Clear and cool this afternoon, went to Morton Arboretum to walk in the trees, avoid the nuts, and have a squirrel encounter. We didn’t have a plan, just wanted to hike in the woodlands.
As I didn’t work out on Thursday or Friday last week, I needed some catch-up as I’ve been pretty consistent about getting at least 3 workouts a week. So it was nice to hike along in the new pair of Vasque hiking boots I bought last winter, although I need to put the better arch inserts in them next time. The wind was blowing loudly in the tallest trees, a sound I love. We parked on the West side and hiked around one side of Lake Marmo, watched some lounging turtles… lounging, and then took off up a hillside trail. We climbed under a canopy of maples, oaks, and black walnuts (the husks of walnuts were rotting on the trail, along with lots of acorns and shells that went “crack!” when you stepped on them).
I was reminded of the year Mom decided she would collect a neighbor’s black walnuts for her, let them dry out on our old patio, and then harvest all those lovely walnuts. Well, what we ended up with were a few small, undernourished nuts that weren’t too buggy, and brown hands from the stain in the husks. Yuck, but funny.
Morton Arboretum’s hiking trails are always well maintained and usually of the springy “bark-o-mulch” type, which is pleasant to walk on. The local squirrel population was busily running around collecting a bounty of nuts, and one golden-hued guy practically ran into us on the trail. He was digging little holes, and then running along and digging more holes – we weren’t sure if he was looking to steal other squirrels’ nuts, or looking for his own. When he saw us, he remained intent on finding or digging or whatever, and detoured around us into the brush for a few yards before re-emerging just behind us and continuing along, poking and digging into the path. Silly little guy…
It’s way too early for fall colors but we spotted some nice groves that will be really beautiful later in October – tall maples and so on. Also, I’d like to see the gingkos in their golden colors, and I know there are some on the East side. After looping through the woods and along Sterling Pond and the big Schulenberg Prairie loop, we came back the way we’d come. Along part of the way was an interactive trail activity for kids, that was something to do with “Animal Houses.” I admit I was looking around for Bluto and Flounder a little, but no sign of them. David was startled by Ducks, however, who didn’t like their house being invaded by blundering cameramonkeys.
After the hike, we just drove the loop on the other side of IL-83 (the park is on both sides of the highway, with an underpass for cars and pedestrians). It was pleasant to drive along in battery mode, listening to the BBC News Hour, listening to the rustling branches and the whooshing sound the tires make on pavement on a quiet private road like the ones in Morton. It was nice to just… be in nature, and not part of frenetic modern life (even though we were using tons of hybrid electric technology and listening to the election results from Germany, of all things).
I’d like to go back to Morton again in the fall for sure. It’s always such a restful place to recharge the batteries.