Sunset Bridge Meadow

This location is nice and big for many different recreational uses. I've flown kites, played soccer, I have seen people play volleyball, barbecues. You name it! There is a trail to take a nice walk with yourself, family, friends or dog. Would recommend.

My pup loved it here! So much wild life, saw a total of 3 deers, maybe more. Natural beauty. Easy trail to follow, beautiful bridge. Felt so peaceful walking there.

Great for a 1 hour hike

Beautiful area. Great for having any kind of outside event. We enjoyed this location a lot. Had a bathroom area too .

The most beautiful bridge in the area! Great views of the trail and the river! The graffiti is constantly rotating, often very topical. Sweet Simpsons fish mural on the side.

Started here and worked my way up to Grand Ave. A great trail along the river.

Great place to start a trip up the DPRT!

Our family reunion was held here. It’s in a great area and the park was very clean

Nice park with good trails. Pretty scenery in the woods

The kids love to grab food…. Eat and play in the open field!

It's a forest where most traffic noise is not heard. Walking can be relaxing with the noise from nature. Some sections are mosquito free others depending on the path you take, may encounter some of these little vampires. :)

Great location for family photos. Alot of hidden spots where your photos would looks mazing.visited during the weekend and hardly anyone was around. Wide trails,and just a beautiful quiet place to visit.

My discovery of Sunset Bridge Meadow came after I took an alternate run route because the underpass headed north towards Schiller Woods South was blocked off due to flooding. And since then, I have been slowly moving further south with hopes of locating paths that lead to Thatcher Woods which I hope to eventually start off at in the future to train for marathon runs as I have done before, but at Fullerton Woods trailhead.

What I like about this trailhead is that its parking lot is spacious, and highly visible being that it sits along a highly driven on W North Ave. And on top of it having a spacious parking lot, it has a huge open field that is perfect for activities outside of outdoor picnics at the grove.

Out of the trailheads in this area which are Fullerton Woods and Jerome Huppert Woods, I recommend this one for safety and security purposes due to its location if you plan to be on the Des Plaines River Trail for more than an hour exploring. Because with its location being in a highly visible area along W North Ave anything suspicious will be easily identified. And also there are a decent number of visitors in-and-out.

Once you enter the Des Plaines River Trail, it is a whole different world where you can easily escape reality and be one with nature that covers an estimated total of 28.4 miles. And if you are lucky you will encounter some of the wildlife that live within the preserve too.

On the Des Plaines River Trail, you will encounter hikers, dog walkers, mountain bikers and trail runners which all are friendly from what I have experienced. Most encounters with mountain bikers can throw your pacing off depending on how many there are in a pack which most of the time are no more than four. I do recommend taking the encounters as the time for a short break to hydrate or gather yourself until they pass by on whatever portion of the trail you may be on if there is not enough room.

And lastly, a tip on how to not get off track on this trail is to stay along the Des Plaines River, which will end up on your left hand side once you cross the bridge. If you cannot see the river then you may have went in the wrong direction, but I assure you it is not hard to miss. And the further north you go towards the state line of Wisconsin the more the trail disconnects.

~Blessings~

Thomas G

very nice pavilion and clean bathrooms. plenty of parking

Beautiful scenery with a trail that falls along a river.

Beautiful place to get connected with mother nature ❤❤❤

Great place, had a great time.

Great outdoor experience

Highly Recommended

Nice place for having a party. Like the fact that there is a clean bathroom and it has a shelter.

Awesome wide path trails. Very easy walk through.