Godfrey, Illinois
I’ve wanted to come here since I heard about it last year, just as it was about the close for the winter.
A privately owned nature preserve in southwest Illinois, it has multiple trails of varying lengths, winding through woods and streams and along the beautiful Beaver Falls.
It’s just a little cool as we start out, but I’m pretty quickly glad I decided to leave the jacket behind anyway. It warms up quickly, wandering up and down the rolling hills.
The treetops and underbrush glow with spring color, and I can never resist just one more closeup of the cheerfully swaying Sweet Williams.
The stream splashes along a series of stairstep ridges, climbing to the hollow of Beaver Falls.
A sunning turtle and a tired hawk were the only wildlife I could capture, although the woods were full of darting and calling birds. My Merlin app, set to identify birds by sound, captured at least 15 different species. We probably actually saw a little more than half of them.
A definite incentive to come back and try again.
Rambling ... 