TheRoadScholar » Openlands Lakefront Preserve

Burnapalooza in the Forest Preserves

TheRoadScholar — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:11:45 +0000

Highland Park/Highwood, IL–This week’s birdapalooza continues, with red-headed woodpeckers hammering at trees, and hawks swooping and cartwheeling through the air. Makes me want to sing “Free Bird“. The only glitch is that it’s also time for controlled burns in Openlands Lakeshore Preserve and in the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve. Is it really my allergies kicking up, or is it just the leftover smoke and smell of burned leaves? Even with the burned patches (all clear to walk through once the fires are gone), the walks are great. Runners, walkers, and leashed dogs enjoy the scenery, the sounds of the birds, and the calm, blue waters of Lake Michigan. Ah, spring.

Ludwig the poodle loves forest preserve walks. Photo by Laurie Borman

Openlands Lakeshore Preserve open for spring

TheRoadScholar — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:45:06 +0000

Lake Michigan ice ledge melts. Photo by Laurie Borman

Highwood, IL–Birds sing, snowmelt rushes in the drainage canals. Ah, the signs of spring. At Lake Michigan’s edge, the huge ledge of ice slowly melts. It’s a wonderful time to check out Openlands Lakeshore Preserve in Ft. Sheridan. Colorful rocks litter the beach, exposed from the melting ice.
If you’ve seen the movie Departures, a Japanese film about an out-of-work cellist who takes a job preparing bodies for burial, you’ll know rocks tell a story. Choose your story from a wealth of shapes and colors.

Lake Michigan Winter Waves

TheRoadScholar — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:40:23 +0000

Lake Michigan shore in winter. Photo by Laurie Borman

Highwood, IL–

Snowshoeing along Openlands Lakefront Preserve sounds challenging, but the plowed road makes it almost too easy. It’s like walking in an Ansel Adams photo–everything all black and white, and there is the challenge. I’m no Ansel Adams. The beach is no longer a gradual sandy slope, but an icy shelf.

Icy Lake Michigan waves. Photo by Laurie Borman

Openlands Lakefront. Photo by Laurie Borman

After the Fall

TheRoadScholar — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:53:01 +0000

Highwood, IL–The rain washed away most of the colorful leaves this week. However, there’s new things to see in the Fort now that the trees are bare. Check out wasp’s and squirrel’s nests in the trees, see unusual rocks nestled into beach driftwood, check out the moody sky over Lake Michigan.

Openlands Lakefront Preserve Opens in Highwood

theroadscholar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:52:25 +0000

Jack in the Pulpit. Photo by Laurie D. Borman

Highwood, IL–Some folks get all the luck. Two preserves now bookend the Town of Ft. Sheridan. At the north is the Ft. Sheridan Forest Preserve, managed by Lake County. At the south is Openlands Lakeshore Preserve. While there is still a way to go to return the ravine and lakefront to its full natural splendor, a lot has been accomplished. Signs point to plants such as the red-berried jack in the pulpit, and dark-blue berried Solomon’s Seal, as well as relics of the former army fort such as an old steam tunnel that spans the ravine. Pruned trees and shored-up banks line the road to the 1/2 mile-long natural lakefront beach. Fall astors, sunflowers, and brown-eyed susans are in full bloom now. The route is a paved 3/4-mile road built years ago by the Army, but no motorized vehicles are permitted, so park your car along Lyster near the First St. entrance and enjoy. No entry fee. Leashed dogs are welcome.

Astors. Photo by Laurie D. Borman

Solomon's Seal. Photo by Laurie D. Borman