Driving Toward Spring

Leaving Columbia this morning, nosotros headed toward spring; it was cloudy as well as cool inwards primal Missouri as well as patchy snowfall withal covered the ground.  As nosotros drove eastward to St. Louis as well as and hence southward through western Illinois, nosotros encountered multiple flocks of snowfall geese as well as greater white-fronted geese, vanguards of the coming season.

When nosotros crossed the swollen Ohio River, nosotros were greeted past times sunshine as well as warm conditions simply a brown, wintry landscape withal stretched along the highway.  Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 large flock of American white pelicans, likewise a harbinger of spring, graced Lake Barkley, southeast of Paducah as well as light-green fields in conclusion appeared inwards southern Kentucky.

Throughout Tennessee as well as into northern Alabama, mild, sunny atmospheric condition persisted simply convincing signs of jump remained elusive.  After dipping through the Tennessee River Valley as well as and hence knifing into the southern destination of the Appalachian Chain, nosotros stopped for the nighttime almost Birmingham.  Spring withal lies further due south (stay tuned).

North To Galena

Tomorrow, my married adult woman together with I volition caput to Galena, a historic town inward the Mississippi River Valley of Northwest Illinois.  Known for its preserved architecture, prehistoric mounds together with wineries, this town is likewise to a greater extent than or less a reveal of parks, nature preserves and, of course, the keen river itself.

While our exact route is withal nether consideration, nosotros conception to displace northeastward across the Glaciated Plain of northern Missouri together with Iowa earlier crossing the Mississippi at Davenport.  We volition together with hence serpent northward along together with close the due east depository fiscal establishment of the river all the agency to Galena.  Barring unexpected problems or detours, it should move a 5 hr journeying from Columbia.

Hopefully, our mid calendar week route trip, occurring during the elevation of spring, volition Pb through beautiful natural landscapes together with expose us to an fantabulous multifariousness of wild fauna (while avoiding the human crowds of weekends together with summer).  The validity of those expectations volition move clarified inward coming posts.

May Leaf & March Weather

On our journeying to Galena, Illinois, the landscapes were verdant (as 1 powerfulness facial expression inwards mid May) exactly it felt to a greater extent than similar March.  Cool air, a depression gray overcast as well as a rigid due east air current persisted all the means from fundamental Missouri to northwest Illinois.

As nosotros had learned prior to the trip, flooding was extensive along the Mississippi, too backing upwards as well as flooding the feeder creeks as well as rivers that nosotros crossed inwards northeast Missouri as well as eastern Iowa.  Forced from the flooded woodlands, flocks of wild turkeys scoured the soggy fields as well as raccoons ambled along the province roads.  Turkey vultures were oftentimes abundant inwards the gray skies, joined at times yesteryear American white pelicans every bit nosotros snaked upwards the Mississippi Valley.

Before heading into Galena, nosotros visited Mississippi Palisades State Park, which stretches atop cliffs that business the due east border of the valley.  There, a serial of overlooks offering spectacular views of the Great River as well as its wooded islands, all utilisation of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge.  After a front end moves through afterward this level (the same organisation that brought severe thunderstorms as well as tornados to Oklahoma as well as Missouri) our weather condition is forecast to last to a greater extent than spring-like tomorrow.

In Driftless Terrain

As I described inwards The Wisconsin Ozarks, an expanse of the Upper Midwest was sparred the effects of the final Pleistocene glaciation.  This Plateau of early on Precambrian limestones in addition to dolomites (known every bit the Driftless Area) extends from cardinal Wisconsin into southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa in addition to extreme northwestern Illinois. Galena in addition to its surroundings prevarication inside that geologic zone, where the topography is characterized past times knobs, hills in addition to ridges, carved from the plateau past times glacial meltwater in addition to numerous post-glacial streams.

This morning, afterward breakfast inwards historic downtown Galena, nosotros headed to Horseshoe Mound Preserve, only southeast of town.  From that pinnacle, i enjoys a panorama of northwestern Illinois, extending to southern Wisconsin in addition to across the Mississippi River Valley to Iowa.  Our adjacent halt was a flake further south, where the Casper Bluff Land in addition to Water Reserve, stretches to a higher house the eastward banking concern of the Upper Mississippi; covered past times restored prairie, oak savanna in addition to riparian woodlands, it besides harbors ceremonial mounds from the Late Woodland Period (700-1000 AD), including a thunderbird effigy mound.

Our 3rd hike of the morning time was at Galena's Gateway Park, withal nether development; roughly of the trails through this hilly, abandoned farmland were non well-maintained in addition to the walk seemed much longer than it genuinely was. On the other hand, it was a peachy expanse for birding in addition to rose-breasted grosbeaks were specially common.  Following that rather strenuous trek nosotros rewarded ourselves amongst a take in to a winery northeast of Galena; in that place nosotros indulged inwards i of its products on a shaded veranda, enjoying a pleasant persuasion of the driftless terrain.

The Rivers Of Illinois

Driving dorsum to Missouri from a marriage inwards Cincinnati, my married adult woman as well as I took the "southern route," coming across Interstate 64 from Louisville to St. Louis.  After crossing the wide Ohio River as well as undulating through the hills of the Hoosier National Forest, inwards southern Indiana, the highway enters relatively apartment terrain northward of Evansville as well as shortly crosses the Wabash River to start out its trek across south-central Illinois; surprisingly, that 150 mile segment of the Interstate alone crosses ii rivers large plenty to warrant highway signs, the Little Wabash inwards southeast Illinois as well as the Kaskaskia River inwards southwest Illinois, though a handful of creeks are also recognized.

Bordered on the due west past times the Mississippi as well as on the southward past times the Ohio, Illinois sends close all of its H2O toward the Gulf of Mexico; spell the Eastern Continental Divide passes through Chicago, canals link the Chicago as well as Calumet Rivers (which formerly emptied into Lake Michigan) amongst the Des Plaines River, which flows southward into the Illinois River, hence disrupting the Divide.  The latter river, formed past times the convergence of the Fox, Des Plaines as well as Kankakee Rivers, drains a wide swath of the State, from its northeastern corner to the St. Louis area, where it empties into the Mississippi.  Northwest Illinois is drained past times the Galena, Apple, Rock, Green as well as Edwards Rivers (north to south), all flowing westward to the Mississippi.  In west-central Illinois, the Vermillion River rises from several tributaries as well as and so flows southeastward to the Wabash (the largest northern tributary of the Ohio), spell the Kaskaskia begins its long journeying southwestward to the Mississippi as well as the Little Wabash snakes southward to the Ohio.  Finally, the Big Muddy River as well as a host of smaller streams drain the Shawnee Hills of southern as well as southeastern Illinois, most flowing toward the Ohio River, itself a massive tributary of the Mississippi.

In landscapes amongst prominent ranges or dramatic relief, it is unremarkably slowly to visualize the element watersheds; simply inwards a relatively apartment expanse of terrain (which defines most of Illinois), ane must pay unopen attending to subtle divides as well as maps to fully sympathise the regional hydrology.  Of course, the river networks of Illinois are, inwards large part, the production of glacial erosion as well as meltwater flow, acting on the underlying geology.