Sac and Fox Wildlife Area or: Spring Awakening

It’s spring in Iowa! That means I have finally crawled out of the black depths of SAD and once again feel like a person! Hello, world! Hello, sunshine with actual heat! Hello, chirpy birds! It’s time to scamper down new trails once again! Totally necessary and much-needed use of exclamation points!!!!
​
I would be remiss, however, if I left out that I did leave my rat’s nest of winter depression once or twice. I tried snowshoeing for the first time! (It really aggravated my hip.) I got through a 1.8-mile snowy hike at Tower Rock! (Haaaated it the entire time.) The main thing is that I tried new things. Even though I ultimately decided that winter hiking wasn’t for me, I got off the couch and got outside. 

My trail map--red lines are more trails I have yet to navigate.

I’ll write about my mini winter adventures soon, but I want to use my first entry of the year to rave about the Sac and Fox Wildlife Area right outside of Steamboat Rock. With just over 100 acres, this area had many more trails than I initially guessed. I covered 2.28 miles and still left a lot to explore for next time.

This is a transitional time in Iowa right now–a good chunk of plant life still looks brown and dead, but the birds are chirping and the ground animals are out and about. Since I didn’t have to worry about foliage, it was easy to see several paths I could take from the overlook down towards the swampy pond. 

Several Canadian geese had settled in for the season and were enjoying Pine Ridge Lake. These honkers made themselves known, as did the many spring peepers. (Many thanks to my friend Heather for identifying the frog type! Heather has a wealth of knowledge about the natural world, and I love learning from her.) Even though I didn't see the peepers, they were quite vocal. The pond was alive with the sound of music! 

I followed several well-cleared trails until I came to the lower north side of the pond. From there, I stepped into the woods...and promptly lost my way. The trails were difficult to find, and I stumbled through some thorny bushes as I relied on all of my survival training (follow the stream, use the sun for directions, get to the high ground to avoid the Ottomans). I will probably stay out of this area once everything greens up--it was just really thick with pokey things.

The DNR, Hardin County Conservation, and other organizations are working to return this land to its native prairie/savanna state. This includes removing invasive species like honey locust, systematic burning (I saw evidence of this on my hike), and possible incorporation of desirable native Iowa species in the future.

Why this area, in particular? There were several interpretive signs on my hike, and I learned that people have been continuously living in that area for almost 11,000 years. Native Americans even created several mound groups about 1,000 years ago that are still being studied by archeologists. I didn’t see these mounds on my particular hike, but I will keep going next time! 

Not only is there historical significance, but there's a crap ton of geological importance too (crap ton is a legitimate scientific measurement). No few than three different landforms converge in this area--the Southern Iowa Drift Plain, the Iowa Surface, and the Des Moines Lobe.

What's this mean? I'm not totally sure! However, it makes for a distinctive landscape: boggy wetlands, rolling hill slopes, and unique soil composites. In the chunk that I hiked, there was an elevation change of 190 feet. You bet I felt those hills!

Total miles covered: 2.28 miles 
Total time: 1 hour, 4 minutes of moving time
Temperature: 77 degrees Fahrenheit AND WINDY
Bugs/ticks: I brushed off two ticks.
Water consumed: 20 oz ​