Cotton Creek Marsh Nature Preserve, Island Lake, IL

Cotton Creek Marsh Nature Preserve covers 500 acres of wetland and prairie in Island Lake, with 4.5 miles of marked trails open for hiking and snowshoeing. The main trailhead at the end of Eastway Drive includes a gravel parking lot, restrooms, and a covered observation deck that overlooks the cattail marsh. From the deck, visitors regularly see great blue heron, sandhill cranes, and muskrat. Two floating boardwalks cross open water sections, and an elevated viewing blind near the north end gives unobstructed sightlines across the cattail beds. The preserve is connected by the 2-mile Fox River Trail, which runs south to downtown Island Lake and north to the Village of Wauconda, allowing residents to reach shops and restaurants by foot or bicycle. The site is managed by the Lake County Forest Preserve District, which maintains the trails and conducts seasonal prescribed burns to sustain native vegetation.

Location

City Island Lake

State Illinois

Averages

Taxes $6,521

House $499,900

Townhouse –

Condo –