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Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 11:04AM
How about the Dan Ryan woods at 87th & western for tuboganning and skiing? The highest point in Chicago.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
jak378
(---.dhcp.embarqhsd.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 12:15PM
I can't even remember just how long that tobogan slide has been down. It has to be at least 35 years.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
BullHubbard
(---.dhcp.losa.ca.charter.com)
Date: January 28, 2012 02:43PM
Anyone here know why all the big green toboggan slides have been dismantled? Any playgrounds where they still exist? I remember the great fun we had as Davis Elementary schoolkids pouring water down ours to create a serviceable sheen of ice we would then slide down on ON OUR FEET, leading to great fun as well as the occasional concussion. Ambulance-chasing lawsuits are probably the reason.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
rjmachon
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 05:06PM
Here is picture I found of the Jensen Slides in Caldwell Woods before they were torn down.
[www.flickr.com]
I went on toboggans but never at the forest preserves. Were they free or did you have to pay to use them? I was more of a down hill skier in the 70's.
[www.flickr.com]
I went on toboggans but never at the forest preserves. Were they free or did you have to pay to use them? I was more of a down hill skier in the 70's.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
WDH74
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 05:33PM
Not really in the city, but isn't there a big toboggan run in Palos Heights?
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 05:42PM
Swallow Cliff in the CCFPD had slides, but for a number of years they were shut down and then a few years ago they were removed. Swallow Cliff forest preserve is at Rt 83 and Rt 45, west of the Palos area.
We have our own toboggan but I think rentals were at minimal cost at Swallow Cliff as long as one had a proper ID. The slides were fun, but that climb up the 117 steps which were built by the CCC in the '30's was brutal as I got older!
We have our own toboggan but I think rentals were at minimal cost at Swallow Cliff as long as one had a proper ID. The slides were fun, but that climb up the 117 steps which were built by the CCC in the '30's was brutal as I got older!
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 05:51PM
Richard S. mentioned skiing and actually long before they built the slides there was a ski jump at Swallow Cliff FP. I think it was erected in the '20's and from a newspaper account years ago it was described as having been trecherous, not for the faint of heart. First time I went out to the SC slides was 1965 and there was no ski jump then; I don't know when it was removed.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
WDH74
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 06:25PM
That's probably the one I'm thinking of. I only went there once, in the spring, on a field trip with a geology class in college (back in the mid to late 90's). I definitely remember climbing those steps! My friend Brian decided he needed to run up them, and he could barely walk when he was through.
I swear the toboggan run was still standing when we went there, but maybe it was some other structure.
I swear the toboggan run was still standing when we went there, but maybe it was some other structure.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 09:11PM
I googled it and found out that 6000 people turned out for the last day of toboganning in 2004. Many walk those stairs for exercise and more than a few do run them. From Rt 83 it looks like your basic prairie but on top of the ridge is the real beauty of the area with hiking and riding trails and naturally cross-country skiing in Winter.
Re: Tobogan and ski in Chicago?
Posted by:
davey7
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: January 30, 2012 03:32PM
We used to go to Palos to toboggan all the time when I was a kid (we had our own toboggan too). The area around there is popular for geology field trips cos' that's where the continental divide is, as well as the outflow from Lake Chicago - the quarry across the street was always a big destination for trips. I think my parents even met on one of those field trips.
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