The Deer Grove Unpaved Trail Photos
To Hillside Road in Barrington

We took a pretty rugged unmarked trail (probably the Green Trail as seen on the forest preserve map) , which eventually got us out onto Hillside (the road to the north of the woods). Dale is carrying his Trek over a little more sizable fallen tree this time.

We made our way to the end of this branch and out to Hillside Road (mentioned above). You can actually ride into Barrington or Barrington Hills from here. The photo above is looking back at the entrance to the unpaved trails (where we came from) at the end of Hillside. The road dead ends into the Forest Preserve and you can get onto the unpaved paths from here...

OK, This is the top of a hill where the orange trail (the abandoned Forest Preserve road) and the purple trail (short cut over from the yellow trail) intersect. There is also another trail that branches off here too, but I don't remember the color for that one...

This little section connects the Orange Trail to the forest preserve road. The "letter" marker on the sign here here is "H".

OK, here are the dirt trails in the ravine at the bottom of the orange trail (semi paved section) where the stone bridge is... This is really a beautiful area and was pretty good for mountain biking at the time of this photo. Unfortunately they have restricted bikes in this area now (due to erosion) and the whole section is now fenced in with a large chain link fence. I really used to like riding into this area and I even remember having a picnic there when my kids were young.

Another reason why I like to keep these old photos posted here is to show what this area was like when it was access able and not fenced in.

Below are my original comments from when this area was still access able. "If you want some rugged trails, steep slopes and places to get airborne (for those who like to do that type of thing), this is the place for it, although you really need to watch out for other people in this area. It seems to have been "discovered" by a lot more people now and there are hikers, kids and other bikers back here... "

The Orange Trail ~ the old abandoned forest preserve road  ~ is still one of my favorites paths in Deer Grove. For the photo tour here, we cut through the section above ~ which is now fenced off and inaccessible ~ and made our way to the main forest preserve roads on the other side (where the toboggan slide is).