Be a Trailblazer: Hike Sugar Creek

Editor’s note: We want you to Be a Trailblazer this year, so we will be hiking at various preserves throughout the year and documenting it for you. Journey along with us as we blaze a trail through the preserves and hopefully encourage you to do the same.

The trail looping around the Forest Preserve’s Administration Center at Sugar Creek Preserve is a familiar one for many employees who are lucky enough to enjoy quick walks through the prairie on breaks, but it’s a nice spot for anyone to check out on a summer day.

Summer is when the prairie here really shines, although admittedly it is not always that inviting on a sweltering summer day. For our walk here, we made a deliberate decision to do it first thing in the morning, finishing before the sun was too high in the sky. Even so, we worked up quite a sweat on the humid summer morning.

In July, the prairie landscape is mostly green, but it’s the pops of purple, yellow and more that got our attention on our walk. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere we looked: gray-headed coneflowers, wild bergamot, wild carrot, wild white indigo, mountain mint, blue vervain and black-eyed Susans to name just a few.

As we got started on our walk, we enjoyed stopping every so often to get a closer look at the colorful blooms and were enthralled by all the insect activity. Tiny insects crawling atop the flat white tops of wild carrot, butterflies and more flitting from flower to flower, bees buzzing all around in search of nectar.

The Nature Trail at Sugar Creek Preserve is a nice one for a quick summer walk because it’s only 0.57 miles and it’s a loop. You can take your time and go slow, checking out the wildflowers, inspecting the insects and watching the clouds roll by. We chose to extend out walk by hopping on the adjoining Wauponsee Glacial Trail, which runs along the western edge of the preserve.

The Wauponsee Glacial Trail is a long one, stretching 22.29 miles from Joliet to the Kankakee River near Custer Park. The northern 2.8-mile segment is paved, and the 19.49-mile stretch south of Sugar Creek Preserve is crushed limestone.

The portion of the Wauponsee we walked is tree lined, which offered a nice break from the sunny prairie. We walked to the crossing at Rowell Avenue before heading back to return to the Sugar Creek Nature Trail. As we made the transition from one trail to the other, the differences between the two habitats were immediately noticeable.

Arriving back at Sugar Creek, we quickly left the shade behind, and the cool, damp air was replaced with the sunny humidity we have become familiar with each summer.

The trees and shrubs quickly gave way to waist- and shoulder-high grasses and wildflowers.

Even the bird songs and calls we heard were noticeably different as we transitioned from one trail to the other. Along the Wauponsee we heard wood thrushes, grackles and an occasional cardinal. Then once we hit the prairie we heard from red-winged blackbirds and goldfinches.

One sound we heard in both places was the buzzing drone of the dog-day cicadas. These aren’t the cicadas that emerged to much fanfare in summer 2024. Dog-day cicadas emerge every summer, usually starting in July. The buzz from them was louder along the Wauponsee Glacial Trail, where the insects were likely hanging out in the trees, but we could hear it in the distance as we walked in the prairie as well.

The goldfinches caught our eye repeatedly throughout the prairie. The males are bright yellow in the summer, and their flight pattern is distinct. A co-worker once described it as an up-and-down pattern as though they are riding a roller coaster, and it’s an apt description of watching goldfinches in motion.

As we watched goldfinches and more flying over the prairie, we saw several giving chase to insects — no surprise given that the vast majority of terrestrial birds rely on insects for at least part of their diet. We tend to think about larger animals being hunted as part of the circle of life, but insects play a critical role in the food web and are vital to healthy ecosystems.

We didn’t see much wildlife beyond birds and insects on our walk. We saw one rabbit at the edge of the Sugar Creek trail and one squirrel in the trees along the Wauponsee Glacial Trail, but other than that it was mostly a still summer morning.

The lack of wildlife activity wasn’t a surprise given our timing. It was a little late in the morning to catch a glimpse of the crepuscular animals that are busiest at dusk and dawn. Despite the quiet on our hike, we do often see deer and coyotes in the prairie, and occasionally a bald eagle will soar overhead or a ring-necked pheasant will peek out from the prairie grasses. We’ve had trail cameras out in the preserve that have revealed even more wildlife: opossum, raccoons, wild turkeys and more.

      

The western side of the preserve has a couple of small ponds near the trail where we often see wading birds like great blue herons and egrets. In the summer, though, it’s hard to get a good look at the ponds because the prairie plants are at their peak and block most of the view.

Sugar Creek Preserve is home to the Forest Preserve’s Administration Center, which is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. Although staff always welcome visitors and are happy to answer questions, the Sugar Creek Administration Center is not a traditional visitor center with exhibits.

If you visit for a hike during open hours, you can stop in for maps, brochures and flyers. You can also purchase permits to reserve picnic shelters and campsites as well as to visit our dog parks with your furry friend. The restrooms at the administration center are open to the public, and you can fill up your water bottle at the water fountain.

Hiking Sugar Creek Preserve

Route: We started on the Sugar Creek Nature Trail and hiked a stretch of the Wauponsee Glacial Trail before completing the nature trail.

Distance: 1.9 miles

Time: 43 minutes

Weather conditions: A warm, sunny summer morning. Temperatures were in the mid-70s.

Difficulty level: The Sugar Creek Nature Trail is a wide grassy trail. The stretch of the Wauponsee Glacial Trail we hiked was paved, but parts of the trail are crushed limestone.

Trail notes: This is a good spot for a quick summer walk, which can be a nice option to have on a hot summer day.

Don’t forget: Sunglasses to help with the summer sun and water if you get parched while walking. And if you are a regular sunscreen user, you’ll want to apply it before being outdoors here.

(Lead image by Anthony Schalk)