An Unexpected Visitor

This morning I awoke to the sound of rodent claws scraping on metal. That was enough to get me out of bed, despite the early morning hour. It turns out a little flying squirrel had found his way down my chimney and got stuck in my room! Flying squirrels are quite prevalent in Illinois and Indiana, however few people get the chance to see them due to their nocturnal habits. I was amazed at how calm the squirrel was while I photographed him. I was able to get pretty close, as you can see below:




As cute as he was, I needed to get back to sleep. Donned in my winter coat, gloves, and headlamp, I set out to trap the little guy in a garbage can and a cardboard box. Needless to say, this did not go as smoothly as I had planned. Though calm while being photographed, as soon as I attempted to corral him into the garbage can he went buckwild. As it turns out, flying squirrels cannot fly, but they can sure jump and glide! He was climbing every wall and jumping over me, gliding to the other side of the room and hiding. I was finally able to trap him in the bathroom, which is a much more confined space. Once in the bathroom, I was able to set the garbage can down, and try to catch him with my hands. This did not work. The little guy was climbing all over me, jumping off of every surface he could. After about 10 minutes of this, he climbed up my leg, jumped to the wall, then jumped off towards the sink. Missing his mark, he fell into the garbage can and I was able to cover the top with the cardboard box. I took the can outside and released my furry little friend into the front yard. Climbing the nearest trunk, the flying squirrel paused a second to look back at me, and then disappeared up the tree.

I hope I see him another day. Just not in my room at 4:30 AM.

Crane-a-palooza!

Last week when we had a free evening, all of us Naturalists drove down to the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife area with one simple goal: To view the sandhill cranes on their migration south! As the days shorten and the cold air settles in, the sandhill cranes migrate from Canada by the thousands. On their journey south to Florida, the cranes stop to overnight in open fields and grassy areas. In addition to seeing thousands and thousands of sandhill cranes, there was one possible sighting of a whooping crane. While nobody in our group got a close look at the bird in question, the markings and coloration did match the whooping crane's. The whooping crane is North America's tallest flying bird, as well as an endangered species.


While waiting for the sun to set, I decided to fly one of our Karner blue butterfly kites in the parking lot. The Karner blue is one of Indiana's endangered species.
Atop the observation tower, Cre and B. Forist assume the "naturalist" position.
Braving the cold, we admire the flocks of cranes in the field in front of us.

All those gray spots are sandhill cranes. It turns out my camera doesn't zoom in that well... (click on the picture to enlarge)

As the sun dropped lower in the sky, a few stragglers prepare to land.
As the sun set, we wished our feathered friends a good journey south. I know I look forward to their return in the spring!

Turkey Run State Park

After a restful night, we awoke and prepared breakfast. In order to limit the amount of food waste that we created on our trip, we combined our leftover pasta with sausage, and fried everything up in some eggs. Despite sounding nasty, it was actually good. After cleaning up breakfast dishes, we broke down camp and headed to Turkey Run!

Eddy snacks on some peanuts while Pete makes coffee in the background.
Ivana, Jenna, and Cowboy wait for the fire to burn down to coals before making toast.
As you can plainly see by the expression on my face, the mystery-egg-fry is quite tasty.
Then it was off to Turkey Run. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Everyone worked up a sweat hiking across the suspension bridge and up the trail to the canyons. Once down between the sandstone walls, the temperature dropped by at least 10 degrees. Water seeped from moss-covered walls, and mirror-like pools of water on the ground reflected the grand surroundings. It was truly an awe-inspiring afternoon.








After a full day of hiking, our group returned to the Dunes tired, but happy. Refreshed and ready for our next school group.

Shades State Park

At the Learning Center, all of us Naturalists have been working quite hard. The weekends are packed, and it is not unusual to put in 12 hours of work before going home, thus the lack of blogging on my behalf. In order to help boost team morale, we went on a staff camping trip to central Indiana this weekend. It was great to get away from the Dunes for the weekend and spend some time in the outdoors without being responsible for 15 children.

