Apple corps

The Tribune printed a story about Apple River Canyon State Park, a personal favorite that in part inspired the name of this blog. I prefer the park in winter and have found myself sitting on top of the bluffs and odd rock formations on bitterly cold days. Also, the same author, perhaps a competitor to the driftless area-campchicago.net cartel, wrote a story about state parks in a neighborhood weekly called Chicago Journal.

Finally, diapered animals (recall the kangaroo wandering Wisconsin not long ago) have become a primary focus of this blog. Here is another story from the land of cheese.

Morning adventure

Photos from a journey 60 miles south of Chicago on the border of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties: www.flickr.com/photos/driftlessarea

Good latitude

A few final thoughts from Canada. First, this snapping turtle, right, and its friends repeatedly attacked our stringers of largemouth bass. Second, I was reflecting today on the uniqueness of the place. It's on a latitude parallel to northern Michigan and northern Wisconsin but it still is quite different. More northerly feeling, somehow. Blueberry bushes are everywhere; they practically cover the island we camped on. My ideal camping experience strives to replicate the Canada experience. It mostly falls short, but my goal continues to be to find places like this stateside. Nicolet National Forest comes close.

On Monday, I arrived at the Southwest Side cubicle mine and was granted a seat next to a large window. This is the first time in my career I've had a window seat. Today I saw a monarch butterfly.

Tree envy

Driftless area regulars, all five of you, know that ancient forests are a regular topic here. Word came across today that an 8 million-year-old forest was discovered in Hungary. Illinois' ancient forests, nearly 300 million years older, make Hungary's look like a bunch of scrawny saplings.

Camping perils

A first attempt at video for driftless area. The YouTube process took away a lot of the resolution of the original. Also, this was filmed before a swarm of deer flies mauled my feet.

Wilderness spoiled?

Back in the beautiful basin of ancient Lake Chicago with further details of the Canada trip. The bird species tally was 43. I added two birds to my life list: olive-sided flycatcher and black-backed woodpecker.

I've been seeking the olive-sided flycatcher for a while now. They are uncommon and reside in the north woods, but they are often seen in Chicago during spring migration. I identified it by its distinctive "quick three beers" call.

I've been in black-backed woodpecker territory before but never had seen one. The Peterson guide describes them as "scarce." I saw the woodpecker land in a tree in the island across from where we were camping. Its call was a cuckoo-like "chuk," which is unlike any of the other potential woodpeckers of the area. I immediately ruled out downy, hairy, red-bellied and yellow-bellied sapsucker. When I saw it fly, I was pretty sure it was either a black-backed woodpecker or the more northerly american three-toed woodpecker. A little research confirmed it was the former.

Birds I should have added to the life list included the boreal owl and boreal chickadee. I'm near certain I heard them both but didn't realize it at the time.

Meantime, one of the unfortunate developments of the trip was the realization that a secluded lake adjacent to where we were camped is increasingly being utilized by anglers. The lake heretofore had only been accessible by a 2.5-mile boat ride and .3-mile portage. A new road has eased ORV access to the marsh at the south end of the lake. We fished the lake four times and didn't see anyone, but we met someone who fished it on one of the days we weren't there. In general, there was more traffic in the area as commercial interests and more vacationers have begun to seep in.

Aberrant conditions

The Canada trip was the hottest and buggiest in my experience there. It's a tribute to the wondrous beauty of the place (and that I needed a vacation!) that these factors were easy to overcome. Temperatures climbed above 90 degrees, and heat advisories were issued in the Sudbury, Ontario, area. Mosquitoes, deer flies, horseflies and no-see-ums were among the insects that feasted on us. The bugs took a particular liking to me, and I wasn't flattered. Swimming in the tannin-tinged waters of Judge Lake became our respite.

The woods and lakes were teeming with so much life; I kept thinking about the book White-Out, which is a paean to the fertility of Antarctica. I'm back on the Allegheny Plateau now, and I hope to provide a detailed trip account soon. I should have at least two new bird species to add to the life list.