Pere Marquette Field Trip

Today our family (myself, Dustin, Tristan, Kaelan and Addison--my mom and Emma too!) participated in a field trip to Pere Marquette State Park in Grafton with the RCHEC homeschooling group.  After a scenic, yet somewhat foggy drive up the river-road we arrived at the Visitor Center at Pere Marquette.  The kids immediately ran in to see the sculptured eagle's nest which they were excited to see they were allowed to stand inside of!  While we waited for the rest of the group to arrive we were able to learn about and view some of the local wildlife (stuffed, of course!) and see a large map of the topography of the Illinios and Mississippi Rivers along with the hiking trails at Pere Marquette.  Once everyone had gathered we were led into a "classroom" by Steve Isringhausen--one of the park rangers.  Steve treated us to an entertaining lesson on the local owl population along with some very realistic owl calls.  We also learned a bit about the white tail deer (our state mammal), the bald eagle (our state bird) and the misconception that we are looking at the Mississippi River, when we are actually seeing the Illinois River from Pere Marquette.  The lesson finished up with a short video on owls; their eating habits, nest building, hatchlings and pellets!  Although it was a rather cold, muddy day we still decided to go for a 2 mile hike--we were assured that the hike would be all downhill!!  We were taken up a steep winding road in a van and then dropped off at the head of the red heart trail.  The plan was to take the red heart trail to the yellow square trail.  We started out going..............uphill!!!  You could definitely tell that all of the kids had been cooped up inside, due to rainy weather, for quite a few days because they took off up the hill like it was nothing.  The rest of the adults lagged behind.  Steve was an excellent trail guide--pointing out different plants that were either poisinous or beneficial to us or the local wildlife.  We also learned that some of the hills we were climbing were actually Indian burial mounds--similiar to the ones found at Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville.  During our hike we were treated to several vistas of the bluffs and river--the fog over the valley only added to the beauty.  Kaelan definitely showed his trepidation of heights at the scenic lookouts--choosing to hang back at the edge of the trail rather than look out over the valley!  Since the trail was so slippery, Addie spent most of her time on Daddy's back, while Tristan ran on ahead.  On the yellow square trail we also got to see some really neat rock formations caused by a long-ago earthquake!  All in all the day was a great success.  Everyone left with muddy shoes, cold noses and a new appreciation for our local park, wildlife and families.  Thank you so much to Steve and everyone else at Pere Marquette who helped to make this state park such an enjoyable and educational experience for us!