Hike of Sat. April 23,2022. This IS a bit late, sorry folks, I kept forgetting. We gathered at the Vienna, IL. U.S. Forest Service office and then moved out to Bulge Hole Ecological Area, which is, “by the crow”, almost straight North of Vienna. Christopher David Benda (Illinois Botanizer) led 17 other hikers, with, again, 4 new hikers. Mr. Benda was leading us to look for, and “at” Flora & Fauna plants and blooms. He had a clipboard with him, and told us at the end that he saw over 125 different plant species today. He knew common names, official names, and Latin names. He uses mnemonic ‘devices’ to help remember things. One such device: “Sedges have edges, rushes are round and grasses have joints..(when the cops aren’t around)”. We also saw 3-4 water falls today, although their flow wasn’t really high. We went through a glade, which is an exposed area of sandstone rock, which had some water flowing, and pools and were treated to seeing several pairs of mating frogs with their accompanying egg streams. We covered a bit over 4 miles, on a very pleasant & informative hike.

Our next hike, this Saturday, at Giant City State Park, Sat. April 30th, will be led by Fred Scott. Meet at the Visitors Center parking lot, 10 am. Until then. “See ya on the trail”.