Gebhard Woods, I & M Canal State Parks

Gebhard Woods State Park, Morris, IL

 

I & M Canal State Trail the park with two names.  According to the Illinois DNR site, this park is the official trailhead of the canal trail.

 

 The actual canal is dry in Morris

 Distances on the I & M bike trail

 

 

 

 The tow path from the original I & M Canal is now a bike path

 

 

 

 

 

 Nettle Creek running north  and parallel to the I & M Canal in Morris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Man made dam on the Du Page river

 Looking back at the lock  at the lock tender's house from the river's edge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Part of the I & M trail path are paved, others gravel

 

 The restored lock tenders house & lock.  The two locks are no longer in use.

 View from bridge over the dam

 

 The second lock - straight back is where the lock tenders house is

 

 Rock Run Rookery Preserve, Will Country, IL

Cormorants sunning themselves

 

 Last of the summer wild flowers

 

 

 Berries for the bird in winter

 

 

 

 

 

Apple River Fort and Apple Canyon SP

Up north and west towards Elizabeth, Galena and Apple Canyon State Park today while the weather is still good.

First stop, Elizabeth to see the Apple River Fort.  The fort was quite small, 50 x 70.  It was built quickly for a shelter from attacks.  I seem to be learning a lot about Blackhawk this summer in my travels.

According to a women at the interpretive site, scouts rode from Fort Dearborn back to Apple River to warn that Blackhawk was on the way.  When the attack occurred, there were 70 people at the fort, mostly women and children, but with the women and children reloading the rifles for the men, Blackhawk thought there were more soldiers and withdrew.

The fort is gone, but has been rebuilt in the same footprint of the original.

On the way to Apple Canyon state park, I stopped at the scenic overlook.  Always a pretty site no matter what time of year.

 All those little black dots - my daily cow! :-)

On to Galena to walk the Galena River Trail and see the West Street Sculpture Park. Galena was crazy.  Everyone had the same idea to get out while the weather was good.  Finally thru the traffic and found the Galena River Trail, then realized I walked the trail a few years ago when I went to President Ulysses Grant home.  Oh well.  On to the sculpture park.  No where to park and it look like an overgrown mess.  I did see some "sculptures" but they looked more like junk.  Didn't bother with main street Galena. Too many people and I've been there before.

Back tracked to Apply Canyon State Park.  Just a couple quick 1 mile loops.  I hate that it's starting to get dark so early, and with a 3 hour ride back home, had to make it a quick stop.

  

Way past the fall colors in northwest Illinois.  Catch and release trout stream. Quite shallow.

 

Keller Corn Maze with the Cuz

Sunday, October 19, 2014

My cousin Roxanne and I went to the Keller corn maze in Oswego, Illinois.  Neither one of us had ever done one before, so seemed like something fun to do.  Mostly we got lost and we ran into one of the Keller brothers who showed us where we were on the map.  Soooo Lost!! but a nice day to spend the afternoon. 

The theme this year was Cinderella and the actual maze is 13 acres with 4 different mazes.

View of the corn from an overlook bridge.

Could not see over the corn.  Roxanne walking to show how tall the corn was.

Each maze had a little game to find signs.  No prizes.  Good thing we didn't find many (can you say walking in circles!?)

 

 

 

 Roxanne spotted this wooly bear caterpillar.   

 Each maze was individually color coded - no cutting thru the rows!

 Lots for kids to do.  They also have a rope maze, things to climb on and little red barns on fence posts with questions like "How may ears of corn grow on one corn stalk"  (1) 

 Animals to see

More to learn (I'm 13 1/4 hands)

 Different types of applies you could pick also (Golden Delicious, Fuji, etc)

The pumpkin patch (if you didn't want to go get one out of the fields)

Nachusa Grasslands, Franklin Grove, IL

A herd of wild bison have been brought from Wind Cave National park to the Nachusa Grasslands.  They've only been here a week.  The return of bison is a project of the Nature Conservancy.  Volunteers have been helping to return the grasslands to their original state since the mid 1980's, planting prairie plants.  The bison are the next step in returning the grasslands to their original state, and once released will help diversify the prairie.  No interference will be done to these bison, other than maybe some health screenings.  They will have to forage for water and food.  Not sure how long this website will be available, but is informational about the process for returning the bison to the grasslands.

