Winter 1998

Best woodlands in McHenry County, check out the wetlands, trails, nature center

McHenry County, Illinois

Moraine Hills State Park is well named. Glacial moraines, hills left by the Wisconsonian glacier about 12,000 years ago, dominate the landscape. But the glacier's retreat also created a variety of wetlands. This beautiful 1,700-acre park in eastern McHenry County offers visitors a hands-on encounter with glacial topography as well as many recreational opportunities. The moraine's soil is gravelly and doesn't hold much water, conditions favored by the oak-hickory forest that grows there. A 1995 study by Marlin Bowles of the Morton Arboretum found Moraine Hills to be the best woodland of its type — dominated by red oak, with a gravel substrate — in Illinois, based on factors like diversity and understory. The endangered pinweed and the threatened pale vetchling also grow on the moraines; many deer forage beneath the canopy of trees.

But the park is more than its hills; wetlands give the area added biodiversity. Rare orchids and ladyslippers grow in many areas, and Leatherleaf Bog, a dedicated Nature Preserve, features a floating mat of sphagnum moss and leatherleaf.

Many of the wetlands are kettles, formed when chunks of ice lodged beneath the glacial till and later melted. The 48-acre Lake Defiance is slowly filling up with peat, a regular stage in the life of glacial wetlands. A melting piece of the glacier also formed Pike Marsh (another Nature Preserve) which is farther along in the natural process of filling in. Cattails and bulrushes grow in the interior, while the outer fen is home to Ohio goldenrod and Kalm's lobelia.

The wide range of plants attracts a similarly broad variety of birds. In winter you may find red-bellied woodpeckers, Cooper's hawks, nuthatches, great horned owls, and an occasional northern shrike. Many migrating birds stop over here, including rare black terns, sandhill cranes, least bitterns, and pied-billed grebes.

Migrating birds are especially attracted to Black Tern Marsh near the Fox River. The marsh's water levels and conditions are monitored and controlled to keep the marsh half open water and half emerging vegetation, conditions many birds find ideal for nesting.

At the park office, a recently opened nature center has excellent displays illustrating the natural and human history of the area. Outside, more than 10 miles of trails wind over the moraines and along the wetlands.

Hiking is great year round, and Moraine Hills is one of the area's best sites for cross-country skiing (rentals are available). Boardwalk paths skirt the edges of some of the wetlands. Unfortunately, one of the best boardwalks, through Pike Marsh, is closed for rehabilitation; it will reopen later this year.

Hardy fishermen can cut through the ice on Lake Defiance to angle for large northern pike. As spring approaches, the broken ice of the Fox River in the southern section of the park is a great spot to catch walleye.

— Chris Larson