Feeling Peat-y

One of the best things about reading other travelers' blogs is the ability to go along on their adventures from the comfort of home. I've been having a lot of fun this week tagging along with Mark and Bobbie from Box Canyon Blog in the canyons of Utah, checking out new pitcher plants in Okefenokee NWR with Judy from Travels with Emma and seeing Oregon mountain trails through Linda's Lens. It's the time of year here in the Illinois-Wisconsin borderland that doesn't inspire photography or wandering outdoors, and my virtual travels have reminded me of the long, colorless, wind-blown-prairie winter that is right around the corner.  The weather here for the last two weeks has been awful: cold, rainy and windy.  Today the wind finally died down, the sun peeked out for awhile and the temps climbed just above 50 so I took advantage of the reprieve and drove over to Volo Bog since Judy got me feeling a little peat-y with all those photos of pitcher plants.

I love shooting the milkweed pods this time of year, and not just because there is little else left to take photographs of.  Each one if different, they continue to show beauty through the winter and they all hold the promise of new life. It was only this spring that I took the time to learn a little more about them besides the fact that the monarchs love them.  Here is a great website with information about how the plant has been used medicinally and for making rope from the fibers in the stalk. 

While I was busy snapping away just feet from the parking lot a group of sandhill cranes circled the bog and I wandered down the path to see if they were going to come closer.  They didn't, but my attention was then caught by a cardinal that I spooked.  

While tiptoeing toward the cardinal I heard rustling in the underbrush that didn't sound like squirrels.  I thought I was going to find a muskrat wandering around and was prepared for it to suddenly flee when it heard me approaching, but instead I saw an opposum who was quite indifferent to my presence and I followed it alongside the trail for awhile before he turned away toward the bog...well, what's left of the bog.  After our drought this summer it pretty much looks like any other field. To see what it looked like in May, check out the pictures in this post.

 
 With all the vegetation and the bog itself dried out I was surprised to spy two clumps of pitcher plants along the boardwalk.  I've never seen them here even though I knew they had to be here somewhere.  They weren't full of insects, but other things are dropping down into them this fall!

 I wasn't sure if I had enough time before the sun set to hike the whole trail system, but I couldn't resist going down to the observation blind for a look at how dried up everything was.  I was surprised to discover some cranes grazing where there used to be birds swimming and snapped a quick shot before trying to spy on them from the blind.  The path was covered in fallen leaves and they heard my crunchy approach so with a chorus of calls they took to the air and left me to finish my 3 mile hike alone. 

I made it back to the parking lot just minutes before sunset and the closing of the gates, happy I had taken the time for an adventure of my own and hopeful that I'll have a few more before the weight of winter really settles upon us here in the midwest.