Prairie Autumn

Prairie Center It had been rainy, cloudy, and cool for the last several days, but Sunday afternoon was a welcome break, with brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures, marred only by a strong and gusting wind. I headed south to Hillsdale Lake, bucking that stiff wind for nearly the entire journey. It was slow going, and that was just fine by me. It was a day to be savored.

The trees are not really showing it yet, but we are just on the cusp of real Autumn. I stopped at one of the public areas around the lake, parked the bike behind a line of cedars, and ventured into a stand of native tallgrass, and after a few dozen feet it was like I’d stepped into another realm. The wind was calmed, sound was muted, and all I could see was the grass that surrounded me.

Standing there for a few moments, my perceptions changed. From what had at first looked like an undifferentiated wall of grass, details began to emerge. Individual plants could be seen, in a great variety of sizes and colors. As I moved toward the verges of the grass, other species appeared. Different types of grasses: Brome, Foxtail, Sandreed, Silver Bluestem, Squirreltail, Windmill Grass, Witchgrass, and many more I can’t name. Flowers such as Azure Aster, Goldenrod, Showy Partridge Pea, Sunflower, and numerous others I don’t recognize, or that have already dried and gone to seed.

Past the tallgrass, there are sections of field corn and sunflowers planted for the wildlife. The sunflowers are all dried up, with their heads drooping and heavy with seed. The corn is also ready for a harvest that won’t come.

Monday, after a late-night rainstorm and a cool morning, the sun broke free in the afternoon, and I decided to head over to the Prairie Center, a 300-acre tallgrass preserve with trails winding through remnant and restored prairie and woodlands. I’ve lived in this area for many years, and have driven by Prairie Center many times, but had never visited. But after my brief excursion at Hillsdale, I wanted to see more, and thought this might be a good opportunity to see what Prairie Center offered.

With the weather still iffy, I drove there, rather than cycling, and parked in the small lot. I was the only one there, and slowly made my way along the gravel trail, and was soon in the grass. Like at Hillsdale, once you’re in the grassland, even following the trails, you soon feel you’re immersed in a different world.

Unlike the small stand of tallgrass I explored at Hillsdale, the prairie here was larger and more diverse, and there was more diversity of terrain as well, with a prairie-covered ridge, woods, and small ponds, with trails meandering among all these settings.

Unlike a pasture, which is usually planted in a single type of grass, the prairie here is made up of many different species, all mixed together. There are many types of grasses, flowers, and plants I could not identify. There were butterflies and grasshoppers, and several species of birds in the sky, trees, and grass. At one point I came across a fast-flowing stream, blocking the trail with the remnants of the early-morning rain, and I had to turn back and take another path.

But I didn’t mind the detour, as it was simply an opportunity to follow another trail, and witness the incredible richness of life on this little preserved bit of native prairie. It’s an awe-inspiring thought to realize that at one time this entire part of the world was covered in a nearly unbroken sea of grass, stretching from Missouri to the Rockies, from Texas up into Canada.

I can’t even describe all the things I saw here, so I’ll simply share a few pictures (which don’t do the experience justice, but are better than nothing):