Wauconda Bog - EarthCache EarthCache

***This is an Earthcache!!!!***

***There is no container to find and the posted coordinates will take you to the edge of the Wauconda Bog in the Lakewood Forest Preserve***

Because Wauconda Bog is an Illinois Nature Preserve, and a National Natural Landmark, you should refrain from actually entering the bog itself and remain on the Lakewood Forest Preserve Paths. Do not pick or disturb any of the plants or animals you find. More information about Illinois Nature Preserves including the rules and regulations can be found at the following link:
Illinois Nature Preserves


Lakewood Forest Preserve
Lakewood Forest Preserve is a great winter sports destination with a sled hill, an ice skating pond, and three miles of trail for cross-country skiers. Lakewood is also the largest forest preserve in Lake County, home to 17 endangered species, a bat colony, one of the best spots in the county for migratory birds, a nine-mile horse path, and, for some reason, an archive housing the largest public collection of postcards in North America. Set between two cornfields, a driveway leads to a cluster of buildings all painted white: a barn, a brick silo, a museum, and a small two-story cottage. Further out, open fields give the impression of a park atmosphere. But out along the trails — used by hikers, horseback riders, cross-country skiers, and snowmobilers — pockets of oak woodland and evergreen groves mix liberally with wetlands and open fields. Along the western edge is the Wauconda Bog Nature Preserve, designated a National Natural Landmark in 1974. Guarded naturally by poison sumac, this 67-acre bog harbors more than 100 plant species and attracts many birds. (Note: the wet, unstable soil makes trekking here problematic. Contact the Lake County Forest Preserve before visiting.) In the early to mid-1800s, this site was owned by local prairie farmers who harvested firewood and lumber. Later, in the mid-1900s, it became Lake County's largest farm, complete with livestock, orchards, gardens, and crops. In the early 1960s, it became a dairy farm and, in 1968, began to be acquired by the County.

Wauconda Bog Ecology
Wauconda Bog contains tamarack bog and marsh communities characteristic of the Morainal Section of the Northeastern Morainal Natural Division. It is a mature bog that contains no open water. It also serves as a refuge for over 100 different plants, including rare and relict species such as tamarack, orchids, yellow birch, winterberry holly and poison sumac. Wauconda can be characterized as a bog with cattails, low shrubs, and herbs alternating with tamarack, tall shrubs, and stunted deciduous trees. A large stand of common reed grows near the center of the bog. Some of the tall shrubs are poison sumac, alder buck- thorn, red osier, and winterberry. Some of the smaller shrubs are chokeberry, dwarf birch, and a number of species of shrubby willows. Deciduous angiospermous trees include soft maple, bur oak, quaking aspen, and basswood. Numerous sedges and grasses, among them blue-joint, form much of the herbaceous cover. Growing among the grasses and sedges are other herbs, a few of which are marsh marigold, purple cinquefoil, buckbean, swamp thistle, saxi-frage, and numerous asters and goldenrods. The beautiful pink ladyslipper also grows here. Hummocks of sphagnum moss grow throughout, but not so abundantly as in Volo Bog. The preserve, currently at 2,578-acres, has long attracted birdwatchers and educators, but the 67-acre bog is especially valuable to botanists because it is a source of relict pollen, preserved in layers of peat, which provides information on plant migration after the retreat of the glaciers. These unique features resulted in the bog's designation as a National Natural Landmark in 1974.

Wauconda Bog Geology
Wauconda Bog began to form about 10,000 - 12,000 years ago as the Wisconsin Glacier, which had covered much of Central North America, receded. Large blocks of ice broke away from the glacier and were buried in sand, clay, gravel and boulders left behind by the melting glacier. As the earth warmed, the blocks of ice melted, leaving depressions called kettle holes. Like Volo Bog, Wauconda Bog was once part of a large lake of which Bang's Lake is but a small remnant. However, unlike Volo, no pool of open water exists within the bog, and the old lake bed has been filled with sphagnum and sedge peat. In the cycle of development of bogs, Wauconda is an older bog than Volo. But, if the water level of Bang's Lake should rise a mere 8 feet, the surface of Wauconda Bog would be covered with water once again.
Core samples have been extracted from the peat layers contained within the bog, and they have told a vivid story of climate change in central North America during the postglacial period. Different levels of temperature and precipitation encouraged the growth of very different kinds of plant life during this period; these diverse species released large quantities of characteristic pollen, which was trapped within the layers of peat preserved here.

More information about the Lakewood Forest Preserve can be found at the following link:
Lakewood Forest Preserve

In order to log a find on this Earthcache, you will need to complete all of the items below:

• Park at N 42 15.573 W 088 06.833, and take an elevation reading at the parking coordinates.
• Proceed Southeast along the gravel drive until you reach the mowed trail that heads West into the woods. It should start right around N 42 15.544 W 088 06.916.
• Continue along the trails to the posted coordinates for this cache, and take a photo of you and/or your caching group and/or your GPSr, and post it in your log.
• Take an elevation reading at the posted coordinates, and send an e-mail to me through my geocaching profile page with the difference in your altitude measurements from both locations. Did it seem like you traveled more or less of a vertical distance?