Animal Tracks & Scat Hike at Honey Creek State Park

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The resort and nature center at Honey Creek State Park offer free activities throughout the day, including hikes, ice fishing, campfire stories, and crafts. We signed up for the animal tracks and scat hike. It started at the nature center, so we hung out there for a bit and checked out some of the animals until it was time to set out for the guided hike.

Our guide asked the kids what scat means. Oliver proudly declared that it's animal poop. The children were all fascinated with the rabbit scat that the guide spotted at the start of the hike, and they shrieked with horror when he told them rabbits eat their own poop to digest it twice. He then spotted a pellet on the ground that seemed to be made up of a partially digested mouse and some bones. Oliver thought it was owl scat (that's what I thought, too!). We learned that it was probably from a coyote because it was too big to be from an owl.

Much of the grasses and reeds we passed were invasive species, and so there is a scheduled burn of the area in a couple weeks. Our guide talked about how the local mushrooms thrive after these burns, and he said this area is the ideal place for morel hunting. People in Iowa sure seem to like their morels! One year, we'll have to try hunting for morels and finally get to try some. Be careful of false morels!

Along the way, we passed some hives with active honeybees. One bee got stuck in a kid's hair, and the poor kid got stung. Not far from there, we saw a few oriole nests hanging from a tree. In addition to grasses, they were also made from green string. We learned that orioles will use just about anything to make a nest, and they've been known to get tangled in fishing line (so don't litter!). Down by a pond, we heard some rustling. I was the first to spot a deer when it emerged from the woods. There were two does, neither of which seemed to be afraid of us. We investigated their tracks after they left. Our guide explained that the legs of deer who have given birth are wide-set. They don't walk on their own tracks, whereas bucks and young does will walk on top of their own tracks because their legs are closer together.

Our hike lasted about an hour. We didn't go too far, and we backtracked from where we came. There are many more miles of paved and unpaved trails around the park, which will be fun to explore more when the kids are bigger! Here is the link to information on Honey Creek State Park, including trail maps: IowaDNR

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Photos

Honey Creek Activity Building
It's unseasonably warm outside, but Oliver was a little chilly until we got out into the sun. Behind him is the activity building and nature center, where a lot of activities are held during the day.

Hiking Down to a Pond
We heard some rustling in the bushes and spotted some deer.