Your Forest Preserves

Independence Grove

Independence Grove offers outdoor recreation and education opportunities centered on a 115-acre lake. Surrounding prairie and woodlands provide a picturesque backdrop for hiking, biking, picnicking and other fun activities.

Trails

The Lakeside trail (2.3 mi.) offers a crushed granite surface ideal for hiking and jogging. The Overlook trail (2.5 mi.) runs through scenic areas of the preserve. Its paved surface is designed for in-line skating, biking and other general uses. Two shorter trails connect with the Lakeside and Overlook trails. The South Bay loop (0.7 mi.) is paved, while the North Bay loop (0.75 mi.) has combined asphalt and gravel sections. A short section of the Des Plaines River Trail connects to preserve trails.

Please note: Dogs, horses and other pets are not allowed in Independence Grove, with exception of service animals.

Children's Grove Playground

A sensory-rich play environment with state-of-the-art handicap-adaptable play equipment and wide paved pathways make access comfortable and enjoyable for all visitors. Located adjacent to the Visitors Center.

Visitors Center

The dramatic Visitors Center offers panoramic views of the lake and preserve. The open interior features banquet and meeting space, a classroom, interactive nature and history exhibits, and a walk-up cafe (summer only).

The Visitors Center is open daily from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., unless otherwise posted.

Cafe

During summer, snacks, light entrees, beverages and ice cream are available from a convenient walk-up window on the north side of the Visitors Center.

The Cafe is closed for the season, reopens spring 2010.

Millennia Plaza & Native Garden

Millennia Plaza's amphitheater, fountain and native garden makes an ideal setting for a variety of special programs, events and outdoor celebrations. The Native Garden boasts lush flowers and foliage, a sculptured fountain, wooden pergola and gazebo, wood and wrought iron benches and winding red brick walkways. Volunteer gardeners help tend to its seasonal needs. The garden also shows homeowners how to create their own beautiful landscapes using low-maintenance native plants.

North Bay Pavilion

Situated on the scenic North Bay, this striking pavilion and adjacent open area are perfect for a corporate picnic, outdoor wedding, family reunion or other lakeside event. The pavilion accommodates up to 500 people and offers a stone fireplace, picnic tables, drinking water, electricity, parking, toilets, trail access, fishing pier, play field and sand volleyball court. Rental and catering arrangements: Picnics, Inc., 847-966-6555.

Marina, Boat & Bike Rentals

Rent a canoe, kayak, foot and hand-powered paddle boats, fishing boat, comfort bike, surrey bicycle or adaptive trikes. Helmets are provided. The concession also offers bait, tackle, and fishing licenses.

The Marina is closed for the season, reopens spring 2010.

Fishing

We've transformed a sterile quarry with step sides into a rich aquatic ecosystem with gently graded slopes and underwater islands. Musky, northern pike, black crappie, largemouth bass, channel catfish, walleye, bluegill and yellow perch are found here. Game fish are periodically stocked. A mandatory catch-and-release fishing program makes it recreational for anglers and beneficial for nature. Anglers are encouraged to use barbless, non-stainless steel hooks.

State fishing licenses are required and are available at the Marina building (open seasonally), along with nightcrawlers and a limited stock of tackle. Fishing is not permitted in the preserve's south bay.

Canoe Launch

Bring your own canoe and launch it on the Des Plaines River. The Independence Grove Canoe Launch, located near the North Bay Pavilion, offers shoreline fishing, a trail connection to the Des Plaines River Trail and parking. If you put your canoe in here, the next ramp is 2.7 miles downstream (Oak Spring Road Canoe Launch).

Swimming Beach

Dig your toes into 400 feet of sand beach along the lake's South Bay. An adjacent beach house offers washrooms, showers and lockers. Beach chairs and shade umbrellas available for rent, too. For those with limited mobility, a beach wheelchair that rolls over the sand and into the water with the assistance of a caregiver is available upon request and is free of charge. 

Lifeguards are on duty during posted hours. For the safety of visitors and resident wildlife, inflatable items are not permitted.

The swimming beach is closed for the season, reopens spring 2010.

Parking

Parking is free for Lake County residents, $5 per car for non-residents Monday through Thursday, $10 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

When the Lake County Forest Preserve District purchased this land in 1978, an idea evolved that an old gravel quarry, 3,500 feet across and 75 feet deep, could be recycled and reclaimed. By the late 1980s, it was evident that something bigger could happen here. In the early 1990s, a community advisory committee helped brainstorm ideas and created a master plan that became the blueprint of what Independence Grove is today. The preserve opened to the public in 2001 and has become one of Lake County's most popular recreation destinations.

To create the lake, the quarry was mined of any remaining resources. Large pieces of equipment crushed the gravel, rock and concrete. Miles of conveyor belts throughout the bottom of the pit moved materials from one area to another. Mining royalties were put in a special fund to help pay for reclaiming the site for public use. Later, millions of cubic yards of clean fill were brought in to create about 60 acres of land. Since the walls of the old quarry were straight and steep, shelves were made along the edge to create a safer shoreline and wildlife habitat, and deter erosion. Thousands of trees and shrubs were planted.

One of the biggest challenges was creating a habitat for fish out of a sterile lake with no vegetation. Trees, fish cribs and concrete pipes were placed along the lake bottom before the water was allowed to rise.

Independence Grove welcomes many different kinds of visitors. During the spring, birds stop here to rest and feed during their long journey to nesting grounds as far north as the Arctic. Watch the trees along the Des Plaines River Greenway corridor for many colorful species of warblers.

The preserve's rolling prairies, wide-open spaces, and woodlands offer the perfect environment for a variety of wildlife like owls, muskrats, beaver, mink, raccoon, possum or deer. Take a guided night hike with our naturalists and you might even spy an owl in the oak forest. We also encourage wildlife by creating habitats for them. Special underwater shelves around the lakeshore are designed for aquatic plants. Above and below the water's surface, these plants provide nesting sites, cover and food for all types of wildlife.