The Paul Douglas Trail Photos
Freeman Road north to Algonquin Rd

(Click on any image to enlarge)

The photo above is from right after the Paul Douglas Trail turns north (to the right on this ride) and runs parallel to Huntington / Freeman Road (on the left). I really don't know why they call this road Huntington and Freeman but the signs and maps that I have seen always use both names. There is Huntington Blvd and a Freeman Road in the subdivision on the other side of Algonquin Road. The 2 roads merge together before crossing Algonquin but the road(s) end at Central so why not just pick one name.

Getting back to the trail again, this is my favorite part of this trail (west of the forest preserve). It's wooded, quiet and there are no roads to cross. When there are deer around (early morning, late evening and especially in the fall) this is probably the place that you will most likely see them. I have ridden this trail a lot and have seen deer along the trail many times in different locations but there seems to be more in this area.

When there is flooding, this little stretch here is most likely to flood and has flooded a few times in the past (this is just north of Lakewood Blvd which is where the stop sign is on Huntington / Freeman). The worst flooding was right after this trail was built. They dug up part of the trail and added a few more drainage pipes under the trail and it is not nearly as bad but I have still seen it get a little flooded on the path.

This is just before one of the steeper hills in this area. It's a good idea to get going here (on the downhill) so you can make it up the next hill but there is also a fairly sharp turn (sometimes with wet leaves like in the fall) at the bottom of the hill so you still need to be careful and not get too crazy.

The photo above is as you come up to the Mundhawk Road intersection (the intersection with Huntington / Freeman not with the trail). Once again, the reason why there is not much grass on the sides of the trail is because these photos were taken right after this trail was constructed and the grass had not come in yet. There is plenty of green grass along the sides of the trail now (in the summer, of course).

This is one of the winding parts of the trail heading north and just before getting back to Algonquin Road again.

 

And finally... this is where the Algonquin Road Trail (east/west) meets up with the Paul Douglas extension (north/south) at Algonquin and Huntington / Freeman Roads. Go right here to go east towards Ela Road and Harper College of left to go west to Crabtree.

Actually, if you take the trail to the right here it goes completely around both Paul Douglas Forest Preserve and Highland Woods Golf Course. So regardless of what the names of the trails are now you can do a complete loop of over 7 miles. Most of the trail is a paved path in or near the woods or golf course except for the one section of the trail that runs along Algonquin Road east of Ela and west of Roselle. That part of the trail is on a sidewalk and right next to Algonquin Road.