It has dawned on me that I have not posted anything in 3+ months. Flat out, this is because my job is hellacious, especially the last month and a half or so of the school year. You have been out of school for over a month, you say? Why, yes. I fled the continental US immediately after I escaped the clutches of my workplace, for a week's trip to Puerto Rico; then, I spent several weeks catching up on all of the errands and stuff I am not able to do during the school year because I am a slave to my job, and any miraculous free moment I get is spent melting like a puddle of slime mold into my couch. It wasn't until last week that I was actually able to get out in the preserves for some unfettered nerd-bingeing. But before I dissect that, I will recap a visit I made in May (for school, of course) to another as-yet-unvisited (by me) spot on the IL nature preserves list: Sagawau Canyon.
Camp Sagawau is a frustrating place, in that you must make an appointment, or attend a special event, to go there. Since I care not for pre-planning, I had never been there. Luckily, having a troupe of students who need edu-ma-cating is an accepted reason for visiting the place, so I brought ALL of my AP students, both classes, 54 in total after absences, all at the same time, to get a grand tour of the place for their spring field trip. I am not a well woman. However, it turned out great, because the staff there are wicked cool and brusquely divvied up my kids into 3 groups and shuffled them through SIX different activities throughout the course of the day. Kicknetting for benthic macroinvertebrates, water quality chemical analysis, limestone canyon tour, garlic mustard pulling, prairie tour, and herpetology lesson. Pretty sweet. I, of course, was free to tag along and look at plants while the guides talked about geologic history of the Chicago region (which I already know). Here are some of the highlights of the day:
About half of the kids hanging out in the gorgeous environmental learning center.
Collecting water samples in the high-quality stream for chemical analysis. If I remember correctly, this rocky-bottomed stream is spring-fed, and flows to its doom in the Cal-Sag Channel. I would wish that on only my worst of enemies.
Netting benthic macros. They were very timid at first about getting wet and touching squishy things, but they quickly got over it.
A baby northern water snake one lucky dipnetter caught.
The staff, having to do chemical tests all the time for school groups, had a sweet setup near the stream with tables and kits neatly lined up. I am forever spoiled.
Trying to identify our benthic macros. This looks like an arranged photo for some kind of educational brochure, but I assure you it was candid.
The dolomite canyon. Allegedly, the only one in Cook County. They also claim that a tiny cave in the canyon wall is the only cave in Cook County. I find it difficult to believe that one can confirm such a claim, but I'll let them have their fun.
On to the flora...some lovely columbine against the canyon wall.
Cornus alternifolia, or the prosaically-named alternate-leaved dogwood. It's pretty unusual in these parts, preferring to hang out in calcareous places.
Cystopteris bulbifera, bulblet fern. The little-bitty bulbs on the underside of the blade allegedly drop off and spawn baby ferns. Can one use the word "spawn" when referring to plants? If not, you're all just going to have to deal with it.
That's all the flora I captured, sadly. Too much of my attention in the canyon was spent making sure my kids didn't slip off the rocks into the stream. But overall, I give this site a thumbs-up. Good quality stream, rare habitats, neat geology, great staff, fun times. I'm actually glad they regulate visitors, so that they can maintain the quality.
Camp Sagawau is a great place. I believe one can visit to hike around outside the canyon. Only the canyon visits are restricted.
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