Spring Green Preserve

Finally!!! The weather man said there should be a break in the heat on Sunday, August 8th. Earlier in the summer there had been reports of sightings of Blue Grosbeaks at the Spring Green Preserve. A friend had sent an email about it and said she'd like to check it out. After a couple of phone calls we were set to meet a buddy at his house early in the morning. I'd been hiking a couple times a little later in the day and found that all of the wildlife had the wisdom (unlike me) to lay low during the mid-day heat. I had my passenger in the car at a little after 8 am and we were headed down River Road. Off in the distance the fog rising off Honey Creek and the Wisconsin River shrouded Ferry Bluff. It reminded me of one fall morning that Operation Migration flew by with the young Whooping Cranes on the way to their first winter in Florida. We encountered very little traffic on Highway 60 so it made for a pleasant ride taking in the roadside wildflowers and the sight of the glistening white chest of a hawk looking for breakfast. We soon pulled off of the highway on to Jones Road where we were greeted with a pasture filled with Sandhill Cranes and Canada geese. In no time at all we had joined our friend and began our adventure.

 

The Preserve borders his property so today that would be our entry point. We had barely started down the path when he said to watch out for the Prickly Pear cactus. It grows in many places of southern Wisconsin but it's particularly abundant in this Preserve.The first thing one is greeted by at the Preserve is the massive face of the bluff. This grass-covered feature has some rock outcroppings along its ridge and can be seen from miles away in the river valley. This reminded me of our local Ferry Bluff. Earlier in the season the remains of last year’s native grasses would be filled with birds migrating to their nesting grounds. By now most of the local nesting is done so some birds have moved on. Mother Nature offered patches of colorful blooms now but the yellows are dominant at this this time. I find the seed heads of native grasses interesting and they are easy to identify by this time of year. There were the usual Bluestems, Switch grass and Indian grass. There were also many in abundance that I don't often see. Soon my eye caught the delicate Prairie Dropseed waving in the breeze, the already-brown spikes of June grass, and the seed heads of the Side-oats running along one side of its stem.

Next we entered an oak barren. Here, along the path, were several types of native goldenrod each with their distinctive blooms. I can name most of these, unlike the many different native sunflowers.

My nature mentor (local author Jean Clausen) would say, “It’s one of the DYF's, darn yellow flowers,” so I don't feel bad about my lack of knowledge. The path then led to the hardwood forest. Here we again had to watch our step as the poison ivy was just waiting to say “Hi!” I pointed out a large patch of ripe blackberries; almost before I could say another word my buddy had gathered a handful of the black morsels to share. Now the dirt path was a bit more of a challenge. Soon we reached the ridge and on this clear day we could see for miles across the Wisconsin River Valley. At this point the trail had become a grass-covered road bed that was abandoned years ago. We walked out to one of the rock ledges where my companion announced that the small pit on the right was the remains of a volcano crater. That’s one of his ploys – “If you don't know something, I can tell you anything.” The truth behind the pit was that an early settler had come here to get flat sandstones for foundations. 

 

New purchases have increased the size of the Preserve so the road now took us to an old gravel pit. I found this an amazing feature. The pit had been dug out, leaving the outer edges intact. From below the ridge you'd never know it was there. Had we continued on, we would have reached a small parking area off Highway 23. Our time was running out so we headed back to my friend’s home. This hike was conducive for walking and talking so we spent much of the trip catching up on what was new in our lives.

The sand prairie of this Preserve is the home to many rare species of insects, plants, reptiles and a large population of pocket gophers. Since becoming a State Nature Conservancy area in 1971 the sand dune area has been known as the “Wisconsin Desert.” Most hikers would access this trail from the parking lot off Jones Road. Sorry---no dogs allowed. To my surprise we had another adventure that day, which will be told in the next entry. Oh ya!--- no Blue Grosbeaks. Maybe next year.