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

This is the Heron Pond Trail.

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…

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

Found it!

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

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

I was really wishing for a wide angle lens!

The trees were huge!

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

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

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

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…

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!

My oldest took some pics.

Siblings get the cutest smiles for pics.

This second boardwalk was super easy to get to.

It is right off Illinois Route 37.

Such cool trees.

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

You could spend a long time exploring.