A trip to the swamp, my birthday present from Bill.

 We headed south and ended up at the Cache River Wetlands area, which is a natural swamp in southern Illinois and is part of the Shawnee National Forest area. Even though it is winter it was still just beautiful. To see this swamp area frozen, was very interesting, and the best part, no ticks, mosquitoes or snakes...which would be plentiful in hot weather. We spent most of the day hiking through the different areas, saw an eagle's nest, 1000 year old cypress trees, and Heron Pond, which had a 400 ft. boardwalk extending out into the swamp area. We got lots of exercise and sunshine, what a great day. We ended the day with supper at Bandanas Restaurant in Mt Vernon. The smokey bbq they serve there is to die for! Home now having some coffee and chocolate pie...I hope you all had a great day too! Here is one of my favorite pictures from today, the frozen swamp which is Heron Pond, aren't the cypress knees interesting? I never knew what those things were until today.

Much of the wetlands were still completely frozen.

Eagle's nest, but no eagles in sight.

Behind us are two 1000 year old cypress trees. Some people took our picture, which we appreciated. However, they were there first and were trying to use the timer on their camera and the poor guy hit the timer button and then tried to run and get in the picture with his friends and he fell right in the mud...he was a good sport though, and jumped right up and said "I'm all right!"..lol..

A closer view of these ancient trees

As you can see, they are quite large.

Cypress knees. which grow from existing cypress tree roots, it's not clear what they are for, the general opinion is that they help anchor the trees in the marshy environment.

More knees, they are really odd looking.

This was just a big old oak tree.

I hope this is just a "suggestion"..lol

Part of the Cache River

nRiver cane, which is the only cane native to North America. It was everywhere, it is a form of bamboo.

A macro view of moss on a tree

Still lots of color, even in the winter.

Heron Pond, frozen, but still a beautiful swamp area, even in winter.

An interesting group of knees with moss and other plants growing on it

All of the trees were extremely tall.

Me having fun with my fish-eye lens.

A close up of the frozen swamp water.

A grove of river cane.