woods, make sure to visit the preserve’s other access area, Kerry Sheridan Grove. It’s a short drive by car, but you can also hike there from Frederick’s Grove via the I&M Canal State Trail.

Kerry Sheridan Grove sits near where the Des Plaines, DuPage and Kankakee rivers meet and form the Illinois River. The water views are fabulous in all seasons, and there’s plenty of great hiking too. It’s also home to one of the Forest Preserve’s visitor centers, Four Rivers Environmental Education Center. Stop in to check out interactive nature exhibits or simply enjoy the river views from the comfort of indoors. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays.