The Great Northern Expedition (White Pines, Castle Rock, and Nachusa Grasslands, Barely)

Recently, I spent the morning (and some of the afternoon) up in Ogle and Lee Counties in Illinois.  For those not aware, this is also known as the Rock River Valley, and it contains (deep breath):  White Pines Forest State Park (Illinois' third oldest state park), Castle Rock State Park (over half of which is a nature preserve), Lowden State Park,  Lowden-Miller State Forest (one of the most studied forests in Illinois, with rare northern warblers), Franklin Creek State Natural Area, Nachusa Grasslands, and at least a half-dozen more nature preserves.  Additionally, this area also contains Grand Detour, where John Deere invented the steel plow, and Dixon, where Ronald Reagan had his boyhood home. As you can see, there's a LOT more to do than can be done in a half-day tour.

My route was simple.  I started at White Pines Forest State Park (above and below), moved on to Castle Rock (in Oregon, Illinois) and then I visited Nachusa Grasslands for an hour or so.  You could easily spend all day at any of these, by the way.  I don't recommend doing what I did.  Still, I did it.

White Pines Forest State Park is named for a large grove of White Pines (Pinus strobus) which grows naturally here on the shaded cliffs of Pine Creek.  This grove is supposedly the southernmost stand of virgin (in tree terms, that means unlogged) White Pines in Illinois, a claim which I think may not be true.  There are certainly specimens at Starved Rock and other parks which have never been logged, but Starved Rock has been logged before, so as a grove of trees, this is the southernmost by default.

Either way, not to complicate things, this is a valley with pine trees and a creek... you can drive over:

Two artificial fords, shallow enough for almost any vehicle. allow drivers to cross the creek.  Butterflies flitted along the edge of the creek, including this Fritillary:

Strange damselflies also perched alongside the creek, wary of the trout below:

A House Wren (Troglodytes aedon), meanwhile, snatched a caterpillar from the undergrowth:

I can understand why this was made into Illinois' third state park:

This particular trail is the Sleepy Hollow trail, the longest and most difficult trail in the park.  It goes up and down a few times, with many tree roots on the path, but it's just over a mile long.  White Pines Forest State Park is fairly easy to handle, and great for families, albeit a bit of a trek if you live in Central Illinois.  There are elements, however, not quite as suitable for all ages:

This is Doll's Eyes (Actaea pachypoda), and if the creepy looks of the fruit don't scare you, the toxicity should.  This small number of berries photographed could kill a person, quite rapidly.  Never eat any berries found out in the woods without knowing what they are first!

On the plus side, the plant above, Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida), while mildly toxic to eat, can be crushed and the sap used to relieve the itching of poison ivy or bugbites.  I've used it, and it works.  There's an orange-flowered species more common in Central Illinois that you can also use.

Moving on to Castle Rock State Park, we hiked only a few minutes, as the trails were just sort of blah.  I spotted this Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens), as well as an unpictured lifer (bird I've never seen before), the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus).

Then we went to find Castle Rock itself.   We found at least three candidates for the title, but no labels.  My guess is the rocky bluff shown below, mostly because it's covered in pine trees, like many of the landmarks in this area.  Castle Rocks would make more sense as a title, as none of the bluffs were particularly higher than the others.  This is a mystery I plan to solve again someday.

 We did not visit the (trail-less) George B. Fell Nature Preserve, which sits on the bank beside the Castle Rocks.  This five hundred acre preserve contains over twenty species of ferns, as well as quite a few rare northern plants.  We sadly lacked the time or energy to explore that large area, and moved on to Nachusa, the third stop of the day.  I'd been wanting to go here all summer, and being in the area, swung by.  However, with the lack of cell towers in the area, we could not use our phones.  We found a sign, which was helpful.  We then found another sign, which was even more helpful.  The last sign was the most helpful; it merely said "Nachusa Grasslands" in a field with no corn.

Speaking of signs, we found one that was very unusual for Illinois:

About 1,800 acres of Nachusa's 3,500 acre property are set aside as a reserve for American Bison (Bison bison) to roam.  While fenced in, this is still Illinois' only herd of "wild" bison.

Far off, in the back of the preserve, we could see the herd of around twenty bison sitting near the edge of a grove of trees.  No visitors are allowed in the bison pen, but they are encouraged to explore the preserve's open sections nearby.

As far as the eye could see in one direction, we could see prairie.  Nachusa Grasslands is the second largest remnant prairie in Illinois, meaning that it has always been prairie, never farmfields.  The rolling hills in the background of the photo are known locally as knobs.  They are the result of rocks coming to the surface, making the soil shallow and unsuitable for farming, but great for nature.

Within only about a half-hour of hiking around the prairie, I'd found at least two lifer birds, Henslow's Sparrow and Sedge Wren.  Neither one is particularly easy to photograph, as they both hide in thick clumps of grass and stay concealed from view until you about walk into them.  Then they dart out and fly about thirty feet away, diving back into the brush.  This habit makes them VERY hard to photograph, so I contented myself with the local Dickcissel (Spiza americana):

With over 700 species of plants, including four federally threatened or endangered ones and twenty more considered rare in Illinois, Nachusa is a preserve that deserves a LOT more exploring.  As it was, I found a new "lifer" plant, Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata).

The entire prairie was covered with various blooming flowers, including these Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta) in a weedier section of the preserve:

Nachusa, in addition to prairie, also has savanna and forests adjacent to it.  Below is a forest where the entire ground layer is nothing but blooming Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium spp.).

I will have to revisit all three places when I have more time, especially Nachusa Grasslands.  I wasn't even there long enough to catch any ticks!  Speaking of which, this little corner of Illinois does have one major downside- it is the area responsible for the most Lyme disease cases in Illinois.  Thus, tuck your pants into your socks, always wear jeans when possible, and don't forget the bug-spray.  Despite this, I will return, hopefully with more time to stop and find the flowers.