Best Views in Illinois!- Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve

Fults Hill Prairie was the second of the two preserves we visited on the Lincoln Land Environmental Club trip.  Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve is a 300-foot tall bluff (and you feel all 300 feet of elevation gained when hiking it, too!) overlooking the Mississippi River Valley and the adjacent Kidd Lake Marsh Nature Preserve (home to Illinois' northernmost population of Cottonmouths).  Speaking of venomous snakes, we found this... interesting?... warning posted on the rail of the stairs:

Both the habitat and the location of Fults Hill Prairie are in line with the habitat and range of the Timber Rattlesnake, essentially Illinois' only rattlesnake.  (There is one other species, the Massasauga, but it's so rare, don't even bother looking for it.)  I'm actually fairly disappointed not to find it, as it's a personal goal to find a venomous snake, especially a Timber Rattlesnake.  In addition to three possible species of venomous snake (Cottonmouths at the base of the bluffs, and Timber Rattlesnakes and Copperheads on the bluffs themselves), Fults Hill Prairie also has one of Illinois' few scorpion populations. All of these are shy and uncommon- we sure didn't see any, and I was looking!  Furthermore, the scorpions  (Common Striped Scorpions, far more common out West) are nonlethal and a state-listed species.  Be careful where you step!

Actually, while I'm listing cautions, there's a few more.  This is a spectacular place for views and nature, but not for little kids or pets, which cannot be trusted near the unguarded bluff edges.  You could quite easily fall to your death here, so don't be stupid.  Additionally, if you're out of shape even just a little bit (like me), you will not like the two hundred or so stairs to the top.  The trail is listed as extreme difficulty for a reason.  On the other hand, if you're from Colorado or something, it'll probably be quite easy, and if you're from Australia, it might even seem quite safe.  All things in perspective, I'm making this sound unnecessarily dangerous.  Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve is no walk in the park, (even if it is a walk in a park) but it is certainly worth visiting if you can handle it:

I think the above photograph makes a pretty good argument for why people visit, despite the risks.

Among the many flowers on the edge of the cliffs, I found these wild onion seedpods especially unique, as they likely belong to Cliff Onion (Allium stellatum), a species I've not seen before, but which is more common in the Ozarks and whose name seems quite appropriate!

Three or four overlooks made great places to stop along the ever-climbing trail.  We joked that the trail never seemed to stop going up.  We could see a few ducks in Kidd Lake Marsh:

Just overhead, the Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) used the air currents off the bluffs to propel themselves along.  When we appeared, they immediately began circling right over us.  I think they were curious as to what we were doing, up so high with them.

We found a few in nearby trees, where they watched us as we photographed them from across the first prairie we came to.  This short, narrow prairie, adjacent to the trail, led inland away from the bluffs.

I have to say, I like Turkey Vultures, but I don't care for their looks.  Still, that bald head is useful when digging into roadkill.  Thanks in part to roadkill, there are actually far more Turkey Vultures than when the European settlers first arrived. (The increase in the deer population since that era also helps, as carcasses like that of deer form a large part of this bird's diet.)

After watching the vultures for a bit, we continued down the trail into the woods. I decided to flip over a log, and at first there appeared to be nothing.  Then something wiggled, just below the surface:

It was my first-ever Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), which is on the edge of its range here, though it's far more common in the Shawnee Hills.

I had just learned about these salamanders in Vertebrate Zoology, so it was a bit of a surprise to me to see one, especially in a place where I had been expecting scorpions.  This salamander was in upland, fairly dry woods on the edge of a hill prairie.  It's not exactly the best spot to find a salamander.

Here, the salamander decides to burrow through my hand.  This particular species belongs to a group known as the mole salamanders for their digging habits.   This group of  salamanders is perhaps the most common species in central Illinois, though in the Shawnee Hills and far eastern Illinois they are outnumbered by lungless salamanders, at least in theory.  In practice, this single week has produced more salamanders for me in my life than any other week.

After a couple minutes, we released the salamander back into its burrow, where it disappeared.

We then moved on, and I found a fern, or two...

This is the Bronze Southern Grape Fern (Botrychium dissectum obliquum) so called because its leaves are bronze in winter, and because its sporangia (not flowers) looked like grapes to someone:

I then found a few more, and then several more, and then realized there were a few hundred:

I'd only just discovered this species for the first time earlier this year, so I was quite surprised!

In addition to the hundreds of normal, "Bronze" Southern Grape Ferns, we also found a couple dozen of the "Cutleaf" Southern Grape Ferns (Botrychium dissectum dissectum), considered a different subspecies, and one I had only discovered at Lincoln Memorial Gardens the previous week!:

We eventually  made our way out of the fern-filled woods, and into a larger hill prairie.  I spotted my first ever Western Ribbon Snake (identified by its small head) on the side of the path, although it made a swift escape before I could even get a photo of it.  This small strip of Illinois is some of the only habitat in the state for a few Ozark snakes, including the Coachwhip and the Prairie Ratsnake, but we didn't find any more snakes.  Still, any new snake species is great!

