On the Trail: Taking a walk - again - in winter
Winter is perhaps my favorite time for a walk in the woods.
What is lacking in wildlife is more than made up for by what you can see in the forest when there are no leaves on the trees. Rock formations stand out. You can see the "lay of the land." Hidden ponds and wetlands are revealed. And the complete "skeletons" of the trees are visible.
Recently, I revisited a couple of hikes that I made this summer and fall to see what I could see in the winter. At Giant City State Park, my son James and I walked a hybrid Red Cedar Trail/River-to-River Trail combo that covered about 9 miles. The temperature was perfect for a strenuous walk, and we finished the hike in a little over three hours.
We had walked the north half of the Red Cedar Trail in the fall, but the rock formations were much more evident, and impressive, this time. The trail blazes were easier to see and follow, too, which made the River-to-River portion of the trail easier to navigate!
The day after Christmas, I visited the Cache State Natural Area with my wife and kids. My wife, Monique, and I had visited Heron Pond in the late summer. And while the greenness of the forest and the swamp was memorable, the deer flies had almost carried us off.
Our winter hike was bug-free and the views into Heron Pond from the floating boardwalk were made even more magical because the pond was frozen. While I always enjoy visiting Heron Pond, I especially love visiting the giant trees of the Cache State Natural Area, which are even more impressive in the wintertime.
The area has several state champions, including the 100-foot-tall cherrybark oak just a quarter mile up the trail from Heron Pond. The massiveness of this tree has to be experienced to be appreciated. And pictures barely do it justice.
I'm a lover (and hugger) of big trees, and the cherrybark oak is no exception. I'm fond of imagining what that tree has seen during all its years in the swamp. And it's a melancholy reminder that there was a time when our southern Illinois forests were full of these giant trees.
After leaving Heron Pond, we drove to the Big Cypress Access, just north of Karnak, and played on the buttressed trunks of a few giant cypress trees that are just a few hundred feet from the parking area there. This is a really neat spot that I don't think many people are familiar with.
While these cypress trees at the Big Cypress Access are not state champs, it is truly humbling to be in their presence, knowing that some cypress trees in the Cache are estimated to be more than 1,000 years old!
Revisiting favorite trails in different seasons is certainly a near guarantee that you will never run out of trails to explore, and both Giant City State Park and the Cache River Wetlands in winter did not disappoint.
Mike Baltz has a PhD in biology from the University of Missouri and writes about changing the world from his home in Carbondale.