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.

 

^{|  Story by Meghan McMahon |}

^6/24/2025

Taking a trip down south can be a big change in scenery, even if your trip only takes you as far as southern Will County.

If you haven’t been to the sands region of Will County, you might be surprised to see just how distinct it is from other areas of the county. The differences can be subtle at first, but the more you look the more you’ll notice that the prairies and savannas here are unique compared to elsewhere in the county, and that includes the geology as well as the flora and fauna.

The soil here is sandy, and the sandy habitat in this area is the result of catastrophic flooding thousands of years ago, during the Wisconsin Glaciation. When moraines — rock and soil left behind by a moving glacier — were breached by flooding, water poured into the Kankakee River valley, depositing sand across the area.

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The Will County forest preserves include three preserves where you can see this sandy habitat for yourself — Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve, Kankakee Sands Preserve and Evans-Judge Preserve. For our Be a Trailblazer hike we walked the trails at both Braidwood Dunes and Savanna and Kankakee Sands, which are both on Route 113 about a mile apart from one another. Evans-Judge Preserve is about a 5-mile drive away, and it’s worth a visit as well.

We started our hikes at Braidwood Dunes. The trail here is short — less than half a mile — so it’s an easy walk on a grassy trail. If it’s all you have time for, you won’t leave disappointed. You’ll get your best look at the sandy soil here because the trail is natural surface. It’s mostly grass covered, but in some areas you’ll be walking right on the sandy soil.

Braidwood Dunes is a good place to see some of the flora and fauna that are unique to this area of the county as well. One thing you’ll see here that you may not see anywhere else is prickly pear cactus, and you won’t have to look too hard for it because it grows right on the trail in a few spots.

Another plant you won’t find in too many other preserves that you can see at Braidwood Dunes is the sassafras tree. We always think these trees are easy to identify because their leaves look like dinosaur feet (to us anyway). A fun fact about this tree: Many people say they smell like Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles if you rub the bark or crush a leaf in your hand.

The wildlife here includes many of the same animals you can see anywhere in northern Illinois, but there are a few that you aren’t likely to see anywhere outside this pocket of the area. Will County is home to only two reptiles — the six-lined racerunner and the slender glass lizard — and both prefer the sandy soils found in these preserves. So don’t be surprised if you see a small lizard scurrying across the ground!

The sights and sounds at Kankakee Sands are similar to those at Braidwood Dunes and Savanna, but on a much larger scale. That’s because the trail here is much longer and covers a vast expanse of prairie as well as a few woodland pockets.

We like hiking at Kankakee Sands in the summer because that’s when the prairies really start to shine. On our visit, yellow, purple and white were the colors dominating the landscape. Ohio spiderwort provided the pops of purple, and several flowers added splashes of yellow. Our favorite is the lance-leaf coreopsis, with its golden blooms seeming to dance in the breeze atop their delicate stems.

As we walked, we saw plenty of hints of what was to come as well. Golden Alexander had just started to bloom in a few spots, and we saw lots of milkweed and black-eyed Susans getting ready to show off.

A notable plant find here is horsetail. This unique plant, which is also called esnake grass, puzzle grass and equisetum, looks like bamboo, although the two plants aren ‘t closely related. It’s bamboo-like appearance makes it easy to spot, though. At Kankakee Sands, you can find it lining the trail on a stretch of the north end of the front loop.

The trail at Kankakee Sands is all crushed limestone, and while it’s technically a looped trail, there is a long stretch where you have to retrace your steps because the trail is actually two shorter loops connected by a single track of trail, kind of like a wonky-looking barbell. During this repeat stretch, we used our trick of only looking to one side on the way out and the other side on the way back to keep the scenery more interesting.

We hiked in the the late morning, so we didn’t see a lot of wildlife roaming around other than birds and insects. The birds and insects did delight, though. As we walked, their songs were constant, making it easy to understand how simply spending time listening to nature is good for your health. 

Bees and flies were buzzing from flower to flower, and every time we stopped to get a closer look at something we found insects crawling up, down and all around the vegetation. We were happy to see a few monarchs as well. 

We enjoyed watching the bouncy up-and-down flight pattern of goldfinches and other birds, but the highlight of our visit was definitely spotting an all-white bird perched in the vegetation.

From a distance, we thought the white bird was garbage — the ubiquitous shopping bag stuck in vegetation — so it caught us by surprise as we saw it move from one perch to another, closely following another bird. As we got closer, we could see that the bird was indeed all white, presumably the result of a genetic mutation such as albinism or leucism. We stopped on the trail to watch for awhile, and our best guess was that it was an eastern kingbird based on its size, shape and — most importantly — the fact that it stayed close to another eastern kingbird as it moved from place to place.

Toward the end of our walk, we were happy it was a breezy summer day because the sun was shining brightly and there’s isn’t much shade to speak of except for groves of tree at the beginning and end of the trail.

This is definitely one place where you will want to bring water if it is a hot or even warm day. If you don’t like carrying water with you on your walk — we don’t — make sure to hydrate yourself before heading out and have water waiting when you return.

Pro tip: Make sure to check yourself for ticks after hiking at Braidwood Dunes or Kankakee Sands — or anywhere for that matter. The grassy trail at Braidwood Dunes and tall vegetation along the trails at Kankakee Sands are prime places for ticks to transfer onto you, so make sure to give yourself a good onceover before even leaving the preserve.

Don’t forget: Sunscreen! The trails at both preserves are almost entirely unshaded, so you may get a sunburn if you aren’t prepared. And bring along some water too, particularly at Kankakee Sands. It can be hot out on the trail on a summer day.

_{(Lead image by Anthony Schalk)}