Ferne Clyffe State Park / Giant City State Park

04/28/08 - 05/07/08

I spent a week in Ferne Clyffe. It's a very scenic park in southern Illinois. There are trails along the top of rock bluffs that provide very scenic vistas. There are also trails along creeks in canyon bottoms surrounded by these bluffs. The highlight of the stay was the chance to watch a fox kit on several occasions. It's den was close to one of the trails that led from the campground. The first evening I was there, I took a short walk on this trail to stretch my legs. I decided to not take my camera along. So, of course, I see this fox kit. I watched him for a short time before he realized I was there and he ran under some big rocks. I waited a few minutes and he came back out. But he again noticed me fairly quickly and went back under the rocks. For the next several days, I walked that stretch of trail several more times with my camera at the ready. But my wildlife repellant (my camera) was working well. Once, he heard me coming, gave out a little bark, and went under the rocks. Otherwise, I saw so sign of him. Finally, I saw him go under the rocks again as I approached. So I got myself in a good position to take some photos when he came back out. I waited for a while but he never came out. I started looking around a bit and there he was walking around behind me. I quickly shot a few photos and then moved since I was between him and his den and I didn't want to cause him any undue stress. I moved down the trail a bit and then watched him investigate his surroundings for a while. It was so enjoyable to watch him.

Giant City is another scenic park in southern Illinois. The scenery is similar to Ferne Clyffe. Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy the scenery too much. I spent most of the time in my RV waiting out thunderstorms. I ended up spending more time working Sudoku puzzles than I did hiking. I even left a few days early since the forecast was for the thunderstorms to continue for several more days. I did spend a few hours on a couple of trails. So I've got a few photos to show, but not as many as I had hoped for.

Columbiine
Steve Winker