Shawnee National Forest
Shawnee National Forest is located at Shawnee hills of Southern Illinois, United States of America. I love the summers in Western Hemisphere as it is not very humid like in India. Also, the forest in USA looks green only in summer season unlike the Western Ghats region in India which has year round greenery. We were in search of many summer orchids , so we started to the not so famous Shawnee forest for exploration.
When we went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, most of the hikers came to see the wildflowers. So there were information floating around about the trails that we re best to see wildflowers. We thought to check in this visitor center also for similar information and enquire about camping spots. We got the trail map from the visitor center and when we enquired about the wildflowers to the few local hikers, they didn’t have a clue. So we checked the map and there were numerous wilderness areas in Shawnee national forest. Bald knob, Bay creek, Burden falls to name a few.
We selected a 5 mile trail and reached the starting point of the trail quickly. After packing few stuffs, we started our hike. We were welcomed by Squawroot (Conopholis americana) which is also known as Cancer Root and Bear Cone. This fascinating plant produces no chlorophyll of its own and lives mostly underground as a parasite on the roots of oak trees. Interestingly these plants don’t harm the oak trees. We spent few moments to admire this little plant and decided to not stop unless we see a bear or orchid.
Crested Iris
Whom we are kidding ? Just in 5 minutes we saw Iris flowers in full bloom. They looked so beautiful, we had to stop to admire them. We came for the hike to see these little beauties , not to complete the trail in a stipulated time. We stopped here and there to see few birds and butterflies. Like always, the trail we selected had no other hikers. So we just enjoyed the calmness and continued our walk munching apples. We saw a carpet of Galearis spectabilis (Showy Orchis) near the trail. That simple flower looked amazing and they had sweet fragrance too.
Butterflies had started fluttering around by this time and we saw few Eastern Tiger Swallowtails taking nectar from wild onion flowers. The trail was a easy walk with not much steep climb, so we reached the end of the trail earlier than expected. While we were resting there for few moments , a butterfly flew and sat on vinod. So we had some fun with that tiny beauty while the butterfly was sucking salt from Vinod’s sweat. We didn’t see any new orchids in this trail but we had no complaints as we enjoyed the peaceful walk.
When we are in Jungle, we always find a perfect spot to see Sunset and Sunrise. So we drove to a lake and enjoyed the scintillating Sunset colors. We put our camp facing the lake and prepared a simple dinner in the outdoor. There were few other campers , it looked like they vacated their houses and brought the stuffs to camp. They had big dining tables, large shamiyana tents, air beds and grilling stuffs. While they were all having a feast, we enjoyed our dinner watching the fireflies in the forest.
Next day early morning we took the route to Hutchins creek and we decided to take a trail in that zone. We were thrilled to see the rocks on the roadsides were fully covered with flowers. The Fire pinks were glowing on the rocks. Another interesting flower Delphinium exaltatum (Tall Larkspur) was seen on the roadside itself. In the trail we had planned for , we were pretty sure that we will find an orchid. We found our trail and quickly started our hike.
We saw few familiar flowers and heard recognizable birds sounds. We continued our walk with our keen eyes searching for ground orchids. The place was more lush compared to the previous day trail. The rocks were covered in mosses and water was trickling from all the rocks which was a beautiful sight. Then we heard some scratching noise and we paused to hear the sound carefully. Vinod saw a pair of White-tailed deer watching us and pointed them to me. I always get excited to see these mystical creatures in a jungle especially during a hike. Obviously with all the hunting of deer , they were not excited to see us. They ran away after a quick look at us.
Sighting of Pink Lady’s Slipper
Something caught my eyes in the place where the pair of deer stood. I saw some pinkish color on the ground and I went closer for inspection. Like I suspected, it was the Pink Lady’s Slipper Orchid. I jumped in joy and Vinod also shared my excitement. Cypripedium acaule otherwise known as Mocccasin flower is a large, showy orchid that grows in coniferous forests of pine and hemlock on rocky/mossy slopes. This interesting orchid requires bees for pollination. We were so excited to see this beautiful orchid who looked like an elegant lady in pink dress. I was so happy that the pair of deer pointed this beautiful orchid to me. We picked the right trail in that sprawling 265,616 acres of Shawnee National Forest. With that excitement, we completed that 10 mi trek quickly and started off our return journey.