Speaking of great, the cliffs adjacent to this prairie had some of the finest views I've ever seen.

It may look like I'm flying to get this picture, but actually the cliffs swing outward at this point.   This is one of those areas where I warn you not to be stupid, as you are on top of high cliffs.  It's absolutely beautiful, and you can see for miles, however, so just sit near the edge and enjoy the view.

While near the rocky edge, I discovered a few things:

This is Rose Verbena (Glandularia canadensis), a new plant for me, in a way.  Garden Verbena plants are hybrids involving this species and a few others, so in a way I've actually grown it in my garden.

I found this gall on an Eastern Red-cedar (Juniperus virginiana), a coniferous tree found commonly on the edge of these bluffs, and seen in several previous photos.

Overhead, several more Turkey Vultures went by, but mixed in with them were a few Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) like this one above.  I suspect this might be a good spot for hawkwatching, especially a few weeks back in September when large numbers of Broad-winged Hawks were migrating southwards along the Mississsippi River.

The most colorful plant, meanwhile, was this goldenrod species (Solidago sp.) on the edge of the cliff.  The bright yellow of this plant popped on the gravelly cliff edge.

We lingered on the precipice for a few minutes, before retracing our steps back to the end of the prairie, where the trail led down a steep, rock-covered slope to the parking lot.  With all the large, flat stones available, we began turning them over, in a hunt for whatever we could find.

Under every other rock seemed to be a millipede of some sort or another.  The one above, with its brown and orange coloration and unusually flat body, seemed to be the most interesting of them all.

Under one rock, I found this old friend.  The cosmetid harvestman (Vonones ornata) is one of the stranger-looking arthropods I've seen.  It is a species of harvestman or daddy longlegs, but with short legs and a penchant for dry, open woodland edges along hill prairies, it would seem.

For no explicable reason, knowing that this is a harvestman and not a spider made me able to hold it without a care.  Perhaps this is the way to break my fear of spiders?  Either way, it was one last unusual sight to see for a great trip that I will be making again.  If you feel up to the challenge, I dare you to visit Fults Hill Prairie as well.

I'm Moving to Southern Illinois Now! - Piney Creek Ravine Nature Preserve

Well, I mean, I kinda am moving to Southern Illinois at an undisclosed point in the near future, but after visiting Piney Creek Ravine I want to move there even sooner.  Recently, the Lincoln Land Environmental Club took a tour down to this part of Southwestern Illinois as our first major field trip of the year. While sadly only a few people could make it, we had a great time!

After a lengthy and mildly confusing drive through tiny one-lane roads in the middle of nowhere, we arrived at Piney Creek Ravine, named for its popuations of the rare Shortleaf Pine trees.  Once in the parking lot, it's a full half-mile walking along a grassy lane between farmfields back to the preserve.

While in the middle of nowhere driving, we spotted a Pileated Woodpecker and several White-tailed Deer ran across the road in front of us.  After parking the enormous van we had rented, we hiked back into the preserve.  A juniper-covered glade with an understory of mosses greeted us at lane's end:

The number of moss species in this area must be quite large, as I saw dozens of different types:

We hiked down into the canyon, where the lighting was poor for photographs and the signs said stay on the trail.  As I was with a group, I listened to the signs, albeit reluctantly.

Along the canyon's walls, we found this population of the parasitic plant Beechdrops (Epifagus virginiana) on this small beech tree (Fagus grandiflora).  I've seen Beechdrops before, but never in these numbers.  There were thousands on this beech tree and  the others nearby.

Several rocky cliffs opened up into a wider creek, full of small stones. This looks like ideal salamander habitat, and I checked a bit, but I didn't see any.  There are Copperheads known from this area, so caution is always advised when flipping logs and rocks to look for anything.

One of the things Piney Creek is most famous for is its Native American rock art, some 1000- 1500 years old.  There was also plenty of modern rock  art, too:

One of the most distinct Native American pieces was this figure with a bow:

There were also some chiseled initials done by people 100 years ago.  How long must graffiti remain before it becomes historic, I wonder?  It's a good question.

Some of the pioneers had done quite an excellent job carving their initials:

There's hundreds of Native American rock carvings and paintings here, many on this rock wall but many more hidden in undisclosed locations throughout the preserve.

Piney Creek could also be known as Ferny Creek- there were plenty of ferns!  There's a few state-listed fern species from this ravine complex, including the Bradley's Spleenwort (not pictured).  I don't know what species this is, but it was far too common to be one of the listed ones:

Just past the rock art, there was a small spot where you could climb up into the rocks:

While there, I found this fern, which might be the hoped-for Bradley's Spleenwort (Asplenium bradleyi).  It most likely isn't that fern, but the sandstone cliff habitat seems correct for the species.

Descending back into the canyon, we followed the creek down through the ravine.  A group of Boy Scouts behind us, who were probably the best behaved troop of Scouts I've ever met, had their guide playing Native American pipes.  In the silence of the canyon, it was quite haunting.

