Heron Pond

We were navigated to Heron Pond by Connie, of Connie's Vienna Hot Dogs. This was really far out there, it took a while to get to and was way off the beaten path. To get to the pond you have to travel off the main road and down a one lane gravel road, and hope you don't meet another car on your way. I thought certainly we would be the only ones, but surprisingly there was at least 8 other cars in the parking lot. We had several options of paths to go on, we took the Heron Pond path, and walked about a mile to the pond.

 It was so beautiful the whole way, and we kept seeing patched or purple seek through the green forest...this was the cypress trees and swamp we were looking at. e finally came up on it, and it just comes out of nowhere. You walk down a dock for about a quarter mile into the swamp among the Cypress trees. I had never seen them before, some of which are the oldest trees in Illinois, over 1000 years old, and these are all located in the Cache River area. if you come back out of the swamp, and take the trail further down, you come to one of the largest trees in Illinois. It has a base of over 25 feet. you can keep going down the trail for like another 5 miles, but having a three year old we turned back there. It was exceptionally beautiful, and Id love to see it in the springtime as well as in fall. If you like things unexpected off the beaten path this is definitely a good place to visit.

From Vienna at jct. Hwys. 45 & 146, take Hwy. 45 south 5 miles to Belknap Road, then go west 1.5 miles to gravel road, then turn and go north 0.5 mile

For Further Information Contact: Site Superintendent or Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Biologist, Ferne Clyffe State Park, P.O. Box 67, Goreville, IL 62939 (618/995-2568)

Bald Knob Cross

After stuffing our faces with hot dogs at Connie's, we moved on to Bald Knob Cross in Alto Pass. It wasn't far from Anna-Jonesboro, and none of us had seen it in person. You can see the cross from quite far away, you'll see it on a hill to your left long before the road winds you around to the cross itself. It was completed in 1963, and when lit at night you can see it from 7500 square miles. It's in pretty bad shape right now but different groups have raised a large sum of money and are lobbying to get it repaired. Even as it sits, its quite spectacular. The base of the cross is made of Illinois marble and the upper portion is covered by reinforced steel porcelain panels. The cross can withstand winds of up to 150 miles per hour. It is hollow, and visitors were originally able to go to the top. This was discontinued at some point before 1982. There are several panels missing and you can see the stairs inside of it. I wish we would have been able to see it at a time when you could still travel up to the top, even just standing at the base, you can see for miles and miles, I can only imagine what it would be like from the top of it's 111 feet.

Theres a long story as of how the cross came about, but the short version is that Bald Knob is the highest point around, and a few men decided it would make prime real estate for sunrise Easter service. after several years of this and many crosses later, they decided to erect a permanent cross and got to raising money. a few miracles later, Bald Knob Cross was built. you can learn more here:
www.friendsofthecross.net