Escape To Cache River Natural Area For A Beautiful Illinois Nature Scene
By Melissa Mahoney|Published February 24, 2021
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Melissa Mahoney
Author
I'm an east coast girl living in a west coast world. I grew up in New England before moving to SoCal for several years. I then lived in NYC or a year before moving to AZ in 2009. I worked in the entertainment industry for many years of my adult life and have a deep love for photography, writing, and traveling around the U.S. as well as to far-flung locations around the world. Travel is my life and writing about it is a dream!
In the southernmost part of the state lies the Cache River State Natural Area filled with wetlands and ancient trees. It’s a scenic place to visit, hike along the trails, and be amazed by the beautiful natural diversity here. With four notable ecological systems, you may notice the diversity of the landscape, plants, and wildlife on your visit. Let’s have a look.
You can hike the Cache River and Heron Pond State Natural Areas along a 7.4-mile loop. This moderately-trafficked trail has an elevation gain of only 341 feet and is good for all skill levels.
You don't have to hike the entire length to see some of the notable features of the preserve.
The trails are quite easy to navigate, but are sometimes muddy or flooded after it rains. You will get a sense of the variety of scenery along the way as you pass by pine forest, cypress swamp, pond, and river and see the varied wildlife and bird species.
Cache River Natural Area protects 14,960 acres and in 1996, it became the 19th wetland in the country to be designated as a Wetland of International Importance. The state has listed more than 100 species here as threatened or endangered.
The rich wetlands of the Cache River Natural Area provide an incredibly important ecosystem and aquatic habitat to 230 species of birds. This area is crucial to migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, and wading birds.
You will also see many mammals like muskrat, otter, beaver, and mink that benefit from the wetlands.
You would expect to see swampy scenery like this in the deep South - not in Illinois. The area is located between the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, Interior Low Plateau, and the Ozark Hills, making this one of the most unique places for nature in the state.
Enormous cypress trees rise out of the swamp, towering above their buttresses (or bases) which measure more than 40 feet in circumference. Some of these majestic trees are more than 1,000 years old.
Fishing, canoeing, and kayaking are allowed in the park in certain areas, some of which are marked with signs. Canoe maps may be picked up at the Wetlands Center or downloaded from the website here. If you plan on visiting the Wetlands Center, you can do so with this address: 8885 State Route 37 South
Cypress, IL 62923.
Have you visit the Cache River State Natural Area, and if so, what did you think? Please tell us in the comments.
For more information about the Cache River and Heron Pond Trail, visit the webpage on Alltrails. To learn more about how the area was formed and to plan a visit to the Wetlands Center, go to the website here.
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