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Kenosha County in a Blaze of Color

March 29, 2023 | Topics: Places, Spotlight

By the calendar it is spring, but as usual in Wisconsin, you’d be hard pressed to find any evidence of that illustrious season. The highs today are predicted to barely bounce above freezing. Snow lingers in patches. Instead of dwelling on all of this, however, I invite you to go back with me to our recent glorious autumn and specifically this week to Kenosha County, which is where I discovered both new places to explore and some of the best color of the season.

Jean McGraw Memorial Nature Preserve

I stopped to check out this small (14.75-acre) preserve on my south to a couple of larger parks. It is conveniently located right next to I-94. The preserve is owned and managed by Seno K/RLT Conservancy. It is considered an upland/wetland complex and includes several hundred feet of frontage on the Des Plaines River. I discovered an easy, mulched 0.2-mile loop trail through the woodland. Although wildflowers such as Solomon’s Seal, May Apple, Large White Buttercup, and Anemone can be found in season, I was there too late for any of them!

The preserve is dedicated in honor of Jean McGraw, who was a well-known environmentalist in the Racine area and a long-time member of the Kenosha/Racine Land Trust (K/RLT) board member. I’ve been there twice now and both times I’ve seen people fishing in the river, so it must be popular for that. For more information and location go to our Find-a-Park page.

A view of a wetland along the Des Plaines River.

Jerome Creek Nature Preserve

This place was the biggest surprise of my Kenosha County excursion—and its name remains a mystery. I found it simply by looking closely at where Google Maps showed lots of undeveloped land. The name, Jerome Creek Nature Preserve, popped up in the middle of one particularly large green space and I knew I had to check it out. The map also showed a trail head on a dead-end road for what the signage called the Donald Hackbarth Trail, which is where I started out.

The broad gravel trail led me through wide open meadow land to a long boardwalk, which traversed a wetland before crossing Jerome Creek. On the other side the multipurpose trail continued into a deep woodland of tall oaks and other stately trees. Beyond the woodland the trail led to Prairie Springs Park, an intensively developed Village of Pleasant Prairie park on Lake Andrea. Despite the lateness of the season and chill in the air, I saw four sailboarders out on the lake!

Sailboarders catch the breeze on Lake Andrea at Prairie Springs Park.

As I headed back on the Hackbarth Trail I realized two things: First, the woodland was larger than I was willing to explore in one day, which means I’ll have to come back! Second, I found no evidence of anything named Jerome Creek Nature Preserve anywhere along the way. Later searches for that name online also proved fruitless. Thus, the origins of that ephemeral designation on Google Maps that led me there remains a mystery.

A cyclist on the multipurpose Donald Hackbarth Trail.

A place to rest and contemplate nature and autumn along the trail.

The depths, and the heights, of the forest.

Pringle Nature Center

Unlike Jerome Creek Nature Preserve, this place definitely exists! I’ve been to it several times in other seasons, but never in autumn. It proved to be a great choice though, for it was here that I found the most spectacular colors of the season, as you can see from the photos (the featured photo at the top is from here as well as those that follow).

The Nature Center itself is in Bristol Woods County Park and, along with a system of lovely nature trails that wind through the woods and around a lovely prairie (that was featured in a previous blog post), the park is home to what is billed by the promoters, Boundless Adventures, as “The Ultimate Treetop Adventure.” I’ve been there in the past when no one was around but this time it was very busy.

A zip line at the Boundless Adventures course.

I prefer more sedate adventures myself and eagerly sought the trails that led away from the fancy attraction. There I found not only some moments of blessed solitude but also some pretty awesome treetop exhibitions of autumn color. For more information and location go to our Find-a-Park page.