26 in 2026

 

Come hike with us! In January, Jeff and I began our “26 in 2026” adventures—visiting 26 different county’s natural areas new to us this year. We finished on September 6. We eventually hope to visit natural areas in all 102 Illinois counties. Counties on the map below in purple are 2026 visits; counties in green are ones we visited for our “25 in 2025” adventures last year. Counties in blue are still anticipated. In 2026, we visited: #1 -Morrison-Rockwood State Park (Morrison, Whiteside County, IL); #2-Mississippi Palisades State Park (Savanna, Carroll County, IL); #3 Rall Woods State Natural Area (Hanover, Jo Daviess County, IL), #4 Greenlee CemeteryPrairie Nature Preserve, near Cambridge, IL (Henry County); #5 Black Hawk Forest Nature Preserve, Rock Island, IL (Rock Island County); #6 Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, Hennepin, IL (Putnam County); #7 Doris L. Westfall Nature Preserve, Forest Glen Preserve, near Westville, IL (Vermilion County); #8 Shortline Railroad Prairie, Gifford, IL (Champaign County); #9 Banner Marsh Fish & Wildlife Area, Canton, IL (Fulton County); #10 Rock Island Railroad Trail Prairie Preserve, near Princeton, IL (Peoria County); #11 Rock Island Railroad Trail (near Princeton, Stark County); #12 Upper Embarras Woods Nature Preserve, Walnut State Park, Oakland, IL (Douglas County); #13 Warbler Ridge, Charleston, IL (Coles County); #14 Baber Woods Nature Preserve Kansas, IL (Edgar County); #15 American Beech Woods Nature Preserve, Lincoln Trail State Park, Marshall, IL (Clark County); #16 Crawford County Forest Preserve, Robinson, IL (Crawford County); #17 Prairie Ridge State Natural Area, Newton, IL (Jasper County) (with bonus Robert Ridgway Natural Area); #18 Shepard Prairie, Knox College Green Acres Research Station, Victoria, IL (Knox County); #19 Brownlee Cemetery Prairie, Alexia, IL (Mercer County); #20 Spring Grove Cemetery Prairie, Monmouth, IL (Warren County); #21 Harry N. Patterson Savanna, Oquawka, IL (Henderson County); #22 Argyle Hollow Barrens, near Colchester, IL (McDonough County); #23 Geissler Savanna/Samuel Barnum Mead Savanna, near West Point, IL (Hancock County); #24 Weinberg King State Park, Augusta, IL (Schulyer County); #25 Siloam Springs State Park, Clayton, IL (Brown County) Thank you for following our hikes this year! We’re looking forward to more fun as we continue to hike!