Jeffrey Loop & Little Falls Loop

April 13, 2018

Going hiking always sounds like a good excuse to leave work early.  So despite the clouds, threat of rain, and the fact that it was Friday the 13th,  Glenn used the "going hiking" excuse at work and with our pack and pup in the car, we drove just south of Selma to hike a group of trails along the Illinois River.

Up first, the Jeffrey Pine Loop trail

We have hiked all of these trails before and they offer some great views of the river and include a wide variety of plants and flowers.  However, we didn't expect to see very many wildflowers today since the cold weather is still hanging around.  But as we started hiking the Jeffrey Pine Loop clockwise, we were soon treated to groups of Camas Lilies, Phlox and Wild Pansies.  Little did we know that this was only the beginning of the wildflower parade.

Camas

Phlox

Wild Pansy

After completing half of the Jeffrey Pine Loop, we merged onto the Little Falls connector trail that would take us to the Little Falls Loop and campground area.  Parts of the trail were very muddy and covered by water from recent rains and runoffs, but we managed to work our way along the trail. Of course these portions of trail caused no problem for Katie to navigate. Death Camas, Lemon Colored Fawn Lilies, Mule's Ear, and Iris along with more Phlox, Pansies and Camas led to many oohs and aahs as our hike continued. We even saw a few Checker Lilies - a variety of Fritillary. In some areas there were large patches of Fawn Lilies or Camas making quite the show.

Illinois River

Lemon Colored Fawn Lilies

Checker Lily

When we arrived at the campground area, we continued on to the Little Falls Loop which is around a mile in distance, about the same as the Jeffrey Pine Loop.  More wildflowers here included many appearances by Indian Paintbrush and Mule's Ear.  We also were treated to some amazing views of a very full and fast Illinois river.  So full that the Little Falls were not falls at all, just part of the river.

Mule's Ear

Little Falls on the Illinois River.  The falls normally would be visible in the lower left corner - a 4-6 ft cascade - not today!

Indian Paintbrush

Our return hike on the Little Falls connector trail gave us a second chance to see and enjoy all the wildflowers again - many that we didn't mention due to not knowing their names.  We then hiked the last half of the Jeffrey Pine Loop back to the car.  But before we left, we crossed the road and hiked up to and along the Eight Dollar Mt Botanical Boardwalk trail.  The main feature of this very short boardwalk trail is the California Pitcher Plants at the end, but they are not in season till May - June.  Still lots of other wildflowers to view along this short trail.

Our trail to the right, Katie's trail to the left.

One last trail to hike.

The California Pitcher plant area at the end of the boardwalk

So four short trails (total of 4.5 miles) with lots of wildflowers and views of a beautiful river.  Sounds like a good excuse to go hiking, and it was!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol