Volo Bog

Six thousand years ago,
a) My grandmother painstakingly composed a snapshot of me facing pure sunlight, nearly blinding me
b) A candy bar was made, one that I found last night under my bed that I inhaled without hesitation
c) I spearheaded a pilot study to domesticate cats, while bitching about the nickname “Tiger King”
d) Volo Bog as we know it started to form

Something I learned from that photo was that a camera can effectively record the heat and humidity of deep summer. Blazing sunlight, mountainous cumulus clouds, vibrant colors, and context can stunningly capture steam and stress.

With a map in hand, and signs along the way, trails of sweat crossed paths with circles of blood. It was subtropical and we were being eaten alive. No one gets out of here alive unless everyone stays on the path, doesn’t touch anything and keeps moving.

Scroll down to see more photos and read more about Volo Bog.

“Before today, I didn’t know what a bog was. Volo Bog is huge. My favorite part is the floating boardwalk. The Tamarack View Trail is a little hard when it’s hot but also a lot of fun!”

Ninety was the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. The dew point was high. Twenty or so was the number of mosquito bites on me. At Volo Bog, where the present day reflects 6,000 years ago, insect repellent is a pilot study.

My first visit to Volo Bog was during my college years, when Volo Bog looked great! And was less filling! It’s still the same, but changing slowly. The open “eye” of the southernmost quaking bog in North America is filling in little by little. An entangled, massive community of peat grows from the bottom up and top down. Eventually this will overtake open water and naturally terraform the center of Volo Bog into developing land.

Thousands of years ago, the open water of Volo Bog stretched much greater than today. The floating substrate has gradually been forming an expanding shrub zone of poison sumac (do not touch!) and leatherleaf. Adjacent to this zone is a tamarack forest, the next step in the natural land progression of Volo Bog. All around this forest is another, more developed shrub community that sharply ends at a rolling marsh/sedge meadow.

Some strong advice from the tour guide of my first visit: stay on the path to and from the open “eye” of the bog. There are no hand railings on the walkway, and the floating boardwalk can be unsettling at first. One misstep and it could be the end.

Think of quicksand. Beneath the open water, lies fifty feet of peat. And thick peat rims the open water for a spell. Stay on the path.

“The 10-minute video that explains how Volo Bog will naturally terraform into land is fascinating. Walking through the Tamarack View Trail shows all the different zones. Seeing the ‘eye’ is incredible!”

We walked the Volo Bog Interpretive Trail to the center of Volo Bog. This was a self-guided tour with our map and my memories of my first visit. The 10-minute video at the Visitor Center introduced us to bogs, outlined the known history of Volo Bog, and defined points of interest.

Predictably, there were few visitors on such a day. This was perfect for photos and deep immersion in this subtropical state of mind. The fixed walkway gave way to a floating boardwalk that shimmied on black water. No handrails were present except for some railing at the observation platform on the “eye.” There was some information posted about the open water and the bog itself. Everything was safe and well maintained.

A camera can effectively record a sizzling summer day, but it cannot capture the feeling of being small in the vastness of nature. We stood and took it all in, painting a memory of us as a tiny part of the landscape.

After we went full circle, we walked past the Visitor Center to start hiking the Tamarack View Trail. This was a surprisingly diverse and challenging trail. Walking through the zones kept us on our toes even as our shoulders started to slump in the hazy dapple of deep woods and blinding sun soaked meadows. We walked through tall reeds and cattails higher than our heads, felt a respite on cool grassy paths, watched blue herons spread their wings, doubted if we were going to make it back, then felt relief and joy as we completed the entire trail.

“My first time at Volo Bog was after I returned from a vacation in Florida. It was August then like it is now—sunny, hot, humid, lush, and subtropical. Standing in the middle of tall reeds and cattails on the floating boardwalk, I feel like I’m in another place!”

I asked everyone for their thoughts. My mom: “Before today, I didn’t know what a bog was. Volo Bog is huge. My favorite part is the floating boardwalk. The Tamarack View Trail is a little hard when it’s hot but also a lot of fun!” Lisa: “The 10-minute video that explains how Volo Bog will naturally terraform into land is fascinating. Walking through the Tamarack View Trail shows all the different zones. Seeing the ‘eye’ is incredible!” And me: “My first time at Volo Bog was after I returned from a vacation in Florida. It was August then like it is now—sunny, hot, humid, lush, and subtropical. Standing in the middle of tall reeds and cattails on the floating boardwalk, I feel like I’m in another place!”

Looking back, we traveled over dirt, gravel, grass, and sand, tread lightly and touched nothing as we stayed on the fixed walkway and floating boardwalk, and we even ducked our heads or high stepped thanks to a couple fallen trees. Everyone’s favorite moment was seeing the “eye,” but what really made the experience more memorable than a photo was seeing ourselves in our mind’s eye, so small on such a large canvas of space and time.

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To learn more and plan your visit to Volo Bog, click Volo Bog State Natural Area

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To experience a dynamic presentation of Volo Bog, click on the link to my Adobe Express photoblog at Adobe Express – Volo Bog

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