Scott Lake and Shelp Lake SNA contains, appropriately enough, Scott Lake and Shelp Lake.  The area around the lakes is northern mesic forest consisting of mostly hemlock with a few large red and white pines.  Near the lakes are areas with black spruce and tamaracks as well as open bog and shrub swamp.  The site is easily accessed from FR2183 and is located very close to Giant White Pine Grove and Argonne Experimental Forest.

From the parking area, a trail leads north through the forest to a boardwalk which then leads to Shelp Lake.  South of the parking area, a trail leads through the forest and around the wetland.  During this late winter visit, there was relatively little of botanical note to observe.  Ice still largely covered the lakes though the towering hemlock and pine accented the area with their deep green hues.  Of note to me, was the the sighting of my first pine siskin (Spinus pinus).  The neat thing for this bird nerd is that I thought my first pine siskin sighting was in 2015, but in going through my photographs from Scott and Shelp Lakes for this blog post, I found a few with this bird and was able to confirm the identification.  Obviously, this is a site that I would like to further explore in the spring/summer and be able to observe the bog flora at a more interesting time of the year.

Forest

Pine Siskin

Scott Lake

Shelp Lake

Labrador Tea

Boardwalk to Shelp Lake

Shelp Lake

More of my photos (and full-res) from Scott Lake & Shelp Lake can be viewed here.

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