I’ve always been more of a woods or meadow hiker—probably because of the types of songbirds those areas attract—but this year I fell completely in love with prairies.
My friend and I have a favorite hiking place that includes meadows, woods and a prairie all in one hike. But this year that place was impossible to get to because the county road is undergoing a complete rebuild that won’t be finished until late September. By early July, I was itching to find a new place to see the blooming wildflowers.
We found two new places. One is on the outskirts of an adjoining city just a few minutes away from our homes, and the other is 45 minutes away in a nature preserve. I’ve been to one or the other almost every weekend in July and August. I just can’t get enough of the beautiful views of wildflowers, the bright blue skies with puffy white clouds, and all the birds, bees, butterflies and other critters that make the prairie their home.
I will say that prairie hiking is not much fun in heat and humidity unless you get there really early in the morning, but thankfully we’ve had some nice mild days on the weekends this summer.
