It is never clear when the start of sledding season begins.  We got some decent snow over Christmas but then it turned unbearably cold right away.  I think we went sledding 3 or 4 times around Christmas but not again since.  Anyway,  we thought we might as well talk about some of our favorite sledding attractions in the area.  So bundle up and get ready for speed, snow ramps, and wipeouts.

Cricket Hill.  We are partial to this “mountain” at Montrose and Lake Shore Drive.  It is the right size for the under 7 year old and under crowd and the big kids build a ramp on most snowy days for you to try. Lots of cheering and encouragement for the kids that wipe out.  This hill has some good speed, but because of the proximity to the lake can have a bit of a wind chill.

Soldier Field.  I was tailgating for the last Minnnesota/Bears game and I saw all of these people catapulting down the side of the hill by McCormick Place.  It is a very steep hill and not easy to find a parking space, but it has stairs which is always nice and rides extremely fast. 

Warren Hill.  Warren Hill  (6601 Western avenue up north) has ice skating and a great sledding hill.  It has stairs to get up the hill which is always preferrable.  It can get pretty crowded but it has a lot of natural bumps (ramps) and is incredibly fast if it is a little icy on the hill.

Snowstar.  Almost to Iowa (9500 126th Street  in Andalusia) , but an incredible tubing ride. Snowstar is a ski mountain that you can tube down.  Kids have to be at least 4 years old because they ride the tube alone but you can watch them from picnic tables down at the bottom.  And don’t worry because they have a moving sidewalk to get kids up to the top.  This is the real deal.

Elburn Forest Preserve.  On Hughes Road in Elburn between Fayban Parkway and Route 47 there is sledding hill set up with bales of hay at the bottom to help prevent injury, though crashing in to the hay can sometimes be the best part.  Keep your head up because there are lots of sledders coming down.

Campton Forest Preserve.  Located at the corner of Rt 64 and Towne Hall Road in Wasco, IL, this is one of the steeper hills so it attracts a lot of speedsters and older kids.  Definitely not for the squeamish. 

Centennial Park.  At 3100 Trail Way in Highland Park, this hill has park right at the bottom of the hill so no long journeys just to get to the sledding park (”Daddy, do I have to walk the whole way?”).  It has stairs to get to the top and is typically not too crowded.

Other fairly serious sledding and tubing hills are the following:

1.  Dan Ryan Woods, 87th and Western, Chicago.

2.  Swallow Cliff Woods, Route 84 and Mannheim Road, Palos Park

3.  Deer Grove, Quentin Road, north of Dundee Road in Palantine

4.  Westchester Woods, Cermak Road, east of LaGrange Road, Westchester

5.  Indian Hill Woods, 16th Street & Edgewood Avenue, Chicago Heights

6.  Pioneer Woods, 107th Street, .5 mile west of LaGrange Road in Willow Springs

Larry and Donna

Dad Says:  It is hard to pass up the speed of the natural hills like Montrose, but stairs really help if you have kids under 7 who are really struggling up the hill.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 7:55 pm and is filed under Venues. If you use RSS, you can subscribe to the RSS feed. , or if you would rather receive an e-mail, please subscribe to the e-mail in the lower right hand corner of this page. Both comments and pings are currently closed.