As  the last notes of the pipes died away, I stumbled across these unusual leaves, and my heard skipped a beat in sheer happiness, for they were ORCHIDS:

These are the leaves of the Putty-Root Orchid (Aplectrum hyemale) which prodcues leaves in the fall that grow through winter and then die back in the spring.  It's an unusual lifestyle, but it seems to work for the plants, and there were quite a few.

Each leaf blends in quite well on the forest floor.  Putty-root Orchids are among the more common species of orchids, but finding them in their preferred habitat of old-growth lowland forests is hard.

We then walked onwards, and I found a few more orchid leaves, like the one above. We found and lost the trail intermittently, so for the most part we just stuck to the side of the creek.  In the water, we found this dead grub, alongside some aquatic moss:

It  may not look that big, but this grub was the size of my thumb.  It's supposed to be from some sort of Scarab Beetle.  Earlier, we had seen the Pileated Woodpecker, and we had been wondering what Pileated Woodpeckers ate to get so big.  Now, we know!

Mats of liverworts grew along the creek in this section, on par with some of the growths I've seen in Matthiessen or Starved Rock State Parks.

In  a drier section of the rock, we found these unusual, pipelike wasp nests:

Also along the creek grew mats of mosses.  Sphagnum Moss is known from this area, but I didn't identify any.  I find mosses fascinating, but not easily identifiable.

  I also found this late blooming aster  (Symphyotrichum sp.?) as we continued downstream.

Several small fish, mostly minnows and sunfish, lived in the wider and deeper parts of the creek.  However, I spotted something else in the water, too:

This is a Logperch (Percina caprodes) an uncommon fish of clear, gravelly streams like this one.  I had never seen one before.  We eventually turned away from the creek and into the woods:

As  we climbed uphill, I found the strangest object of the year:

This is the Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus), a fungus seen during late summer and fall in beech woods like this one.  Apparently it is edible, though I'm disinclined to eat it.

The woods were beautiful, golden and green.  However, no sign of pines was seen.

We found some more unusual fungi, but we all felt a bit cheated by not seeing any Shortleaf Pines yet.  This preserve is named Piney Creek because of these trees!  I began to complain about this, and just as I finished my rant someone else pointed this out:

Ironic, isn't it?  We walked downhill on a rocky slope, with moss all over the ground:

We  also came across more Lion's Mane fungus:

Shortleaf Pines(Pinus echinata), the namesake trees of Piney Creek, are among the rarest trees in Illinois, State- Endangered and only known from two locations in this state.  This is one, and the other is the famous Larue-Pine Hills area in Shawnee National Forest, with the most reptiles and plants of any preserve in the entire state.  I will go there as soon as I can.

These pine trees are far more common in the Ozarks.  However Piney Creek Ravine, along with much of this small strip of Illinois, holds much Ozark flora and fauna found nowhere else in Illinois.

Indeed, with its rolling hills, clear streams, and stony ravines, Piney Creek is said to resemble the Ozarks more than the state it belongs to.   Due to some deficiency in my vacation planning, I've never actually been to the Ozarks, but I will go as soon as I can manage to do so.

Along this section of the creek, the bedrock was exposed in huge chunks.

Rock Polypody ferns (Polypodium virginianum) grew on a few of the boulders. These are among the few epiphytes in Illinois, able to grow on trees and rocks.  They are also known as Resurrection Ferns, as they die back during droughts and "resurrect" during rains.

Walking down the canyon felt as if we had stepped into the set of a Western.

To  be honest, it's hard to describe this area in words.  At the time, I questioned aloud whether I'd died and gone to heaven, and considering how scenic this spot is, it's still a fair question.

According to the geologists, this ravine was a runoff for the meltwaters of glaciers.  Whatever the origin, this canyon was unlike any other I've ever visited.

At  times, the water would be an inch or two deep, and in one or two spots it would be several feet.

Unusual holes and pockets of water seem to be quite common, like the one below.  I assume there is some good scientific explanation for these, but to me the place seemed as if the rocks had been tossed and scraped haphazardly by some giant.  And yet, for all that, it was still beautiful.

A couple of spots in this main canyon seemed as if they might end up as waterfalls during the spring.

Eventually, we continued down to near where we had entered the canyon.  A group of Boy Scouts, the same group from before, had the following overhang pointed out to them within earshot of us.  Apparently this overhang is an ancient rock shelter used by Native Americans:

Just as we were going to begin hiking back up, I spotted something in the leaves, and proceeded to get this terrible photo of the dry stem that I saw:

This is the stem of an Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), a rare, leafless plant that is a myco-heterotroph.  Apparently, it steals nutrients from the underground mycorrhizae fungi in old, healthy woods like these.  Finding an Indian Pipe plant, even this seed-stem, is rare for me.  This is only the second one I've ever found, and my first in all of Illinois!  This is certainly a spectacular Fifth Orchid for this trip, and I cannot wait to return.  Orchids, ancient history, rare plants, strange fungi, scenic canyons, and even a new fish or two- Piney Creek Ravine has it all!