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)