Herrick Lake Forest Preserve

quiet and pretty. Good parking. Great views even in winter time.

Nice hiking \biking trails that are well maintained. weekends can be crowded compared to week days.

Herrick Lake is a gorgeous forest preserve, and has a ton of diverse trails. There’s the lake (of course), lots of wooded area, and prairie as well. This means that biking or running here stays interesting as the scenery changes. It also connects with Danada to the east and the Prairie Path to the west.

Picture perfect. I have been driving past this hidden forest for the longest. I never imagined how tranquil and big the lake. Is. I decided I deserve quality time with my dog. I graves my keys and headed to this nice forest. I was so surprised to know that they have canoeing, fishing bike trail and grills installed in the park
I was nervous at first because I have never been here and I have neglected my dog a little bit so he started barking at first and as we got the hang of it we were able to walk around the entires park
Next time I come here I will come earlier because am an early person and there will be less mosquitoes flying around. I had a lot of fun and people walking the trails are very friendly. I was able to ask if I he trail went around

I love this place!!! So pretty and well maintained. There are canoe rentals that I’m desperate to try out. Plenty of trails, picnic benches and places to grill out. Super peaceful and fun place to walk the dogs. Easily one of my favorite parks.

Beautiful trails next to Arrowhead Golf Course. A nice walk around the lake or a hike through the trees. During the winter they have cross country skiing and snow shoeing. In the warmer weather go to enjoy some canoeing. Although it is a popular place for dog walkers and outdoor enthusiasts it never feels crowded. Highly recommend this spot. Do check for ticks if you are visiting between May and August.

Great trails to run or ride.

The address on Unilocal is wrong. way wrong… corner of Herrick (for those that don’t know Herrick becomes Wiesbrook) and rt56 (Butterfield) The main entrance is off of Butterfield, but the entrance on Herrick has become my most favored one.
Herrick Lake is a haven.
Gorgeous Forest Preserve, with a small lake as the center piece. Fish, Canoe … catch things but try not to swim. it’s a bit murky. Plenty of parking, recreation areas, they have shelters, bathrooms and loads of picnic areas and tables. When my kids were young we enjoyed all of these things. On occasion… the boys surreptitiously bringing something home that wouldn’t live long and was sure to smell bad before being discovered.
Now we enjoy all of the paths. I used to run here before my knees decided that running is stupid, so now we enjoy long walks and great bike rides.
The preserve actually connects seamlessly to the Danada Preserve, so there are some serious miles of paths to explore. BUT! If that’s not enough for you… take the path along Butterfield Rd and cross over to St. James Farm and/​or Blackwell Forest Preserve. And the fact the the Illinois Prairie path connects to these too… makes for an extensive amount of trails and a countless variety of outings.
Herrick Lake provides more than enough for even the most ardent suburban outdoor enthusiast… or just a quiet place to eat some lunch.

When I asked my boo what he wanted to on Saturday, I have to admit, I kind of envisioned the day involving some tv, maybe a movie or 10, going out to eat an egregious amount of times, and perhaps a shopping trip where all we do is complain about how much we hate shopping.
So, as you can imagine, I was taken a tad by surprise when he immediately answered, «Go to a forest preserve and track for fallen antlers.»
Me: Mmmkay.
So mentally I got to work. I thought of where to go and what would be a reasonable distance to other things that we could do that day after we find our booty of antlers. Herrick Lake seemed perfect.
Plus, I’d already vetted this place as a kid on a park district field trip and thought it’d be fun to give it a shot during a winter month.
We were kind of thinking the trails would be clearer than they were, so it only took about 8 minutes before our boots and pants were soaked up to knee… but, that was also our fault for going off the trail a tad, which I later found out may or may not be unlawful. Oops!
We didn’t end up finding any antlers –no surprise there, but it was actually a really fun time. We saw tons of poop, I realized that I’m basically an expert-​level tracker, and the frozen lake and surrounding trails are quiet and relaxing.
All in all, a nice little Saturday.

This is a nice park with good running paths. Check the maps for the length of run or walk you want to talk. There are also picnic tables around the lake and large grassy areas for group enjoyment. You’ll see people biking, running, walking their dogs, having picnics, fishing, and sitting/​reading books. Overall relatively picturesque and enjoyable.

