From the beginning

It's not really the beginning, since the trail is 30 years long, but I'll start with a recent journey and weave in the past along the way. Yesterday (4/26/15), we hiked a favorite spot in Northern Illinois, Glacial Park Conservation Area, part of the McHenry County Conservation District (mccdistrict.org). Glacial is relatively small at 3,300 acres, but the landscape is diverse and includes several unique moments of geology, history, and ecology.

From seeking trails in this area for nearly 17 years, we have learned much about its geologic history and Glacial offers savannas, sedge meadows, tallgrass prairie, bogs, kettle marshes, and kames (rhymes with 'team'). Glacial is a Midwestern landscape nerd's delight, but apparently not everyone gets as excited about these features as me... a fellow park user asking for directions on the trail Sunday addressed her partner with, "Do you even know what a kame is?" when I explained where they were headed, so I clarified with, "that hill up ahead.

Glacial is also a dog friendly park that offers dog biscuits at the Lost Valley Visitor Center, so we made this our first stop, where Eddie made friends with the desk staff person, a grey bearded man, also named Ed. Ed guessed that we were on a training hike from our backpacks -- it's always nice not to have to explain why we have this overachieving gear in a park where the longest trails have single digits.

We've made several trips to Glacial and each visit is a different experience. Sunday we hiked the Nippersink Trail beside Nippersink Creek and watched a couple put in a canoe and a kayak at the Keystone Road Landing (I really like saying 'Nippersink.'). At the wooden bridge that crosses the creek, we waited for a pair of trail users on horseback and then two park staff (or volunteers) on ATVs to cross. Eddie was very good and only barked once at the horses and was generally pretty good when meeting other dogs, with the exception of the two bully breeds being walked by kids whose mother screamed for her children to get the dogs back in time for us to meet on the Coyote Loop Trail. Those pups REALLY wanted to say hello to Eddie, and he was in full growling, snarling, fear-aggression-mode, but only for a few moments.

A highlight for me was spotting a single sandhill crane in flight above the kettle marsh. We surmised this was what had caused a squalling racket among the Canadian geese a few minutes earlier when we could not see them from the trees in the savanna. I never get tired of discovering these giant birds in their natural habitat.

#getyourhikeon #inlovewithsandhills #hikingonshortlegs #northernilsouthernwigeology
Photos: 1-Eddie & Steven ascending Camelback kame, 2-Glacial kame, 3-S & E on Deerpath Trail, 4-Nippersink Creek, 5-View of restored prairie from Camelback, 6-Shade/water/snack break