The closest wilderness areas to Chicago are 5 hours south of here, near Carbondale, and 5 hours north, in the north woods of Wisconsin. I felt like I was going to die if I didn't get out of the city this weekend, so I opted for the cooler temps of the north woods. It was only my third time up there, and I can't believe what I've been missing! I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time up there in the near future.
I did the Jones Spring trail, which should have been a 9 mile loop, but I cut it short and made it 6 instead due to a wardrobe malfunction. I was wearing Kristin's hand-me-down hiking pants, which were too big on her. I didn't realize how big they were on me until a mile into the hike, when it started to rain. I don't mind getting wet and dirty, and I had an umbrella. But the pants were getting all wet, which weighed them down, and it's really hard to hold an umbrella while holding your pants up, but if I didn't hold them, they were actually halfway down my butt. Due to this unfortunate turn of events, I took the shortcut trail back to my car.
But it was a lovely hike. I especially enjoyed when it started raining, and it was all dark and windy and I was listening to Kenny Chesney's "Somewhere With You."
This was my view as I started out on the path:
The trail passes by Fanny Lake:
The trail passes by Fanny Lake:
I saw a bunch of these mushrooms that were so bright, I thought they were trash or something at first. They were even brighter orange than a pumpkin, and some of them had red on them. My mom consulted her mushroom field guides when I got home, but we're still not sure what they were.
These trees looked really crazy. It felt like I was in a painting or something.
I almost stepped on this guy toward the end of the hike. I apologized and asked if I could take his picture. Then I realized I was talking to a snake.
I can't wait to head back up there. I think I'd go every weekend if I could.
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