Our Community First Forest & Friends group is thrilled to have recently completed visiting all seven Champaign County Forest Preserves: Lake of the Woods, River Bend, Heron View, Sangamon River, Homer Lake, Middle Fork River, and the Kickapoo Rail Trail!! What a feat! They also visited the Moraine View State Recreation Area and the Peoria Zoo.
During these weekly excursions, the group learned how to read the park maps and to be aware of their surroundings since they were going to be in the middle of forest. Each group member took turns guiding the group using the map. Some grew quite good at this task! They usually walked about 30 to 45 minutes, and on some occasions they walked over an hour, always trying to take breaks if there was a bench on which to sit and pause and enjoy the scenery. And of course, on every nature trail walk, they got to see many animals.
Moraine View State Recreation Area (near Le Roy, Illinois) and Heron View (Mahomet) were new places to everyone in the group. They explored as much as they could and found some surprises within.
Moraine View has a lot to offer: a beach, camping, boats, and a cafe with many tasty offerings. Here, the group saw many deer upclose while walking the trails.
In Heron View, while the group was walking in the middle of the woods, some of the trails became very narrow and the grass was really tall. One member of the group is an expert at looking out for poison ivy and was very helpful leading the way. While deep in the woods, they found a group of scientists searching the waterways for live freshwater mussels to track them and see how big they got within a year. It was really neat to see scientists out in nature doing real-time research.
Planning to visit the Champaign County Forest Preserves or nearby nature trails soon? The Forest & Friends group suggests bringing bug spray! There are a lot of mosquitos! They also suggest wearing comfortable shoes, bringing water, staying with your group, being on the lookout for poison ivy and other dangerous plants and wild animals [There was a coyote warning sign on one of the trails!], and enjoy the beauty of the nature. Most importantly, take lots of pictures!
The group learned so much during these visits and walked many miles of trails. After seeing all seven preserves, they can certainly say they are more inspired to care for, enjoy, and explore our natural world.
