Eastern Illinois Trail--the Slow Walker

13 Miles total (round trip)

On the North Branch Trail and
The Sauganash Trail and
On the Roads
Winter is now officially gone and spring is here. No trace of snow on the green tail out of Miami woods today , as I headed south past rapidly spreading plots of May apples. Even the winter deer, still scrawny after their long fast, are now returned to their verdant feasting .

The trail is now within the boundaries of the City of Chicago and, although still officially under the management of the County of Cook FP, remarkably well maintained and traveled . I hiked past a colony of trailside trillium, before the trail abruptly ended and dumped me out on Devon Ave at a busy city intersection .

These abrupt transitions, also common on the Appalachian Trail, still leave me completely disorientated. It is hard to believe that colonies of wild Trillium live cheek-to-cheek with the exhaust fumes of city of Chicago buses.

Walking west on Devon the journey took me past the Basilica of Queen of All Saints. This imposing structure was designated a Basilica in 2006 and contains a rather splendid reliquary – with remains of various Saints ornately displayed in golden settings, rather like exhibits in a museum.

Just beyond the Basilica, the Sauganash Trail heads south. This trail used to be called the Skokie Line Trail, as it was the old Skokie railway line from Chicago. It is only about one mile long and has been renamed after the neighborhood by which it is surrounded. Bridges carry it over cross streets {P} and after a short but sweet walk it currently ends at Bren Mawr Ave.

Then it is another road walk west, passing North Eastern University and through a Korean neighborhood to arrive at the North Channel Trail and my turn about point for today.

On my walk back I found some Black Squirrels frolicking in the trailside bushes near the northern end of the Sauganash Trail, and another colony of Purple Trillium in the woods.

Thought for Today: “Now is the Right Time”
- Lotus Sutra -