GOOD WALK UNSPOILED
I’m a serious walker, so I see bicyclists as a subspecies of Satanists. But after hiking 13 miles Monday on the I&M Canal State Trail, I should beg the Almighty for forgiveness.
Of the nearly 100 cyclists who zoomed past, only one came silently close enough to raise the hair on my arms. Others were unfailingly polite, saying, ‘‘On your left,’’ or, ‘‘Hello,’’ as they barreled on.
As a serious walker, I love the Triple Crown Challenge, devised by the Forest Preserve District of Will County, to hike the three longest trails in the county — the 22-mile Wauponsee Glacial Trail, the 14-mile Old Plank Road Trail and the 13-mile I&M — before June 30. It’s modeled on the Triple Crown of hiking in the United States: the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide and the Pacific Crest Trail.
As I started at McKinley Woods in Channahon, a guy fished with corn and caught bullheads. I saw only one other angler, a young man fishing for bluegills at the Bridge Street access.
The first mammal I saw was a groundhog, a blubbery waddler. Other mammals were chipmunks, a fox squirrel, a gray squirrel, a rabbit, three deer and a muskrat. I smelled a skunk but didn’t see it.
Because the I&M trail is mostly crushed limestone, I wore my favorite walking shoes. I took a knapsack with moleskin, water, lunch, snacks, a collapsible rain hoodie, a baseball cap, insect repellent, a portable phone charger, a notebook, duct tape and sunscreen.
I quickly walked into a surprising stillness.
I saw my first Baltimore oriole of the year within minutes. Other birds I saw or heard were Canada geese, mallards, a wood duck, a cormorant, crows, swallows, a gray catbird, great blue herons, egrets, robins, grackles, house sparrows and a red-bellied woodpecker.
I saw no monarchs, but a bumblebee worked common milkweed. Other insects included dragonflies, damselflies, red admiral butterflies and other moths and butterflies.
Multiple bullfrogs and frogs I couldn’t identify croaked. Other amphibians/reptiles included a northern watersnake and turtles sliding into the water.
There were a multitude of mulberries.
Blooming natives were sparse, mainly trefoil and fleabane. Water lilies were intense in both the Des Plaines and the canal. Lots of poison hemlock grew in the eastern miles. Plenty of non-natives and invasives bloomed.
The I&M, completed in 1848, opened a connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. It was closed to navigation in 1933.
I saw cyclists from beginning to end but only four hikers. Apparently, cyclists won the soul of the outdoors.
I most enjoyed seeing a mulberrypicking boy with his grandparents find the watersnake and a doe drinking by the canal near the constant rumble of I-55.
I finished at 6:20 p.m. at the Brandon Road access, where I met my wife.
It was time.
Even with lollygagging for lunch, photos and bird-watching, I averaged 2.14 mph.
For details about the challenge, go to reconnectwithnature.org/triple-crownchallenge. A long-form column is at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors.
Stray cast
Following the Sox is the antithesis of hiking the I&M.