indian mounds and trail park lies on a slope overlooking lake koshkonong in jefferson county. the rock river flows thru the lake and it once looked like a meadow because of all the wild rice and other wetland plants that grew in it.

the mounds here were built somewhere between ca. 200 BCE to 1200 CE by the woodland peoples. some of the mounds are “conical,” while others, like those above and below, are effigy mounds in the shape of birds, and still others in the shape of water spirits.

it was a perfect spring day for a hike with family, and so many spring ephemerals and other flowers were out on display: mayapple, cut-leaved toothwort, virginia bluebells, and the first of the jack-in-the-pulpit, et al. i’d been looking to find cut-leaved toothwort since last spring, so this was a particularly exciting stop.

.

among the mounds, sun

breaking in. cut-leaved toothwort

low petal shower