East Branch Forest Preserve by Patricia Hayden
The main entrance for the East Branch Forest Preserve is on the east side of Glen Ellyn Road about ¼ mile south of Army Trail Road. There is also an off-leash dog area on the west side of Swift Road about 1 mile north of North Avenue.
When you turn into the main entrance to the preserve, it’s a very short drive to the parking lot which has a dozen or so spots along with handicapped spots available. Exiting my car, I headed toward the “Information” sign. There are marked walkways on both sides of the information sign so I went to the right and started my walk along the smooth asphalt path. This short path has a very slight grade along with a few winding turns. This path is not a loop, so when I came to the end of the path, I returned to my starting point by the information sign.
From the information sign, I went left and walked that path – also smooth asphalt with a slight grade and some winding turns. This path is also not a loop, so as before when I came to the end of the path, I returned to my starting point by the information sign. There were a few other walkers on the trails and I also saw several folks walking toward the lake with fishing rods.
Walking these two paths I saw Common milkweed, Wild bergamot, and Swamp rose mallow. And although the fall colors were a bit muted, the beauty of the trees and plants was a pleasure to see.
As I returned to the information sign starting point, my plan was to walk down to the lake or explore the other paths, but mother nature decided instead to bring a very powerful rain storm so I ran for my car. I would like to return to explore some of the other trails along with the off-leash dog park. More information about the site can be found here: https://www.dupageforest.org/places-to-go/forest-preserves/east-branch.
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This post is part of the “Take a Hike” series by Patricia Hayden. To learn more about this blog and see information about all other featured hikes click here.