In the heart of the metropolitan Chicago area, in Naperville, a city of close to 146,00, lies Greene Valley Forest Preserve, covering over 1,400 acres in area. Eleven miles of trails traverse a variety of habitats: woodland, wetland, grassland, prairie, waterways, lakes, and ponds.
Dupage County contains over a million people in a number of cities and villages. According to Wikipedia:
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County owns and manages 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) of prairies, woodlands and wetlands. More than 4 million visitors each year enjoy 60 forest preserves, 145 miles of trails, and five education centers.
Greene Valley is part of this system. On a lovely October Saturday afternoon, we walked some of the trail, then headed up a road that wound up a retired landfill. We were passed by a number of cars going a great deal over the speed limit, but made it to the top under foot power. Again, according to Wikipedia:
The 190-foot-tall scenic overlook offers a bird’s-eye view of DuPage County and the Chicago skyline and is a great place to picnic, look for migrating birds or participate in regularly scheduled District programs. A road leads from the base of the hill to a parking lot at the top. In addition to great views, this retired landfill provides energy for thousands of area homes from the methane it produces.
Just as in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, in the land of the prairie, a landfill can be a mountain. At the top, we had an amazing view of the colors of the fall leaves. There was a bird-watching station set up with a chart detailing the birds that had been spotted. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any peregrine falcons, hawks, or other birds. But we did get a rare view of the Chicago Illinois-us, a large bird many miles away, seen only from the tops of mountains.

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