The Volo Bog

It was overcast on Saturday but at least the unpleasant chill was gone. It was a fine day for being outside, so Lilly, Ann, Lilly's friend Rachel and my old friend Kevin Deany and I drove into the heart of Lake County via U.S. 12, another of those unsung transcontinental routes (Detroit to the Pacific in Washington state). Near Volo, Illinois, is the Volo Bog State Natural Area. It's a fine place for a walk. Just look:

Missing from that picture is any evidence of the boardwalk trail -- the half-mile Volo Bog Interpretive Trail -- that snakes through the bog. Without the trail the bog would be a difficult place to visit up close. A sign at the beginning of the trail is clear about that, warning hikers not to fall in ("please stay on the trail" it says) because of hazardous soils and poisonous plants.

The DNR web site tells us that Volo is the "only 'quaking' bog in Illinois to have an open-water center," which seems like stretching for a distinction, but never mind. It's a "quaking" bog because of its unstable surface, and there probably aren't that many in Illinois, open-water center or not.

"Volo Bog was originally a deep 50-acre lake, with steep banks and poor drainage," notes the DNR. "Research on pollen grains preserved in the bog indicates that the lake began filling with vegetation approximately 6,000 years ago. A floating mat, consisting primarily of sphagnum moss, formed around the outside edges among the cattails and sedges. As these plants died and decomposed, the peat mat thickened, forming a support material for rooted plants. Because of the lack of drainage and the presence of sphagnum moss, the water in the bog became acidic. This limited the types of plants that could survive and thus created the unique plant communities found in the bog." (More on the bog is here.)