What a great day for a hike. Well really, to be honest, everyday is a great day for a hike. What made today special is that it was Thursday. Every Thursday is Walker's Club at the Lodge. We meet in the Starved Rock Lodge Lobby at 9:00a.m. Today we had 10 hikers plus myself and CoCoa. It was a little on the chilly side, but by the time you put on your wool mittens, flannel lined jeans and eagle hat, it was quite comfortable.
The trek today was scheduled to go to the Illinois Michigan Canal. I rallied the group to see if they were up to something a little more flashier. (my first blog day). We had a couple of guests that were staying at the Lodge with us, and they had already hiked to St. Louis and LaSalle Canyons. One of our hikers suggested driving to Ottawa, Kaskaskia and Council Overhang parking and hiking into those Canyons from there.
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| Sign from the road to turn off of Rt. 71 |
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We all put on our Yak-Trax or something similar and we were on our way. The trail wasn't really icy it was just a little crunchy.
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| THE BOOT |
The first area we came to is the intersection by Council Overhang, whereas there is a trail to the right that will bring you back to the Lodge. I love this photo! Please use your imagination, can you see the hiking boot? We hiked on up to Council Overhang. What a sight! We went up one side and down the other. Once we came down the other side we were met with an ice jam. We just chose our steps carefully and into Ottawa Canyon we went.
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| COUNCIL OVERHANG |
I hadn't been in Ottawa Canyon for a while. At least since the fall. What's up with that? Frozen and magnificent. I had never seen it so wide. Took a few photos. I was having a great time. Our guests from the Lodge that joined us were also having fun.
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| OTTAWA CANYON |
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| Me and my eagle hat from behind Ottawa Canyon |
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How can you go to Ottawa Canyon and not go to Kaskaskia Canyon? You can't. So off we went to Kaskaskia Canyon. You had you watch your footing a bit more on this one, but we were rewarded once we arrived. I was really getting into taking photos so I thought I would try the video capabilities on my camera. We'll see how it does.
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| KASKASKIA CANYON |
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| KASKASKIA CANYON VIDEO |
After leaving Kaskaskia we were headed to Illinois Canyon via the swamp trail (connects the 2 parking areas). We knew we may have some difficulty crossing the stream at one of the three crossings if not all of them. But again it was a great day for hiking so we thought we would give it a try. Well, we made it over the first stream fine but the second stream was flowing ALOT. So we all turned around and headed back. It was after all around 10:30a.m.
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| THE DRIVE BACK TO THE LODGE |
I will leave you with this: Wherever you may hike or walk, just put one foot in front of the other. It's all about the experience not the destination.
I love your first blog post Edna...keep blogging about your adventures!!!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing the photos. I wanted to stop at Kaskaskia Canyon yesterday but didn't have enough time. Thanks for the bird's eye view!
ReplyDeleteGood for you on your blog. I enjoyed it. Keep on blogging!
ReplyDeleteEdna, nice blog! I'm a follower now, so we will see what is going to happen. I like your picture. I couldn't see the video, but that can be a problem of my laptop too.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get the video to go either. Everything else went smoothly.
ReplyDeleteGreat first blog entry. I like the pictures. Keep on inspiring us to put one foot in front of the other!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great hike! With the icefalls melting, the water was running, especially in Kaskaskia.
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