Swiss Valley Park has many different components that appeal to a wide variety of past times. Camping, fishing, hiking, skiing, education, research, conservation, bird watching, et al; can all be found here.
As for hiking at at Swiss Valley Nature Preserve; there are many different trail available and many of them loop together to create longer; more elaborate trails. You can hike for 10 minuets or 10 hours; it is completely up to you. They offer maps of the area for those less familiar with the area looking to spend the day.
Click here for: Trail Map
On this hike I chose to walk the Forest Ecology Trail up to the Short forest loop; which is really a big circle back to the parking lot. The entire trip was about 1.5 miles and took about one hour. It was memorable to me because of 2 interesting things. The first was that as soon as I approached the crossing of the short bottom trail to hill leading to the short forest loop; all of the foot prints broke away save for one single pair of very clear foot prints in the snow with the occasional wild life print. The second was as I approached the short forest loop; 6 deer ran out and crossed the trail in front of me; and then stopped to graze not 10 meters away from where I was standing. It was worth the trip to be able to see it.
As always; please enjoy the following photos of the hike!
 |
| Catfish Creek From the Forest Ecology Trail |
 |
| Start of trail- to the right is Forest Ecology and straight down in Stream Bottom Trails |
 |
| Drainage Ditch from road into the creek |
 |
| View of the Creek from Forest Ecology Trail |
 |
| View from the Bridge going from Forest Ecology to other trails |
 |
| Bridge Crossing Creek; exiting Forest Ecology Trail |
 |
| Bird's Nest from Hill up to Short Forest Loop |
 |
| Six Deer that stropped to graze near me |
If you are interested in going to Swiss Valley or would like more information about the preserve, park or campgrounds follow the links bellow!!
http://www.mycountyparks.com/County/Dubuque/Park/Swiss-Valley-Nature-Preserve-and-Nature-Center.aspx
http://www.dubuquecounty.org/Conservation/SwissValleyPark/tabid/59/Default.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment