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Shaw Nature Reserve

Fall Hiking Club Route 7

It’s hat and jacket weather when I start the route today. The hat only for protection from the drizzly on and off rain, but definitely cool enough I’m happy for the jacket.

The trail wanders first through the woods near the Bascom House parking lot.

I’m not really even sure I’m on the right trail.

I wind up back at the Trail House Loop road as directed though, so I guess I wasn’t too far off.

From there, the it winds down the hill and onto Pine Amphitheater trail, the towering evergreens edged by golden piping of fall.

Crossing the road to the River Trail the route climbs uphill to Crescent Knoll Overlook.

A bench, a tiny table, …

and a valley bursting with color, capture the next half an hour.

I finally wander on. The rest of the trail back is a repeat from route 3, on down the rest of the River trail.

The stepping stones are a little damper now, and poke through piles of leaves.

A droopy petaled coneflower clings to the edge of the trail.

Confluence Trail – North Section

The northern trailhead of the Madison County Transit Confluence Trail opens just under the beautiful Clark Bridge in Alton, Illinois.

After a quick climb to the top of the levy, it runs along a mostly level trail parallel to the river and the highway.

Modern traffic and timeless riverways converge on the early miles of the trail. It’s not quiet. The sites and sounds of the highway are a continuous backdrop to the historical sites and river views for the first several miles.

Access trails lead off to multiple sites worthy of their own visits; the National Great Rivers Museum and the Price Locks and Dam,

the Confluence tower, with its viewing platforms, picnic areas, and native plant gardens;

and the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and reconstructed Dubois Camp.

Shortly past the tower, the trail curves off into a quiet meadow behind the Lewis and Clark site, packed with summer wildflowers.

A gravel trail and rapidly deflating rear tire end my ramble today, but I’ll definitely be back to explore the museums and cross the levee trail.

Deck View 1/5/21

The promised “pick of the week” day, it’s still only mildly cool as the sunset glow melts into the late afternoon.

Deck View 1/2/21

Snow? Maybe… probably not. We got a little yesterday. It came down in huge beautiful flakes for awhile, but then dissolved before it hit the ground. It’s plenty cold enough to have frozen along the branches of the tallest trees. More likely though, it’s just starkly white branches melding with the cold in a wintery mirage.

Five O’clock Shadows

Hovering skies, thick and pewter,

Clinging to dusk, as the world drifts past winter solstice.

Forgotten candle wreath alone on the deck

Among scattered strands of remaining neighborhood Christmas glow.

Soldiering on in this year we couldn’t imagine

Clutching the tendrils of lengthening light

In hopes they tug us back into the world we once knew.

Riverwoods Trail

It’s wintery quiet with pale slanting sunshine and trees huddled bare against the cold. The broken pavement trail drops into the river half way around the loop. The river swirls in, asserting its strength, while enterprising trail users have cut their own new path through the woods.

It’s pleasantly busy. Biker riders, children, couples, and dogs wander the trails well spaced and explore the brush. It’s feels almost normal, nice just to be outside, in a place that feels like safe space in the chaos of the world.

Morning Glow

Frosty morning,

Almost winter,

Tumbles into an

Otherworldly sunrise,

Bloated through the haze

Afternoon Rain

Christmas lights glowing,

On rain-drenched deck

Drizzly cold,

That feels like it ought to be snow

Bird song,

Invisible as a movie soundtrack

Protests the empty feeder

Creve Coeur Lake

Back trail wandering on almost winter afternoon that feels like early September.

Bird song slowly overtakes the roar of traffic and the busy paved trail teeming with skaters and bikers swishing between pods of walkers.

It feels completely secluded back here in the summer. Now hulking houses on the ridge peer through the skeletal trees while adolescent deer calmly ignore us all.