trail – Hiking with Dillon

Last week, Scott, Dillon and I headed down to Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, near Havana. Lake Chautauqua is part of the Illinois River bottoms and is very important to migratory birds as it provides sanctuary and breeding grounds during their migration. Chautauqua has more than 5 miles of hiking trails and we checked out two different trails that day.

First, we headed to the Chautauqua Nature Trail, located at the Headquarters. This was really nice. It is only a .5 mile loop, so great for toddlers. It is completely ADA accessible the whole way.

We headed to the right, which takes you to a life-size eagle’s nest you can walk up to. I’ve seen plenty of eagle’s nests way up in the trees, so it was cool to see the size of one next to you.

Further along the trail, they have three separate overlook decks. Here, you can look out over the Refuge and watch the birds. I HIGHLY recommend bringing binoculars. We did not.

It was quite a sight, listening to the birds and watching them all get up and fly when there was a disturbance, like when an eagle flew over. This link is an audio file of the birds, take a listen! Video Nov 28, 9 47 12 AM

This area was so beautiful and I would love to come back with my DSLR. There was another photographer there taking photos and I was sad I didn’t bring mine! The iphone doesn’t do it justice!

After we left the Headquarters area, we drove down the road and parked at the Eagle Bluff Area. We parked in the parking lot near the road, but probably could have parked closer to the trailhead. It was a bit of a walk down an access road to get to the North Pool trail. This trailhead did not have a sign, but looking at other photos people posted on AllTrails, it looks like it did at one time. Just look for the transformer.

This trail is 1.3 miles, one way. We hiked it to the Roundtree Trail area and turned back. There isn’t really any trail markings, but it was established enough we could figure it out.

You hike along the top of the ridge and overlook the Refuge below. This time of the year it was easy to see through the trees, but I imagine in the summer there are too many leaves in the way to see much of the Refuge. The road is parallel to you the whole time only about 30′ away, but you can’t really see it because of the angle of the ridge. There was also quite a bit of trash along the way. I ended up picking up a grocery bag full as well as a large, 5′ long box that flooring came in.

I would definitely go back to do some bird-watching at the Nature Trail and next time bring binoculars and my camera. The North Pool Trail was nice, but could use some maintenance, however considering this is maintained by our State and they don’t have any money for our parks, its something we as citizens need to help with. Pick up trash where you see it, let them know when you see downed trees or overgrown trails and ask how you can help.

Thank you for hiking with Dillon, Scott and me!

Today, Dillon, a couple friends, and I checked out the Gold Mine Trail at the Mackinaw River State Fish and Wildlife Area. This was a trail none of us had been to before and there really aren’t a lot of reviews out there on it. Its roughly 2.5 miles long and a loop. After you park, you walk past the dove fields. This time of year, there is hunting in progress, so just be cautious of dove and squirrel hunters.

After you get past this, you enter into the woods. The trail is very well maintained and about 3 people wide most of the way.

About 75% of the trail is pretty flat. The rest that were inclines were not that bad. Somewhat steep, but short. The trail splits at one point and there is a sign that says “Long Trail – Short Trail”. We went to the left on the Long Trail.

We were the only ones on the trail the whole time we were there. Walking in, we saw someone dove hunting in the distance. Leaving there was someone in the parking lot. Although the trails are really well maintained, I don’t think its a very busy area.

We came up to a creek which follows along the path a little ways, which is pretty dried up right now. This area is a little more rolling and very pretty and peaceful woods.

Shortly after this, we came to a “T” in the road with a sign pointing “Long Trail” at the direction we came from, “Short Trail” to the right, then another trail to the left, but no sign saying what it was or where it went. We decided to hop on “Short Trail” since we figured it took us back to the parking lot. It was a fairly good incline up, but short and the trail lived up to its name because we reached the original “T” from where the two split in no time at all.

At this point, we decided to do another loop, just to get some extra mileage. My fitbit registered at about 2.15 miles at that point, but my AllTrails recording was showing just at 2 miles. We turned back the way we came so we did the loop backwards.

At one point, I let Dillon out to walk a bit, although it didn’t last long because he was getting too distracted and I was ready for lunch.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trail. I’ve submitted it to AllTrails so it hopefully shows up as a new trail in the app. It currently is not listed. I would like to go back to see where that other trail leads to, sometime. Maybe you have done this and know?

With doing the loop twice, we did about 4.25 miles today, so not too bad!

Thanks for hiking with Dillon and I!