Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve

Cap Sauers Holding on the Sag Valley Blue Unpaved Trail - photo by Kevin Coyote-Trust
Cap Sauers Holding on the Sag Valley Blue Unpaved Trail. Photo by Kevin Coyote-Trust.

Visitors to Cap Sauers Holding will quickly notice the sounds of cars and trucks melting away as they traverse the glacier-formed landscape—the center of this preserve is the most remote place in all of Cook County. Miles of trails wind through the beautiful wooded bluffs and ravines, wetlands and prairie openings that make Cap Sauers a true escape into nature.

On this page:


Location & Things to Do

To enter the preserve, park at Teason’s Woods and travel west along the Sag Valley Yellow Unpaved Trail.

Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve

Illinois Nature Preserve: This land is designated as one of the highest quality natural areas in the state by the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission. This status includes increased levels of legal protection and management. Learn more on the Illinois Nature Preserves Page.

Hours

Year-round: Sunrise to Sunset

Closures & Alerts


Trails

Sag Valley Trail System

The Sag Valley Trail Systems’ miles of looping and connecting unpaved trails take visitors to some of the most remote areas of Cook County.

Location: Homer Glen, Lemont & Palos Park

Surface

Unpaved

Estimated Total Length

20.4 miles

Hours

Year-round: Sunrise to Sunset

Closures & Alerts

*Please be a courteous trail user: Follow posted signs and our trail rules and etiquette.

a savanna opening at Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve
A savanna opening at Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve.

Nature at Cap Sauers

The esker—a ridge formed by a river that once ran in or on a glacier—at Cap Sauers Holding is one of the best examples of this rare feature in Illinois. The glaciers also left behind hills and depressions that have become marshes and wet meadows. Chorus frogs and spring peepers make their home here and in the small creeks that wind around these hills.

Birders visit Cap Sauers Holding to see uncommon pileated woodpeckers, eastern phoebes, summer tanagers, white-eyed vireos, Louisiana waterthrushes, hooded warblers, chipping sparrows, blue-winged warblers, ovenbirds and ruby-throated hummingbirds.


volunteers at a workday at Cap Sauers Holding
Photo by Michelle Murawski.

Volunteer Opportunities

Restoration activities include the removal of invasive species like honeysuckle and buckthorn, and the collection and distribution of seeds of desirable native plants. Main tools used are loppers and hand saws. Weather permitting, volunteers may build and burn brush piles.

Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve