Going to Nature School - Guided Hikes

A friend recently sent me this meme and I had to laugh. Substitute “naturalist” for “botanists” and you have me. I am notoriously slow while hiking, looking for all the goodies nature shares on each hike in every season.

It wasn’t always like this.

When I first started hiking many decades ago, "getting there" was the point for me. Exercise and hauling out on the trails were the means and the ends. I heard the birds - but didn't hear them. I saw the flowers/fungi  - but didn't see them. I noticed geological features - but didn't notice them.

The Driftless Drifters hiking group

Joining my first hiking group after retirement introduced me to many people who hiked with an eye and ear to the surrounding forests and prairies. They identified bird songs, trees, flowers, fungi, leaves, insects and other natural phenomena. 

That slowed me down and helped me begin to put the puzzle of nature and her interconnectedness together. Hikes were no longer important for aerobics and how fast I could get somewhere but for what was on the trailsides, woods, sky and prairies. Learning to notice and identify what I saw and heard became my focus, Becoming a MN Master Naturalist volunteer jumpstarted my learning in earnest but by no means ended it.

One of the ways I have continued to strengthen my knowledge is by “going to nature school” or more simply, participating in guided or interpretive hikes. I found many opportunities for free, or reasonably priced, guided hikes offered by organizations like the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, The Prairie Enthusiasts, Iowisota Nature Education Center, Friends of the Blufflands, The Natural Resource Foundation of WI, and other local and regional nature centers, state parks, trail associations and outdoor organizations. 

Jon Rigden sharing Hixon prairies info

Each hike, led by knowledgeable naturalists, biologists, impassioned enthusiasts and scientists, has been invaluable in slowing me down and helping me understand more about nature, ecosystems, plant, fungi, bird and insect identification and geology as we have walked along. The hikes have also given me deeper insight into the history of the land and the great work that goes on to preserve, maintain and enhance these precious natural areas. It’s the best and easiest kind of hands-on learning.

Brown-belted bumblebee

Not only that, the participants in the hikes - birders, botanists, fungi-hunters, forb-pro’s, insect masters - also share their expertise as we walk along. It's a great way to learn by doing and seeing and having the luxury to ask questions and have curiosity piqued or satisfied.

The hikes are so valuable that I began my monthly Let's Get Hiking and Learning column, listing learning and guided hiking opportunities available to all of us in the Driftless area. We're fortunate to live in the MN-WI-IA tri-state area so we can take advantage of these Driftless offers. But I know that, no matter where you live, there are opportunities to learn within an hour’s drive for you.

Learning about karst sinkholes

In the interest of inspiring all of us to take a guided hike and learn even more deeply about the nature we hike through, I will be sharing some of the "nature school" hikes I've been on in coming weeks. It will give me a chance to highlight not just what these hikes are like but shine a bright light on the organizations that sponsor these hikes so you feel comfortable participating too!

Join me at "nature school" and let’s learn together. 

See you on the trails!

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters