With a broad hat and a smile to match, Marge Loch-Wouters didn’t seem to mind that I was unfamiliar with several blooms we saw on one of her favorite local trails. She bent down to show me the T-Rex leaves of the prairie coreopsis and encouraged my delight in the humble harebell and pale spiked lobelia. Marge picked this trail as if choosing a good book for me—I was looking for a bit of wooded shade on a hot day but also a splash of prairie wildflowers thrown in for drama.
It didn’t surprise me to learn that Marge is a retired librarian. Her blog, “Hiking the Driftless Trails,” puts all sorts of enticing information at your fingertips, guiding visitors to find their own adventure with clear trail information for any ability level, whether you are an avid trekker or a mom needing paved paths for strollers. She shared, “Your experience is not ‘less’ because you haven’t made the climb to the top or done 20 miles.” Marge described the flat terrain of the Conservancy-protected Holland Sand Prairie as wading into “languorous prairie time, with waving oceans of bergamot and coneflower.” 
Left: Marge gets out on the trails as often as she can. (Photo by Kelly Sultzbach.) Right: To support citizen science, Marge often visits Holland Sand Prairie and documents local flora and fauna by uploading plant and insect photos to iNaturalist. (Photo by Karen Solverson)
Although her blog features a photo of her on a craggy outlook, poles joyfully aloft as if holding hands with bluff and river, she began seeking a deeper connection to nature while recovering from a serious health issue. First, she joined the Driftless Drifters hiking group, sharing in the excitement of others who could find an inky cap mushroom.
Next, she gave herself the birthday gift of a Master Naturalist course. Now, she lends her expertise to civic groups as well as blog readers. Marge explains, “Getting back to nature was healing not just my body but my spirit, too.” Her blog invites others to find that fulfillment as well.
Reading “Hiking the Driftless Trails” offers many ways to read nature from a new perspective. Want a species scavenger hunt? Check out her “I Spy” pages. Want to find
a new way to chart a lifetime of environmental learning? Model your notes on her phenological journal entries tracing years of super-blooms and temperature changes.
You don’t have to go it alone, either! There are monthly lists of exactly when and where to join group events so that you can share and learn from others. Marge’s capacious knowledge is blended with lyrical descriptions, too, which will help you see the “Goldberry-washed freshness” in a rainy day.
Marge may have gone from boots to blog, but she created a mutualistic feedback loop: you’ll want to go from blog to boots! Whether you’re a climber or an ambler, or simply want to heal a restless heart with migrating birds and a molten sunset at Sugar Creek Bluff or one of the other Conservancy nature preserves, “Hiking the Driftless Trails” makes you want to get out there again and again.
Visit her blog at https://hikingdriftlesstrails.blogspot.com/.