8.16.26 Volo Bog (eye of the bog), Ingleside, IL

You have travelled through a field filled with mushrooms

Haphazardly traversed the unsteady wetland boardwalk, where falling of spelled soaked and muddy clothes

Walked through the bizarre understory of the bog's outer holly shrubland

Admired stately Tamaracks and gaped at incredible pitcher-plants

And finally, you have reached the last area to walk through. A small inner shrub zone to walk past before you reach it

The first stage of bog succession, and last part of your journey

The eye of Volo Bog

This is just truly beautiful

Stages of volo bog succession: glaciers of the ice age advance but the tip breaks of, which then gets buried as the ice behind it bulldozes ahead.
The glaciers retreat and the buried glacier tip melts, forming a lake.
Sphagnum moss encroaches into the open water, forming a floating mat. They release acid that limits biodiversity.
Short shrubs grow on the now very thick mat of peat, dead Sphagnum moss.
Tamaracks grow on the now even thicker peat, adding new types of nutrient to the mix with the coniferous wood.
Another shrubland, taller than the first, starts to come in and thrive.
Marshland, dominated by the very adaptable Cattail, comes in after the shrubs.
Volo Bog is a perfect natural example of all the stages of bog succession, illustrated in circular bird's eye view.