Tag Archives: Natural Area

Heron Pond Nature Preserve~Cache River State Natural Area, Illinois

 

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Heron Pond Nature Preserve is really close to Shawnee National Forest.

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This is the Heron Pond Trail.

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It felt a little bit longer than the map said to get to the boardwalk.

But it was the toddlers nap time so that might have contributed to that feeling…

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Nick ended up having to stay at the van with Little Bit and I took the older kids to the boardwalk.

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Found it!

I was just about to turn around when we saw it!

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I am so glad we kept going because it was beautiful!

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I was really wishing for a wide angle lens!

The trees were huge!

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You could see a bunch of little trails in the duckweed.

We read later that they were snakes, turtles and such.

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It looks like you can just walk right on top of it.

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I took a picture of this honeysuckle because the previous day’s drive through Shawnee National Forest was filled with the amazing smell of it.

And we were stopped to change a flat tire…

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We did a small portion of the lookout point trail.

This is a great trail for when mosquitoes are bad.

It is right next to a cliff so it is really open and breezy but shaded.

I am always on the lookout for trails like this in Oklahoma for summer time hikes!

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My oldest took some pics.

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Siblings get the cutest smiles for pics.

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This second boardwalk was super easy to get to.

It is right off Illinois Route 37.

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Such cool trees.

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There are a lot of trails here although we only did a few.

You could spend a long time exploring.