April 10, 2015
Bloodroot
The spring break season is upon us! Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard from friends who’ve traveled to Hawaii, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida and Arizona. Thanks to Facebook, I’ve been able to see pictures showing the lush green of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the deep orange and purple of the Grand Canyon. I even got a post card of a Tasmanian Devil from my friend Sarah, who traveled to Australia.
These vacations are nice—necessary, even, given the way our lives can get so hectic. But even if you’re not able to travel far, there’s still plenty of opportunity for rest and relaxation right here in Kane County, in one of our area’s many outstanding parks and forest preserves.
OK, I’ll admit, I’ve been a fan of these special places for years. I’ll never forget the first time I saw white pelicans at Dick Young Forest Preserve in Batavia, or the time my young neighbors and I surprised a deer family (or, rather, they surprised us) on a trail at Tekakwitha Woods in St. Charles. I remember watching a mom wood duck skillfully guide her young brood past the double dangers of a big snapping turtle and a really large largemouth bass; stumbling on cancer root, a rare plant that lacks chlorophyll; and finding fairy shrimp, cute little Sea Monkey-like crustaceans that appear and disappear like, well, fairies. Some of these are once-in-a-lifetime memories, yet they happened with little effort and virtually no planning. How many big vacations can you say that about?
Of all the local mini-vacation destinations, one of my favorites has to be the Hickory Knolls Natural Area, the 130-acre chunk of green space that lies just beyond my office window at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center.
Hickory Knolls is located within the James O. Breen Community Park, which is at the corner of Peck and Campton Hills Roads. You might be familiar with the area because of its athletic fields. Or the Otter Cove Aquatic Park. Maybe you’ve taken Rover for a romp at the dog park, or tended a community garden plot here. But have you ever explored the park’s natural area?
The Hickory Knolls Natural Area begins on the other side of the road that leads to the St. Charles “Boys Home,” now the Illinois Youth Center. Prairies, woodlands, wetlands … this place has them all, along with a seemingly endless array of wildflowers and wildlife.
Spring is a great time to visit, too. The greenish-purple shoots of the spring ephemerals—those wildflowers that must emerge, flower and set their seeds before the leaves are out on the trees–are just starting to creep up through the leafy carpet of the woodland floor. It won’t be long before hepatica and bloodroot, two of earliest risers, will be in bloom.
You’d better be prepared for noise too. Many birds are busy setting up breeding territories, using their songs to declare boundaries, ward off competitors and impress their mates.
And the frogs! If you’re looking for a one-stop spot to hear spring peepers, chorus and leopard frogs, Hickory Knolls is your place.
But perhaps the park’s best feature is one that’s been here every day, for thousands of years: its topography. Formed by the ebb and flow of the Wisconsin glacier as it beat a long, slow retreat from this area 10,000 years ago, the area’s hills actually glacial formations known as kames and moraines. There are potholes too–pothole wetlands, that is. These depressions, at the north edge of the natural area, are depressions left by chunks of remnant glacial ice.
These formations run directly opposite of the commonly held notion that our area is “boring.” True, we don’t have Rocky Mountains, or even Smoky Mountains. But we do have terrain. Like my friend Valerie (Blaine, nature programs manager for the Forest Preserve District of Kane County) says, “Illinois isn’t flat like a pancake, it’s bumpy like an omelet.”
I know. You’re probably thinking, “Hey, wait a minute. Hickory Knolls Natural Area… St. Charles Park District… She’s just writing this because she has to.” Ah, but that is so untrue.
I started strolling around this natural area years ago, long before I ever started working for the park district. One of my favorite things back then, and one that remains true today, is that you can literally get lost in the hills here. No, not the dangerous kind of lost that involves signal flares and dramatic helicopter rescues. Rather, I’m talking about the good kind of lost – the sort where your body relaxes, your mind unwinds, and you’re free to get lost in the moment.
If you’re looking for a quick pick-me-up, go ahead and give the Hickory Knolls Natural Area a try. Dress for the weather, bring a lunch and – I mean this in the best possible way – get lost!
Pam Erickson Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a facility of the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.