Wetland? What Wetland? EarthCache
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Lake County is blessed with many types of wetlands thanks to the recent glaciation. Here in Wright Woods we have examples of several types including ephemeral wetlands. Please be careful moving through this area as to disturb it as little as possible. There is a lot to see from the trail, but you are allowed to go off trail in this area. The coordinates given are a starting point on the trail. You can venture in any direction depending on how wet you want to get.
Following the Wisconsin glaciation that ended approximately 10,000 years ago the land surface of Lake County has not had much time to erode. While many of the major drainages follow from north to south traveling between morainal ridges, between these individual ridges lay many minor drainages.
The Des Plaines River lies between two moraines within the Lake Border Morainic System. These moraines, like all the moraines found in Lake County, run parallel in a roughly north to south trend. These moraines developed along the side of the glacial lobe that followed a weak area in the rock below. This lobe advanced from the north and eventually left Lake Michigan behind where this weak bedrock had been.
Between the two ridges there are many smaller drainages that eventually lead to the Des Plaines, and have a very slow shallow flow. As a result areas of the county are periodically flooded and are called ephemeral wetlands. You can see water in them in the spring following the winter snow melt. These areas provide precious habitat for native wildlife. However much of the year these areas are dry and at a glance look nothing like Volo Bog or Almond Marsh.
In order to get credit for this earthcache you must provide the following:
1) In your log note if the area is currently wet and how deep the water is near the posted coordinate. An approximate depth is fine or you may attach a photo of the current conditions.
2) Email me evidence you find for native wetland plants or animals. A list of these can be found on the website for the Lake County Forest Preserve's Species database (visit link)
3) Email me what type of drainage is present here based on the following link (visit link) and give me two pieces of evidence found here to support this.
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