More Back Roads and State Park Surprises

Camping Log 9/25-26/2015

A photo journal with too many pictures, and yet, not nearly enough :)

On Monday, we walked a beautiful golf course and watched our son play his best round of the year.
It was a perfect day in every way.

On Thursday, as soon as my Mr. got home from work and we could get packed, we hit the road for the northwesterly corner of Illinois, where it borders Iowa and Wisconsin. The evening sky looked like a painting:

We had planned our destination based on the sunset, not wanting to set up in complete darkness. No reservation this time, and my husband joked that we could boondock in a Walmart parking lot.

Um, No thanks. I needed rocks and trees and nature.

We drove to Lake Le-Aqua-Na, oddly named but easily found, beautiful and mostly empty. We were one of less than a dozen campers in over a hundred sites. We had our pick of the place and backed in here. I was thrilled to find no poison ivy anywhere. The host camper was making the rounds and found us quickly and welcomed us warmly. $20 for the night, the standard fee for a site with electricity.  Our host told us there were plenty of mushrooms about, and she just ate some delicious puff balls, which I didn't know were edible! Like tofu, apparently. I told her I'd keep an eye out, didn't mention I'm only a huge fan of photographing mushrooms, not eating them!

 A quick fire, an easy meal and a few cocktails to watch the moon rise and listen to the geese honk. Perfect.

 A golden fall morning, this time with coffee, even better. 

I found this wonderful leaf nearby.

My husband settled in for some early morning blade sharpening and a little whittling.

Because I could see this view out the back of our site, I knew there was a small bluff and some rocks back there. I can't resist rocks. I grabbed my camera and the dog.

I walked down a small incline to this view to my left:

And this to my right:

I didn't know which way to turn, it was so unexpected. 

The tree roots were unbelievable.

 So was the moss. And the unlikely geometry in the geology.

There were asters and this small creek, luckily running low so we could walk almost anywhere.

 I wondered how many centuries it took that little stream to carve this canyon here.

The bird nest was a lovely surprise too.

Somewhere in here I looked up and saw the back of our camper. I told my husband he needed to see this, and he joined me and we walked around in amazement. I took way too many pictures and none of them come close to catching the colors and the feel of that little creek bed. We were both amazed that we didn't know this was here, that we knew so little of our State Parks. 

 The lighting was tough, and the truth of the view hard to capture, but I tried.

Most of the pictures were more muted or flat than we expected.

But lovely.

Such resilience.

 Illinois.  Who knew? 

This could have been anywhere, and I was reminded of North Carolina, West Virginia, or maybe Scotland. Ireland. I would have never guessed here, in this lovely patch of woods in the plains.

This trip was good for the soul, and it was only park one, day one.

Two more parks and many more surprises remained in this weekend trip.

To be continued...

The Road Less Traveled

Campers log 9/16- 9/17 2015


It's been thirty years since we camped and hiked and sat around a camp fire for dinner, but we slipped back into it like it was yesterday. Our backpacking and tent days are behind us, but we are still calling this camping, even though it is so easy with an RV.

It's a wonderful thing to set off on an adventure with map open to any possible destination and nowhere to be but wherever we end up. We ended up in some really cool places in our home state.

It started like this, on a glorious midwestern summer day. I can't remember a lovelier onset to Fall.

Into the great wide open:

 Miles and miles of corn and soybeans ready to harvest.

 Golden soybean fields, blue skies, puffy clouds, perfect.

Our plan was simple. Stay off the highway, get used to driving the rig, see the sights and camp at any of a number of Illinois State Parks. 

Our GPS played some games with us, leading our rig down multiple gravel roads with low hanging branches, and barely enough room for us but thankfully, no traffic. The payoff was fantastic.

We rounded the bend in Twist Road to cross Franklin Creek, 

where heron stood in the water next to the limestone outcrops.

The Franklin Creek Grist Mill was closed, so we walked the trails nearby.

The view looking back up at the bridge we crossed.

The nature trail meandered along the creek and through the prairie, full of wildflowers, birds, bees and glorious sunshine.

 Our rig looked gigantic next to the old oak tree.  

We walked about, disappointed that the Mill was closed, and decided to move along to the park we were heading for. As we were getting ready to go, a man in a pickup truck pulled up and asked if we were leaving. We said yes, and he said don't! If you can wait 10 minutes I'll get the keys and open up for you. You're in luck because I'm grinding today.  So we had a quick picnic on the grass and tied up Tucker for our private tour, only to be invited to bring him along too!

 

Opening the valve to let the water flow.

The inner workings were fascinating.

The Mill sounded like church bells inside and out.

We learned that the stones were imported French Burr, a very strong quartz stone, found only in small pieces, requiring cement and a metal ring to hold in place.

Of course I bought some organic delicious stone ground corn meal and a cookbook too.

What a fantastic historic site, and all done by volunteers and donations. What a great find.

Next stop, Franklin Creek Nature area, where we hiked lovely stream side trails filled with rocks, mosses, fungi, ferns and huge trees. I asked my husband to stand next to this one for scale and he gave the tree a hug.

Mr. Tucker loved the trails and all the new trees to smell and pee on.

On to the destination in our GPS, Morrison-Rockwood State Park. We made a reservation online through reserveamerica.com and paid $20 for a campsite with electricity, plus $5 online fee.

It was a lovely campground and campsite, and we picked an almost perfect wooded secluded lot.

Except for the knee high poison ivy everywhere, it was perfect. I was on high alert and kept a close eye where Tucker put his nose because I spent August scratching poison ivy.  

The camp site, our gear and our rig worked out great. We got a nice fire going, made dinner and watched the moon rise.

Our only mishap - I forgot to pack coffee. I had sugar, creamer, cups. No coffee.

Luckily the park had concessions and I was able to get us our morning fix.

The view from that bench was fantastic.

On the road again, on River Road, passing through Castle Rock State Park (we missed the turn!) and on to Lowden State Park for a day hike and to check out the campgrounds for next time.

Nice hiking trails, again with lots of moss and mushrooms.

Man made ones too. This one is ironic, isn't it?

I almost missed the tiny mushroom on top. 

Now we know what to do with our next dead tree :)

We had a nice picnic after our hike and then packed up for the ride home.

It was as lovely going as it was coming.

I spent much of the ride home scouring the map for our next adventure,

to be continued......