Lake Chaminwood Reopens After 2-Month Closure

CHANNAHON, IL — The Will County Forest Preserve District announced that the two-month closure for construction work at the Lake Chaminwood Preserve near Channahon has come to an end. The forest preserve will reopen on Thursday with a bigger parking lot, a pedestrian welcome plaza and new pathways linking to the existing trail.

The paved parking lot has increased from 21 spots to 74 spots to accommodate the number of visitors the popular 120-acre preserve has been attracting since it first opened in 2012.

A gravel parking lot has added for kayak and canoe trailer parking. And the preserve entrance has been relocated 300 feet farther west along Shepley Road.

According to forest preserve officials, a new accessible kayak launch and floating dock for the 35-acre lake will be completed in about a month. In July, phase two of improvement work at Lake Chaminwood will go out for bid. This work will connect the 0.7-mile Lake Chaminwood Trail to the 61.5-mile I&M Canal Trail.

The trail extension will feature a 90-foot bridge over the I&M Canal. It will link to the 61.5-mile I&M Canal State Trail and eventually, the DuPage River Trail will be extended to its southern terminus at Lake Chaminwood.

When that happens, the Lake Chaminwood Trail will serve as the crucial link between the much longer DuPage River and I&M Canal trails, according to forest preserve spokeswoman Cindy Caine

She said the preserve will remain open during phase two of the construction work, but Lake Chaminwood and I&M Canal trail closures will be necessary.

Funding for the Lake Chaminwood project is coming from a $750,000 donation paid in two installments from the Dollinger family, an $80,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' Boat Grant program for the accessible kayak launch and the Forest Preserve's Capital Improvement Program.