Up a crick, Lime Crick that is

Or "creek," I guess, since I'm in northern Iowa right now and they sure do talk funny up here sometimes. Lime Creek Nature Center, to be exact, one of the stars in Cerro Gordo County's crown.

And this was a great morning to take a long walk out at the center, blessed with miles and miles of trails through all sorts of Midwest terrain --- prairie, savannah, woodland and down at the base of bluffs studded with limestone outcrops along the Winnebago River, once called Lime Creek and therefore the source of the nature center's name.

This was the week of a great Mason City City Council train wreck --- one of the worst I've seen during many years of either covering city council meetings here and there or editing others' reports of them. Yikes.

But a good brisk walk at the nature center was one way to remind ourselves of what a great place Mason City is to live --- despite City Council and even though it's not southern Iowa and can't quite overcome that deficit.

The photo up top is of nature center headquarters, which contains many informative displays and window-walled rooms that especially in winter are prime bird-watching venues.

Of course like much of "wild" Iowa there's not that much wild about it. Mankind of the European variety has been out here on these bluffs just north of Mason City since the 1850s, so it's been timbered, quarried, milled and brewed for more than 150 years. This was the site of Masonic Grove, where Mason City's first settlers landed so traces of humanity are everywhere, especially in the "badlands" where the devastating effect of large-scale quarrying are clearly evident. And most of the old growth here is second growth. Still nature is wonderously equipped to repair itself.

Theses are the remains of an old brewery, active until Prohibition shifted business away from legal brewers to bootleggers. The is the entrance to the cellar where beer was aged.

The little guy (or gal) at left up on the prairie was one of hundreds of birds, colorful and otherwise, nesting, getting ready to nest and singing up a storm in the process. Friends of mine who are bird watchers tell me that the Nature Center is one of the best places in North Iowa to pursue that avocation.

The layout of the trails at Lime Creek is especially good for hikers since most are loops --- in other words you really never need to repeat yourself to get back where you came from. Due north of headquarters is a broad expanse of prairie fringed by woods on the north and east. Savannah opens to the west. Immediately north of the savannah is an area test-planted to broad fields of various native grasses. To the northwest, a long loop around a quarry lake. East and north of the grass plantings is more woods, then the "badlands," a spooky area gradually being reclaimed after extensive quarrying. Woods and trails along the river run all along the east side of the center and continue south into Mason City where you can connect up with the city's own trail system if you're a really enthusiastic walker.



These limestone outcrops are along the river trail, never more than a few feet from the Winnebago River itself, running high this spring because of all the moisture we've had.



And finally, the wildflowers --- mayapples, bluebells and more.







So it was a great way to start the day and, by the way, if those good old boys on City Council decide they don't want that $9 million Vision Iowa grant they were squabbling about the other night --- I'm sure there are lots of folks in southern Iowa who'd be delighted to step in and take it off their hands.

And finally, isn't this a great way to be remembered? Lots of these sturdy benches have been placed along the Lime Creek trails, sometimes with unexpected results. Tim's daughter, Judy, told me the other day that she'd gotten a call from one of her dad's old friends who for one reason or another hand't heard of Tim's death --- until he happened upon this bench, located just where the prairie ends and the wooded descent to the river begins.