Decent place for trail riding on horseback. The area is clean, well maintained and has access to water and restrooms.
This place would get five stars from me if so many of the trail users didn’t act like they owned the place. The cross country skiers in particular are extremely rude and like to make commments about how they are somehow more entitled to be there than anyone else. This is a recreational area meant for all to enjoy, and if the truth must be known, these trails were put in place primarily because of the large equestrian commuunity in the area.
I believe you can rent canoes at the lake as well, though the office never seems to be open.

This is a great park. I love comming here on lunch, the trail around the lake is about a mile long and is a really nice walk. The only thing is I was ‘approached’ once by this old guy who asked me a «pretty lady like me» wanted to take a walk with him. It was weird, and I called the police. I’d be careful if you’re a lone woman. I’d like to see more of a police presence there, sometimes forest preserves attract weirdos.

Very nice! We had a picnic by the lake and enjoyed relaxing with our dogs. There were lots of people walking, biking, jogging, etc…

I love love love this place.
It is visually stunning and has such a variety of things to offer. My company has their yearly picnic here and it is always such a big hit.
The paths are easily visible and marked which makes running a multitude of distances here a breeze. The paths are paved with limestone so it makes it easy for hybrid tires to go off the road.
You can fish, boat, run, walk, bike, hike, anything!
A great place to take the dog for a long walk. With intermittent shady areas and sunny spots on the paths it is a great balance.
Also, it is amazing that this place exists and it makes you feel as though you are away from traffic and suburban shopping centers.
A great escape place.

If you’re that lone paranoid biker who bellowed ‘ON YOUR LEFT’ to an old lady, please tone it down a little. The forest echoes, it’s very startling. You may want to consider getting a bell that says «I love my bike» instead.
I’ve been going to this preserve ever since I got my pup 5 yrs ago. I give it a 4 star rating for its proximity, long trails, and the body of water.
FYI dog owners — definitely make sure your dogs have flea/​tick control bc it’s a forest after all. There’s also a couple of areas along the trail that gets swampy so I usually try to avoid the preserve after a rainy period.
We usually hit the main trail on the south east side before winding back around the lake for an easy ~1.8 miles or so. The trail extends into miles 4.5 or even 5.5 miles with some minor elevation changes so I usually see a couple of joggers/​bikers each time. They’re not crowded by any means though. During the winter, the trails are mostly used for my mother’s least favorite Olympic event, cross country skiing.
The website explains all of the amenities better, but I pre-​mapped some trails on
to see mileages.
I used to see the park rangers there occasionally, and a couple of times they drove around the trails to ensure dogs were leashed. But nowadays, I haven’t seen any.
There’s quite a bit of horse poop and dog poop on the trails. I just read the rules and regulations posted, and owners are required to pick up after their animals. No one seems to do it though, maybe bc few are aware? My only request to fellow dog owners, if you can anticipate it, please have your dog poo on the side grassy areas instead of directly onto the trail. There’s definitely been a few times when I was jogging and not paying attention to where my feet where planting…
If you ever see a portly beagle and his owner on the trails, feel free to say hi! He’s very friendly :)

Fished at Herrick Lake Last weekend with a friend. Great fishing spots on the second lake over the bridge. Pick nic tables are awesomely located right near the water’s edge. There are absolutely no bugs! This is a great place to relax after a hard work week. The washrooms could be closer or perhaps they can add Port-​O-​Pots!
Herrick Lake also rents kayaks, row boats and canoes by the hour.
This lake is not really big enough to boat in because the lakes are very small and you could boat around the lakes like 8 times before you have to return the boat to the harbor masters.
Highly recommended for the beginning fisher woman/​man.

A little bit of everything.. .
That is how I would describe Herrick Lake Forest Preserve. I prefer to either walk/​bike the trails or toss a blanket down on the ground, throw on my ipod and relax. Other options include having a picnic, rent a canoe/​boat or maybe even fish.
It’s just a nice suburban escape from the day-​to-​day chaos of life.

Nice place, cute lake with fishing, beautiful grounds to walk… I would rate this much higher except for the fact that all the trails are covered in horse-​shit. Seriously, how the hell can they (supposedly, never brought my dog there) bust dog owners for not picking up when a horse can leave 3 pounds of road-​apples at a time? Some of the trails were impassable because they were so shit strewn. Completely ruined the visit.

Great place to picnic, walk/​bike the trails, rent a canoe, boat or fish! One of my favorite spots to take advantage of all that this Forest Preserve has to offer. Beautiful in the fall with the mature tree’s, check out the walking trails around this time. A good place to bring your dog and clean restrooms on site.
It’s a nice get a way from all the hustle and bustle. In fact I’m leaving right now to get there!