My first visit to the Heron Rookery trail at the Indiana Dunes National Park was auspicious for two reasons. For one it was one of the early visits to the park which sparked my passion for hiking these trails. It was also my first photo hike with my new camera, a Nikon Z6II which I had just purchased to replace my well used 8 year old D7000. So it was with much anticipation that I headed out to explore this trail with an eye towards photographing the early wildflowers.
The first image I took with my new camera, just a simple shot looking down the river just a few feet from the parking lot. The right bank of the river is a protected bird sanctuary. It was a beautiful spring day to be out.
These common blue violets were all over the trail.
Dutchman’s Breeches with early spring beauties in the background.
The forrest floor was absolutely covered with blooming wildflowers. This shot really does not do justice to the visual impact of all the blossoms going off into the distance.
It took me 4 hours to walk a 3 mile trail because there was something new to photograph every few feet like this Trout Lily.
This Trillium provides nice a nice contrast to the more plentiful False Rue Anemone.
A patch of Mayapple, when viewed from ground level looks kinda like a tropical jungle full of palm trees. Mayapples grow in tight clusters because they actually share a common root. They are also poisonous.
Snow Trillium.
One thing I was not expecting to come across was this pair of Trout swimming up stream to spawn. Their flopping and splashing caught my attention as they struggled to move past a shallow section of the river that was clogged with fallen trees.
I was absolutely fascinated by the patterns of the white chevrons on the edges of these leaves which make them quite eye catching even with out a flower.
This Dryad’s Saddle mushroom is one of my favorites.
Eastern Spring Beauties were peaking all along the trail.