Day 1: Saturday August 18, 2018
Planning a trip for Kaitee & I was easy. Not so much for Alex.
Ideas came in and out of my mind, in the end I had about 5 different ideas with nothing definitive. So, instead of surprising her (as I did with Kaitee), I asked her what she would prefer.
"Not much driving." and "perhaps hiking."
All righty then, Turkey Run State Park for the win. Turkey Run is a beautiful park just over the Indiana state line -- just under a 4 hour drive with beautiful trails. Bonus: I've wanted to go for years, but never have. So, it would be a new experience for the both of us.
We drove down, stopped for lunch at Arby's along the way and then ran into a local grocery store to stock up for our lunches for the next couple of days. We bought some freshly sliced ham, Colby-jack, and croissants. We also grabbed some yummy lemon bread for our breakfast for the next couple of days.
Well stocked with food, we checked into the hotel (put the meat & cheese in the fridge), and headed to Turkey Run to hit the trails.
Look at how good (and dry) I look here before we officially hit the trail.
After grabbing a quick letterbox, we headed through "Box Canyon." I posted a map of our hike further down on this post, so you can glance and see where some of these landmarks are.
Notice the spider web. This would be a "theme" for all of the trails we hit. Must be the season.
Below is the staircase that led us up into "Box Canyon."
Found some graffiti . . . here's a Hart pointing out a heart.
There were incredible rock formations and rock walls. We loved seeing how trees adapted to their surroundings and grew in seemingly impossible ways.
Below is the entrance to "Gypsy Gulch," which was probably our favorite part of today's hike. We walked under a huge rock ledge to enter the Gulch.
After the entrance, we found sheer rock walls, and rugged rock piles.
We walked the semi-circle of sheer cliffs to find a mini waterfall that rained down on our heads. Yes, the trail went right underneath the drizzle, and the footing was uneven so you had to concentration on your footing while getting rained on. We both had a good laugh as we went under.
We weren't sure whether to be creeped out or in awe of this head growing out of a tree. I nicknamed him, "Sloth." His gaze followed us as we walked by.
A fallen tree, with all it's branches still intact.
We walked to, and across the Lusk Earth Fill (no pics), and to the Narrows Covered Bridge, where we had a nice overlook to Sugar Creek below. There were a lot of people enjoying the creek with kayaks, canoes, floats, swimmers. Alex and I talked about doing something on the river (renting a canoe), but opted not to, due to the large number of people.
After we crossed the Narrows Covered Bridge, we turned back toward the Suspension Bridge, our starting and ending point for the day. We saw some fantastic rock walls on the way back.
An early sign of fall.
We made it to the Coal Mine...now barricaded off to hikers, but open enough for the hundreds/thousands of bats to get in and out of. There were signs nearby informing hikers of the bat population in the park.
Aside from spiderwebs, another theme for the day seemed to be fungi. We saw some colorful fungi (remember the first pictures of the trail I posted above).
We made it back to the Suspension Bridge. We had to walk under the rock on the right of this picture and up some stairs to reach it.
We discussed continuing on another trail or heading back. It's hard to calculate how far we walked, as most the trails, at some point or another, overlap each other. We figured we had hiked about 4 miles, and of that there was plenty of ups and downs. Rocky and uneven terrain.
If we carried on, we would have to hike at least 50% of what we had just done. It was a hot, humid, sticky day. So we decided to pull the plug on the hiking and check into the hotel and find some dinner.
We ended up at Pizza Hut, and neither of us had enjoyed pizza as much as we enjoyed our pizza that night.
We left the laptop at home (and I don't have a smart phone), so when we got back to the hotel we got on the computer in the lobby and Googled images of what we were going to see tomorrow. We had the park map with us, and we were figuring out our game plan in regards to how we were going to tackle the trails.
We wanted to hit the loop with the ladders from the bottom and climb up...we also wanted to hike "Falls Canyon" and "Boulder Canyon" -- I know from experience that it would be better to hike *up* these canyons, as opposed to hiking *down* -- it's much easier.
The only way we could do this involved us hiking the "140 Steps" TWICE -- once going up, once going down. We could have walked along Sugar Creek to the two Canyons...but we would miss the ladders.
So, our best option would be the longer "280 Steps" way.
You can see a map just below with both days of hiking. Day 1 = Blue & Day 2 = Red.
Day 2: Sunday August 19, 2018
We packed the same lunch today as we had yesterday. There is a 13 year old letterbox that I REALLY wanted to find on today's hike. So, I would be sporting my backpack, which weighed a lot -- thanks to 4 bottles of water. It was a full and heavy pack.