I spoke to two of the volunteer stewards, who said the bison will not be viewable by the public to see until sometime is 2015, but when released, the bison will have a wonderful grassland prairie to roam. 

The bison are 100% wild, no cow DNA at all.  One of the large bulls earned a name as soon as he got off of the transport stock trailer.  His name is Chainbuster because in the nine hour drive from Iowa, he broke thru chains and put a hole in the trailer.  The stewards said he is quite large.  At his shoulder he is taller than a round bale of hay.  The stewards also mentioned that more fencing has to be build because the bison have a strong migration instinct and if left unfenced, they will try to return to the Great Plains.  I forget exactly how many acres the bison will have to roam.  Maybe 1,500 (?).

Very rough trails, but the stewards said you could go off trail also.  My total walk was around 5 miles (I'm guessing - forgot the pedometer again).

The bison are somewhere over that far rise.

 Clouded sulphur butterfly

 Eastern comma butterfly - also known as Angelwing

 

Then took a ride towards the grist mill in Franklin Grove.  It is not the original, but has been rebuilt based on information they have found including that no nails are used in it's construction because the vibration of the wheel caused the nails to come loose.

The creek that runs the mill.  The valve wheel opens the water gate which runs the mill.  The volunteer said there is little elevation change in this area, so when they rebuilt the mill, the made the water drop 6'.

The grinding wheels are in the wooden boxes at the far end.  Volunteer said since it is a working mill, the corn and wheat dust would be very thick, so they've covered the grinding wheels. To the left is another grinding wheel.  The two (forget what he called them) metal things in the center right are used to start the water wheel outside.

There was some information on the mills second floor, but since I'm interested in the bison, only this seemed interesting.  And no, there are no real buffalo in the US.  Original settlers just called them buffalo, but they are actually bison here. 

Across the road from the mill, a horse campground.  There were signs warning hunters that horses could be on the prairie.  That's a little scary.

 

The man at the mill said the national headquarters for the Lincoln Highway is located in Franklin Grove, so went to take a look. 

 According to the woman here, the actual headquarters is only from the front door to these first set of poles.  Maybe a 10'x 10' area.  The rest is a consignment shop.

Really?  The national headquarters?  The Route 66 museum in Pontiac, IL was more impressive for being about the same size.  A lot more building restoration is needed here.

 

 

Mum Monday at Lake Renwick

 

Old Boy Zorro at Siver Springs SP, IL

Fall is upon us.  Temps in the 50's today and the day started sunny.  It's been a while since Zorro has been walking with me.  I didn't want to take him and leave Molly alone.  She was such a sensitive soul.  Zorro is showing his age though.  Didn't walk as far as I would have liked.  He's a bit out of shape and limping a bit.

It's been 40 years since I've been at Silver Springs camping.  Was no where near the campground today, but the lake was clear and no one was on the Fox River.  Surprising because people like to kayak on the river.

Parked by Loon & Beaver Lakes.  No water fowl in site.  Took the path between the lake and then north to the path along the river.  Never got as far as the springs.  Poor Zorro was just tuckered out by that point so headed back to Mar-E and Loon Lake.

Leaves are just starting to turn but some trees already have lost leaves.

 

 

There is a snack bar and boat rental.   Both closed today.

 The Fox River facing east.

Zorro doing what every good boy dog does - smell every leaf he can.

Foot bridge over dry creek that runs to the river when flowing (based on the direction the creek is).

Back at Loon Lake just taking in the chilly breeze and the sunshine.