WEAVER PARK

 Located on Lawndale Ave. between Hilldale and Knollcrest Drive this park is hard to spot as only the entrance is visible from the road. The park is surrounded by trees and vegetation with a stream to your left and railroad tracks to your right.  The trail is deceptive as you look at it from the entrance.  I expected to find the end in about 5 minutes but instead found that this walk could take between 10 and 15 minutes before turning around, depending on how the walk is routed. There are a few variations so I’ll start with the quickest and easiest route. The trail is not paved and appears to be maintained as there are some park benches and small wooden bridges. After about 2 minutes of walking on a wide grassy path there is a fork with a smaller trail to the right and a park bench to the left where the wide grassy path continues. The cleanest route to take is to the right which is closest to the railroad tracks. This trail, which I’ll call the right trail, is shaded with trees and vegetation yet the path is plenty wide and flat with little or no obstacles. After about 5 minutes the trail takes you to an open field with a nice view of the Main Street water tower. I’m not sure if the field contains some kind of crop or is just growing wild but on this particular day in July it made for a nice scene of amber color. The left outer edge of this field was mowed into wide path so I kept walking. At this point I’m not sure if I’m still in park district territory or on private property but I’ve been here a few times and haven’t been confronted (if I were confronted I would certainly apologize and leave but any reasonable person would see trespassing as an honest mistake as this seems to be a part of the trail). It takes about 4 minutes to get to the other side of the field. The trails end is not clear but I can see that I am now in or very close to someone’s back yard so I turn around and head back at the 10 minute mark which makes this walk only about 20 minutes total. Another option is to go left at the fork I previously mentioned. This trail is closer to the stream which makes it a little more scenic. It is comparable to the right trail as it is shaded by vegetation but there are more twists and turns and the path is not quite as wide. There are 4 forks that lead to the right trail. It takes about 5 minutes to get to the fourth and last fork. Go left and you stay closer to the stream but the trail becomes overrun with tall grass for a short distance. I also discovered a deep hole (unfortunately with my right leg) that was hard to spot because of the vegetation. Make a note to be aware of this. Once you get through this small patch you are confronted with a fallen tree trunk that needs to be stepped over followed by another one that needs to be stepped under. Then you merge with the right trail just before the open field. Taking the left route adds a little time so I found myself turning around at the end of the field at 12 minutes. There are also a couple variations just before you get to the open field. You can go right or left. Both of these trails run just outside of the open field. Both are thin and heavily covered on both sides. The left side merges into the open field path about half way up the field. The right side eventually ends about halfway up the field with no good option but turn around.

This trail is mostly shaded even in the open field as there are intermittent trees hanging over the path. This is a woodsy trail so depending on the season bugs, cobwebs, and various weeds can be prevalent. You are somewhat isolated from public view so if you are walking by yourself take a cell phone. There is no pavement so wet conditions may be sloppy but there are no steep hills to negotiate.

DIRECTIONS FROM THE SQUARE: North on Main Street, right on Hilldale, right on Lawndale Ave. (Lawndale is not marked off of Hilldale. If you see Birchwood Park on your right you’ve just passed the turn). Street parking as there is no parking lot.

DRIVE TIME: Less than 5 minutes