I'll share this now, as to not give any spoilers; today was a much more grueling day of hiking. The ups were much steeper and uneven. The downs were equally steep with uneven and large steps down. The day seemed hotter than yesterday, certainly muggier.
This day was difficult enough to begin with, but my letterboxing backpack weighed me down all the more...the only thing that would redeem the strenuousness of carrying my backpack, would be finding such an old box, planted by a letterbox legend.
With rejuvenation in my steps, we got to the point on the trail the box was near. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!! This was it.
I slipped my pack off, opened it up to grab the Clue Sheet that would pinpoint the boxes hidden abode.
I moved our sandwiches out of the way...hmmm, expected to see the clue sheets, but didn't see them. I looked behind my logbook. Oh my!! Panic. I tore through my backpack . . . checked every pocket. No avail. Nothing.
I had read the clues, weeks ago, when I first printed them. Alex and I poked around a bit...based on my vague memories. Nothing. :-(
We moved on. Having not found the box, there was basically no purpose to my heavy backpack. I could have gone with a slimmer, lighter weight...well, one that just made more sense.
This was the biggest disappointment of the weekend...first world problems.
Trust me, though I was disappointed, it did not take away from my day with Alex. She was my main reason. She made my day and my weekend. I sloughed off not locating my Clue Sheet and never gave it another word. Alex and I hiked off and had a great day together.
Alex and I decided (the night before), that we wanted to get an early start to the day. We wanted to beat the crowds of people we saw mid-day yesterday. The Suspension Bridge...the main access to most of the trails. We were the only people there as the morning sun lit up the valley.
Below is "Crevice Rock," taken from the Suspension Bridge. After crossing the Suspension Bridge we turned left (the end of yesterdays hike we came in from the right)...you can see the trail/walkway that goes behind Crevice Rock.
Above: picture of the Suspension Bridge from Crevice Rock. Below are the stairs that go up behind Crevice Rock...then the trail descends past the "Ice Box." We didn't go down into the Ice Box, primarily to the steepness and dampness of the trail that really didn't have any stairs. We didn't want to get muddy and/or stuck down there. We could feel the coolness wafting up to us, nature's own air conditioning.
How about the following picture...it looks like a sun beam bending through the forest with a few flares of rainbow in the lower left corner.
Entering the canyon that would lead us to the ladders. We wanted to hit these first -- hopefully beat everyone else so we can get good pictures.
Mission Accomplished.
There are two ladders. Everything was wet and damp...and the rungs of the ladders show the wear indicating where thousands of people have placed their hands and feet over many many years.
I asked Alex to wait at the bottom, and I climbed to the top to get pictures of her as she climbed. Before I gave her the green light to head up, I was mesmerized by the steps carved out of the rock by the CCC in the 1930's.
We took our time here. We had the place to ourselves. We went up and down and got plenty of pictures from all different angles.
After we left The Ladders, our next challenge was the "140 steps." The overgrowth was pushing in on both sides of the path. Of course, this would be where we would encounter the first fellow hiker of the day -- going down as we were heading up.
We took our time, conserving our energy, one step at a time. Stopped to enjoy a butterfly, and the dew that glistened from the vegetation beside us.
Alex carried the camera for most of our time out on the trails. You may find this surprising, but she is a bit quicker than I am out on the trails.
She was in front of me for much of our hikes...and she seemed to love to snap pictures of me just as I would duck under a branch, or when I would stop to pant for air -- I would be unaware a picture was being taken until I would hear the "Click" of the camera...followed by a maniacal laugh.
The entrance to Falls Canyon. The ladders were a blast...but I equally enjoyed this canyon. A few spots our feet were on the right or left, and we would lean across and put our hands on the opposite wall and we would inch our way past various puddles and obstacles.
Other places we had to balance our way down a fallen tree, or duck under a branch.
Thanks, Alex ...
If you are wondering how "Boulder Canyon" got its name, I present the following couple of photos.
Yes, the trail bobbed and weaved up the jumbled pile of boulders.
After we got to the top, and exited Boulder Canyon, we made the long hike that took us along parts of trail #'s 9, 5, and 3. Including, hiking down the 140 Steps, past the ladders and on towards the "Punch Bowl."
We stopped to eat our sandwiches before we descended to the Punch Bowl.
You can see the stairs above and behind the cascading stream. We came down those stairs, and then walked through this trickling brook to the Punch Bowl. We loved every minute of this portion of the hike.
We reached the Punch Bowl.
After we left the Punch Bowl, we started back toward the Suspension Bridge. After looking at pictures online the night before, I was really looking forward to the trail that leaves the Punch Bowl.
