heron pond-little black slough nature preserve

My husband and I love this area. We travel to this spot every October. It is on my bucket list to get back here when the snow is on. The one drawback to this spot is the narrow one lane road. Thankfully we have never met anyone going in the opposite direction - if you do, you will have quite the back-up experience. The hiking back here is easy and the natural sights gorgeous. This stop - even with the road - is one that shouldn't be missed by anyone who has a love of flora and fauna.

We were touring the area and were directed here by the National Forest staff or we wouldn't have heard about it. This is the largest and one of the only bald cypress swamps in Illinois. It is serene, off the beaten path and absolutely breathtaking. While "swamp" might not sound all that exciting, this is a very unique feature this far north. The nature preserve also contains some small streams and the largest Cherrybark Oak tree in the state of Illinois. It also contains a lot of poisonous snakes. For those of you who frequent the area, you are familiar with snake signage throughout the area, but this area is much more well signed and aptly so. We saw numerous cottonmouths in their natural habitat during our visit and hundreds of frogs. The frogs are bird-voiced tree frogs, which are a rare breed.