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Your Forest Preserves

your forest preserves

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Millennium Trail - Lakewood to Singing Hills
Countywide Map & Guide
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Acreage

688 acres

Activities

Bicycling
Cross-Country Skiing
Hiking
Horseback Riding

Amenities

Drinking Water
Horse Trailer Parking
Public Parking
Toilets
Trails

Related Sites 

Millennium Trail and Greenway

Singing Hills

Singing Hills serves as an important trail hub for the Millennium Trail, with car and horse trailer parking and a toilet. The Millennium Trail connects Lakewood Forest Preserve with Singing Hills and is open for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing and horseback riding. The trail surface is mainly gravel from Lakewood north to Singing Hills. North of Singing Hills, the trail surface is mainly asphalt with a few gravel sections.

Millennium Trail

Trail sections currently open include from Hawley and Route 176 in Mundelein west and north through Lakewood and Singing Hills to Marl Flat Forest Preserve in Volo; from Litchfield Drive to Fairfield Road in Round Lake; along the Round Lake Bike Path; from Hook Drive east through Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve in Grayslake; and from Bonner Heritage Farm to McDonald Woods Forest Preserve in Lindenhurst.

 

Location

Singing Hills Forest Preserve is located in Round Lake.

The entrance is off of Fish Lake Road, just north of Gilmer Road. [View on Google Maps]

 

History

The Forest Preserve Board acquired the original 541-acre "Singing Hills Farm" parcel in September 1997, creating a new Forest Preserve on Fish Lake Road north of Gilmer Road near Volo.

The preserve name dates back to 1942 when Dan Nelson, Sr., purchased the property as a country retreat for his family. Nelson's son Cliff describes how his father named the site:

"There were so many birds on that land... a Great Blue Heron nest in the trees along the north edge of the farm... pheasants, grouse, songbirds of all kinds. The land was so musical that my father called his farm The Singing Hills."

According to Cliff, his late father's name choice may also have been influenced by an old cowboy song entitled "Singing Hills" from the days of Gene Autry. Cliff Nelson thought his father would have been delighted to know that the name might be retained for posterity. A barn on the property still reads "Singing Hills Farm."

 

The Natural Scene

Singing Hills includes 58 acres of natural oak woodlands and 171 acres of high-quality wetlands, with additional farm lands suitable for wildlife habitat restoration.

The preserve provides protection to Monahan Lake, a wetlands complex that is a documented nesting site for state-endangered sandhill cranes and other waterfowl.

 
(c) LCFPD

Preserve News

Discovery Museum participates in Blue Star program
Preserve safety tips
Prevent bites from ticks that share our outdoor spaces
 

Preserve Improvements

Construction Alert: Fairfield Road and Route 176 Intersection