Our first stop was Shades State Park. We spent the day hiking down to Sugar Creek, where we all relaxed on the banks. After spending an hour at the water, we hiked up to our campsite through a sandstone ravine. Stone walls covered in moss, lichen and ferns towered above us, while at our feet a slow trickle of water wound its way down to Sugar Creek. Back at camp, we ate dinner and told ghost stories around the campfire until midnight.

After hiking through a beautiful old growth forest, we finally arrived at Sugar Creek. I was actually surprised at the beauty and scale of the creek. To me, it looks more like a river, and several people commented that it reminded them of the movie A River Runs Through It.

Eddy, Jenna, Ivana and I skipped rocks across the water's surface. It was only after several minutes that we noticed there was a waterfall across from us. It was completely hidden by vegetation and rock outcroppings. Only the faint sound of water trickling over rocks betrayed its presence.
Jacquette ventured further down the creek only to find her way into a patch of burrs.
While the rest of us played, Abe took Mia for a walk before sitting down to enjoy the scene.
After an hour or so, it was time to return to camp to make dinner. Being naturalists, we decided to take the rugged path back, which led us up a steep ravine.
Ivana poses for me while Jenna and Eddy examine the plant life growing on the sandstone.
It turns out that the rugged trail is only navigable when the ravine is dry. Jenna shows how to properly climb the ladders that have been conveniently placed at spots where waterfalls would normally be found.

West Beach

Well, training time is quickly coming to a close and all the interns are getting antsy awaiting our first group of students, myself included. As valuable as training is, there is only so much that you can do to prepare to lead a group of students through the Dunes. Thursday is our last day of freedom before our first school arrives on Friday. I am looking forward to starting, even though I still don't feel as prepared as I would like. I figure the best way to really prepare myself is to just jump right in there with my first group!

This weekend was fairly busy, with first aide and CPR training on Saturday and Sunday. Then Monday a few of us went hiking on a few of the trails we use for school programs. Even though I have been here 3 weeks, there are so many trails that I haven't explored yet.

Today, the entire group spent the day hiking at West Beach. It was a perfect day to be outside. Despite the heavy cloud cover, the sun was shining all day, and a cool breeze from the lake kept the temperature around 65. Allow the following pictures convey what a great day it was.


After a brief hike from the parking lot, West Beach opens up at your feet.
Steel mills and industry are a constant presence in the Dunes, and can be quite an eyesore. However, today I found the steam rising into the cloudy sky somewhat beautiful.
JQ catches up on some Harry Potter while we relax on the beach.
Leaving the beach, our group climbs inland through the dunes.
Over the top of one dune, a valley retains some rainwater, creating a temporary, hidden lake.
After a tiring climb up shifting sands, it was awesome to be treated to such a view of Lake Michigan.

1000 Cranes

Here at the Dunes Learning Center, we often tell the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who lived in Hiroshima, Japan. Sadako developed leukemia after exposure to radiation from the atom bomb that was dropped near her home at the end of World War II. While she was in the hospital awaiting death, Sadako began to fold origami cranes, motivated by the Japanese belief that one who folds 1000 cranes will be granted a wish. In some versions of the story, she was able to complete her 1000th crane before dying, while in other versions she falls short of her goal.

Sadako has become an international symbol for peace and a reminder of all the children who were killed and deformed by nuclear war. People from all over the world fold cranes and send them to Japan as a symbol of goodwill and world peace.

In our house at the Dunes, my roommates and I have decided to start folding cranes in our free time to see how many we can get before our 9 months here are up. Then, next year's naturalist interns can continue from where we left off.

So far we have 9...

Training is Hard

Well, I can hardly believe that only one week has passed since I started interning at the Dunes. It seems like I have been here for a month. Last week was focused on orienting us interns to the area, the various buildings and staff, and the basic workings of a National Park. The week culminated in completing one of the 3-day programs offered through the Learning Center, giving us a view of what we will be teaching as it is experienced by the school children that come to the Dunes. At the end of the week, the other interns and I were drained. It was nice to have a 3-day weekend!

Here are some pictures of various parts of the park.