The trail skirts along the wall of the canyon on a ledge that was probably 3-5 feet above the canyon floor. The trail, carved back in the 1930's, has been walked smooth over the decades. As you descend from the ledge, you have to put your feet where the rock has been scooped out for footholds. Some of the scoops where just barely large enough for my foot, and they were wet and smooth. Alex had no problem, and I'm glad I didn't slip.
Looking back from where we just came from.
As we neared "Wedge Rock" we spotted tadpoles in the stream. We rested for a while in the cool shade.
After Wedge Rock it was a short walk back to the Suspension Bridge. You can say I was a bit tired...and wet. Gross. Time to get me to a shower!!
After getting back to the van, I slid my backpack off my sweat soaked back and opened the side door...there, on the seat, were the Clue Sheets to the letterbox that I had wanted to find. *sigh*
Day 3: Monday August 27, 2018
Saturday evening, while checking the web site planning out our hike for yesterday, I noticed that there was horse back riding in the park. I asked Alex if that was something she would like to do, of course she said, "yes!!"
We planned to do it on Monday morning, as we would have to hit the road and be home at a decent time ("Unpack Your Backpack" night at school), and we didn't want to get all sweating from more hiking. So Monday morning worked well.
We planned on it, the first rides were scheduled for 9:00 am, and we drove by yesterday and saw a HUGE amount of people riding and waiting to ride (it was a nice weekend). Worried there might be a bunch of people who wanted to ride again, we arrived an hour early.
We were the first ones there. We waited...and waited. No workers showed up. Hmmm, I would think the workers would be here by now.
Finally, at about 9:15, a High School aged girl showed up. We walked up to her and found out that she was, indeed, the employee. We said that we would like to go for a ride. She told us that it would be about an hour before she got the horses fed and saddled. She took down our name.
Hmmm. Alex wasn't impressed, "if I worked here, and knew it would take an hour to get the horses ready, I would have been here an hour ago." I agreed. We decided to drive around the perimeter of Turkey Run State Park...we first stopped at the Lusk homestead. We didn't make any other stops, but did some drive-by sightseeing.
When we got back, several horses were tied up and saddled. Alex told me that my horse was the black & white one standing closest to the stable. Hardy-Har-Har.
The young lady (sorry, I don't remember her name), helped Alex up in the saddle. As she worked diligently to get us situated, she commented that she hoped that the storms heading our way would hold off, "but it doesn't look good." She added, "We can't be out on the trail if it's storming."
I withheld commenting about her tardiness.
Some how, Alex and I didn't notice the storm clouds gathering while we were out driving. The young lady came over to load me onto my horse.
I guess this is a good time to mention, the last time I was on a horse, it was attached to a metal merry-go-round-type device. That's right, I was like 5 years old riding a pony. I didn't let on, but I was a bit nervous.
The young lady -- lets just call her Emily -- ended up being super competent. We found out how she has 2 part time jobs, putting herself through school, helps out with her elderly grandmother. She worked for her Dad, and by the age of 11 saved up enough money to buy her own horse. She desired to graduate early, and go to college to study equine dentistry. She was only a couple of years older than Alex, and sounds like the two of them have similar drives.
At one point, she asked if I wanted her to take my camera and take some pictures of Alex and I riding. I handed off my camera mid-stride. She snapped off a few pictures, from a moving horse. All the pics turned out blurry. However, all the pictures I took from horseback also turned out blurry . . . taking pictures from the back of a moving horse is pretty much impossible.
The ride was just over an hour long. Emily & Alex chatted most of the way. Emily asked a lot of good questions - and Alex gave a lot of good answers. Mostly about what she wanted to do, to be, why she liked horses, etc.
Well, the storm caught up to us when we were still about 15-20 minutes away from the stable. The rain started coming down harder. I asked Emily if we would be able to ride the horses straight into the barn and dismount inside. She said that she really didn't want to do that, it would be safer outside, but if the rain came down any harder we would go ahead and ride inside.
For the most part, the tree canopy kept us dry, but the last 100-200 yards were out from under the trees -- and we got drenched. Emily looked back and said, "we're going inside."
Emily is in front of Alex in the picture below, we had to duck to get inside -- or else we would have been automatically ripped off the back of our horse by the head jamb.
After dismounting in the dry of the barn, we thanked Emily and made a run for our van.
We headed home, stopping only for a late lunch at Texas Roadhouse.
I love you, Alex. I'm sorry for the tardiness of writing up this post. I'm proud of you, and look forward to seeing all that God has in store for you during your High School years.
