Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve, Buffalo Trace Prairie

I love everything about this place except for one problem which is becoming worse all the time. Dogs running unleashed. In the past month I’ve encounterd one German Sheperd and two Pit Bulls running within about 50 yards of their masters. On all three occasions the owners told me, «they like to chase the dear». WTF!!!

The Buffalo Trace Prairie is a system of trails that are on the far western edge of the Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. To be sure, there is much more to Lake of the Woods than just Buffalo Trace. The easiest entrance is located just north of Exit #172 off I-​74 in Mahomet, on the left across from the botanical garden and before you get to the Early American Museum. Can’t miss it.
The trails run all through this medium-​sized forest preserve and are perfect for jogging, biking, or dog walking. There is one major asphalt trail that runs E-​W and several smaller trails that are really just places that they mow the prairie down every week or so. The asphalt trail is a little more than a mile long, and connects to a trail that is 5 mi in total. The intertwined grass trails are much longer all told, but since there are so many, you can customize as long or short of a walk as you want. The terrain is rolling hills, and the biome (s) are a pleasant transition from prairie to woods. None of the trails that I was on were at all challenging or in disrepair.
I would suggest that if you intend to take the grass trails, take a good long look at the map before you leave the trail head, or bring one along. Thankfully, there are not really that many people making use of this park, which is cool. If you make use of the trail map, the trail in the far south of this park (by the highway) actually dead-​ends and does not connect back to the parking lot, as is indicated on the map. Not a big deal, just a lil back-​tracking. I needed the exercise.