Biking through the Busse Woods!

                                   The Busse Trail System 

Map courtesy of the CCFP

 The Busse trial system is located within the Ned Brown Forest Preserve in Elk Grove Village. Its three paved paths, loops 10.8 miles besides meadows, through mature hardwood forests, and along fantastic Flatwoods and around gorgeous lakes.  It even has an elk pasture preserve!  I was pleasantly surprised by the overall beauty of this trail and the numerous year round activities that it offers.  No wonder why it is often referred to as Chicago’s Backyard! 

I began my trip at the start of the black trail off of Golf road. After riding through open meadows  I crossed  a bridge   and entered canopied trail.  I soon came to a fork on the path and took a left onto the red trail where I rode through many groves  and over a beautiful view of the  Busse Lake. 

Three miles later I reached the Elk pasture. I stopped and rested  my bike against this tree (which I will identify later) and took my time eating  few handfuls of trail mix while looking for any signs of Elk. When I was not successful  and when I was fully hydrated , I got back on to the Red Trail to continue my adventure. 

Two minutes later I spotted elk resting in the shade.

I rode three more miles along the lake. I almost was tempted to diverge from the red trail to ride down the Salt  Creek Trial , which I found out later is another Cook County bike trail which leads to the  famous Brookfield Zoo. 

 I stopped for lunch near the Busse Lake's Boating Center. There weren't any picnic tables so I found a comfortable shaded spot viewing South Pool of Busse Lake. It was serene and as a sat there I was entertained by Red- winged  Blackbirds, a male and later I figured out after looking through a bird book the female as well. The male and female red-wing black bird look entirely different. 

Here is the make Red-winged Blackbird . 

This is their main habitat 

The female resting on driftwood 

The male in flight 

chilling 

comfy on some cattail 

After lunch and some major rest and relaxation I continued on the red trail until I reached the black trailed and biked back down to where I began the entire trip, just riding time took me an hour but it was worth it. This trip is what inspired me to begin this blog.