Deer Grove Redux

Deer Grove Forest Preserve is Cook County's first and oldest preserve at over 90 years of age, and for nearly 20 years it served as my main locale for hiking and biking until moving 2 years ago. Today I revisited my old friend, doing 12 miles on the mountain bike/equestrian trails.



What used to be lovely dirt surface, often single track with rocks and roots and ruts and downed trees to prevent inattention, has now been "citified" (above) so it more closely resembles Rockefeller's carriage trails in Acadia National Park in Maine. Fortunately, a few segments still are single track (below).





Over the 75 minutes I was riding, I only encountered a pair of walkers, 2 solo runners, and several deer (this one as curious about me as I was about her)



but the majority of the inhabitants of the woods today were the 17 year cicadas -- tens of thousands of which now inhabit the treetops -- and the deafening din they are emitting to attract mates was like an amplified symphony of cacophonous tunes. It was wonderful! And soon their brief lives will expire and the birds and other wildlife will gorge themselves on the protein-rich carcasses.



Above is the "shell" they abandon and which will add nutrients to bellies and soil, and below are 2 cicadas I found going at it on the trail -- completely oblivious of me.