HIKE: Cook County Forest Preserve, Wolf Road Loop, Palos Nuclear Site M

When your partner is a history buff, and you let him surprise you with your birthday hike destination… you end up at a nuclear waste dump?

I kid, it is actually a really scenic and relaxed place to go for a day hike within a short drive of Chicago, and the radioactive, uh, element was a surprise for both of us (he was way more excited about that part than me, though). I think I got that out of (or, into?) my system after too many late nights in the Regenstein Library. That’s the main University of Chicago library, built where Stagg Field once stood, and was the site of Fermi’s first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in 1942. Neither place is actually hazardous (well, the Reg. library has plenty of hazards but radiation isn’t one of them… mostly just a lot of sleep deprived students), although the Palos site does have buried material from testing, so, no digging, ok?

Anyway, it’s a really nice Chicagoland hike even if you aren’t a big ole nerd like us? The trail systems are well maintained, and there’s a good mix of groomed gravel trails and some more off-road single track terrain that feels a bit more like actually hiking.