A HIDDEN GEM

White Pine Hollow Preserve, Iowa

One of the hidden gems in the landscape of the driftless area here is White Pine Hollow State Preserve near the little town of Luxemburg, Iowa. You can’t drive in and I recommend some solid hiking boots if you like to explore this area. Except for the hollow that leads down to the bottom of the canyon there are no trails and some sense of direction is recommended. If you don’t mind a hike through washed out and rocky terrain and can master a couple of small river crossings, you will be rewarded with tranquility and the beauty of nature. And now, during these unusual times, it is a place where social distancing is easy to maintain. We hiked yesterday for 3 1/2 hours and didn’t see a single soul. Well, have a look what we found…

Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale)

Big patches of Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum)

Round-lobed Hepatica (Anemone americana)

ON THE OLD RAILROAD PATH

Heritage Trail, old railroad path near Durango, Iowa

Another picture from yesterday’s walk on the Heritage Trail in the Little Maquoketa River Valley. The photo from my last blog post was made way in the back behind the couple on bicycles, on the bridge that crosses the river. In the old days when the railroads were built they tried to keep the tracks as straight as possible and blasted away some of the rocks and bluffs that were shaped by the river a long time ago. These hollows make some nice and shady spots on the trail that have a micro climate and can be interesting for finding plants, birds, and critters.

As mentioned in my last blog post, I tried out a new GND filter and even in a situation like this it helps to manage the high dynamic range of the scene.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Breakthrough 2-stop X4 GND filter