Day Trip to the Cache River State Natural Area - Shawnee National Forest

A Day Trip to Cache River 

When I travel to Illinois to visit my family everyone always assumes I'm going to Chicago. If you've ever been to Southern Illinois where my family is from, you'd know that Chicago might as well be on another planet. Southern Illinois is both geographically and culturally distinct from the rest of the state.

Maybe I'm a bit biased because my roots go back to this land since the 1800s, but I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the world (during every season except winter).

During my visits I usually visit the Shawnee National Forest, honestly it's a bit hard to avoid. This land makes up 280,000 acres of Southern Illinois and is part of over seven different counties.



This summer we took a day trip to the Cache River State Natural Area to check out the swamp and the cypress trees.

Cache River Wetlands Center

We started at the Cache River Wetlands Center to learn more about the area. They have a great exhibit that tells the geographic and cultural history of the area as well as descriptions and samples of the flora and fauna. We were instructed to watch out for "Tick feeling the call of love" before we set out on our hike.  

Singing: Katydids

Big Cypress Tree Trail & Canoe Trail

We headed out to check out the state champion bald cypress tree, and found that exploring the river trail by canoe would have been the better way to go. Next time we'll definitely be renting canoes. White Crane Rentals will rent you one for $15 per person for 2.5 hours.

Cue "Dueling Banjos"

Little Black Slough Unit

Over the river and through the woods...

We then ventured by car over to the Upper Cache River, an easy walk took us over a bridge to the horribly named "Little Black Slough Unit".

Bridge Over River Cache

The "Unit" is what the Illinois DNR website calls "a floating carpet of brilliant emerald duckweed" and that about sums it up. There's a floating path so you can walk into the swamp and the canopy of cypress trees. The green of the duckweed and the leaves on the trees are indeed a brilliant emerald like I've never seen.

Floating Walkway

Cypress Canopy

DUCKWEED!

Wild Rose

Unfortunately that was all the time we had for the trip, but we plan to visit again, and check out more of the 20 Day Trips in and around the Shawnee National Forest. 

More photos from the Cache River State Natural Area

Rave Run - Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire UK

The canal a day later,
after the storm had passed

On day 3 of our trip we headed up to county Staffordshire for a motorcycle jumble (in American that means swap meet). We stayed in Stoke-on-Trent at a friendly Travelodge that included a carvery (in American that means tasty all meat buffet).

Since my marathon was less than a month away I very reluctantly decided to go for a run. Reluctantly because it was storming outside, and not showing any signs of letting up. And not some wimpy California storm, like a real "oh yes now I understand why this place is so green and they drink a lot of hot tea" English storm. I asked the desk clerk if she could recommend a place to run and she pointed me to a path along a canal less than a block away.

Those Brits sure do have nice manners

What an amazing running route. The Worcestershire Canal (commonly known as the Staffs & Worcs Canal) is 46 miles long, and includes views of wooded paths, quaint English backyard gardens, horses and these really cool live aboard narrowboats. 

The freezing rain pelted me from every direction, I had a terrible cold and had to stop more than once to cough up what felt like one if not both of my lungs, and not long into the run I could no longer feel my fingers. But it was one of the best runs I've ever had. The few brave souls that I encountered and the dogs they were walking looked at me like I was crazy. And of course I was, but the pain and agony was worth every crazy mile. 

Narrowboat tied up to someone's backyard.

 See the rest of my Stoke-on-Trent pictures. 

Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains

A few days after arriving in Sydney we were ready to venture outside of the city and brave driving on the wrong side of the road.  We headed to the Blue Mountains - which are about 70 miles west of Sydney. 

We didn't know what to expect as we headed up the mountain in our tiny blue two door speck.  It wasn't long before we were surrounded by forests of eucalyptus trees. 

The views were spectacular, like the grand canyon with trees, the most famous view being the Three Sisters.  There is a story behind the name that has to do with an indigenous Australians myth, but alas it turns out that the myth is completely bogus made up for us tourists. So basically the sisters are three very cool rock formations formed by erosion of sandstone.

From the Three Sister's Lookout we could see in the distance a tiny railroad and two sky ways - so we headed over to the aptly named "Scenic World" to check it out and take some Scenic World photos. 

Scenic World was once a coal mine and is now a world full of scenic activities, I can't do them justice if I try to describe them here, so if you're interested you'll just have to check out the rest of Katymcc's scenic world photos from the Blue Mountains with special bonus video!