After a lot of back and forth, the Mikes and I decided to do our hike at LaBagh Woods, a forest preserve about 4 miles west of our neighborhood in Chicago. It was recommended to us as an alternative to our original destination of the 606, which was trending a little too hard for us to feel like it was real hike.

The LaBagh Woods trail is similar to the 606 in that it’s a converted old rail line that folks hike and bike up and back — only it has been left a little more natural than the paved walkway that is the 606. Part of the hike is along an overpass of Foster Ave, a busy road in Chicago that I usually take on my way to the airport. The hike itself was very easy, but the scenery and dense bug populations left much to be desired. The Mikes and I decided that it was definitely our grossest hike yet. The lake located in the woods was overflowing due to quite a bit of rain in early June and created a muddy and swamp-like atmosphere full of bugs, which we were not prepared for.

One of the only highlights of this the light city hike was seeing a family of city deer who let us get very close all while keeping a watchful eye on us as they cruised the woods backing up to a row of houses on the edge of the woods. There was also a group of preteens setting off fire crackers who scattered once they saw us, not that they were hurting anything.

Although I will now always think of the trail as I drive under the overpass on Foster Ave on the west side, I doubt we will be going back.