Blackwell Forest Preserve
West Branch DuPage River Trail
Warrenville, Illinois
August 14, 2025
Introduction
Today is a perfect day for a bike ride. The temperature is in the mid 80s, with a dew point in the low 60s. When the dew point is in the low 60s or less, we know it will feel much more comfortable being outdoors.
We’ll explore the West Branch DuPage River Trail on our electric trikes today. This trail originates at the Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Illinois, just north of Butterfield road. The trail is 4 miles in length and terminates at Gary’s Mill road in West Chicago. So our round trip will be a total of 8 miles.
Our journey on this trail will take us through oak and hickory woodlands, prairies, grasslands and wetlands. This forest preserve attracts a variety of native wildlife, including wild turkeys, deer, bald eagles, great blue herons, coyotes, red foxes, and muskrats.
So it’s time to unload our electric trikes and start exploring!
DuPage River Tributary
This year, work crews have been busy with restoration efforts on this tributary of the Dupage River.
Mack Road Concerns
Crossing Mack road can be challenging. Even with the flashing yellow warning lights, most drivers fail to yield to pedestrians attempting to cross the road.
McKee Marsh
This portion of the trail makes a loop around McKee Marsh. This wetland features two vernal ponds where amphibians thrive and are in abundance. Bird species such as the wood duck, blue-winged teal, and solitary sandpiper forage in the area. A 13,000-year-old skeleton of a wooly mammoth was discovered here in 1977.
Lunch
We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Currier Elementary School at Gary’s Mill road. This is the end point for this portion of the trail. The school is closed today, but opens for the first day of school tomorrow.
We ate our lunch seated at the “little peoples” picnic table and were thrilled to see they had a “Buddy Bench.”
End
Well that concludes our adventure for today. We had a wonderful time exploring this beautiful trail and look forward to our next trip on our electric trikes. Thanks for watching!
Lectric eTrikes - Goodyear, AZ
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