What I saw - Indiana scenic places

Wedge Rock - This huge rock fell into the ravine from the top of the ravine. The
 trees give help with the size of the rock and the time that the rock has been
resting at its current location.

Punch Bowl - This place shows the work of the erosion of the rock

In Western Indiana the Sugar Creek area near Crawfordsville was once under a sea.  Layers of sand at the bottom of the sea were compressed to become sandstone.  This is now named the Mansfield sandstone. The coal that is found in the area was laid down during the time that the sea was gone but marshes covered the area.  After that time the area was covered with ice.  Rock brought with the ice is called glacial drift.  This material lodged in waterways and changed the flow of surface water.

New surface water streams developed in the area.  The stream that that is now known as Sugar Creek changed the look of the area. Sugar Creek and its tributaries eroded into the Mansfield sandstone.  In places the deep ravine is wider than the upper reaches of the ravine.  The eroded canyons have dramatic shapes.  The cool shady areas provide habitat for rare plants.

When one walks in a Northerly direction the path comes an area of bare rock that looks something like a sloped stack of oatmeal cookies.  A cascade of water noisily falls down this stack of rocks.  The wet rock surfaces are slippery.  After climbing that sloped area the sides of the ravine narrow until one finds almost no places to step without stepping into the high velocity water rushing toward the walker.

A dramatic passageway that goes on for dozens of feet must be negotiated with the churning water constantly flowing through the sandstone.  It is possible to make it through without stepping into the rushing water but it takes some doing.

It is a place of becoming very close to the rock cliff faces.

Misquoted

Cathedral of the Assumption Marker capped with snow

"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win."

This wonderful thought is attributed to Gandhi.  But a study of the record shows no evidence that Gandhi ever said this.  Gandhi did show perseverance in his work. 

"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. And that, is what is going to happen to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America."

Research shows that Nicholas Klein said this in 1918 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The takeaway is when you are moving uphill you may be just short of a breakout.  So walk on!

Your life's purpose

Walk Signal capped with snow.

As you walk you consider your happiness or your suffering. Or perhaps some of both.  You consider others around you that you know.

You know something about what you do.  You know who you do it for.  You know what you do well.
You know how others change because of what you teach other people.

The life which is unexamined is not worth living.
Socrates

Precious land and waterside places

Stream - forest woods - Dale Hollow Lake SRP

The snow melt has fed water to the streams in Kentucky.  It is a time for  being at waterside places. Today is a day of reflection. We appreciate Thoreau, Merton, Berry and Muir. Merton and Berry lived and wrote in Kentucky; Berry continues to live and work in Kentucky.  Now comes the opportunity. Walk.  Your heart beats in resonance to the land.  Appreciate the water and the rocks here. Rocks were in these cliffs five hundred years ago and longer.

Walking and appreciating

Sign - Path - Sisters of Loretto, Marion County, Kentucky

Mandela of love - Sisters of Loretto - 1986

Walking with appreciation can lead to greater compassion.  Change to greater work for peace may result.  Want your brain to be healthy?  Put your shoes on; walk through.

Breathe

Poinsettia - Lake Cumberland State Park - Christmas 2014

When one breathes in with affirmation of life and breathes out with appreciation of things that are seen benefits ensue.

Kentucky nature

Trail - Rough River Lake, Kentucky

Walking with trees at your side feeds you.  Immerse yourself in nature.  Walk in appreciation. 

Merry Christmas

What do the hallowed hills of Kentucky have to do with Christmas?  One story I know is about the John B. Stephenson Nature Preserve in Rockcastle County.  I met a woman there in the valley.  I asked her about how she felt about this Kentucky place.  She said that she went to school there and she motioned to the ridge to the left of where we were standing.  She said that as a girl she came down into the woods to gather vines and branches to make decorations for Christmas.   That was many years ago. And the precious Kentucky woods are still there.   No work has marred the beauty of the woods.   So most every Kentucky place has many stories.  May it ever be so.

Southeast Kentucky

There is more to take in about South East Kentucky than delicious fried chicken.  Yes London does have a big chicken dinner in September built around the last weekend in September.  The festival boasts the biggest skillet in the country.  Late Fall and Winter is a good time to come to the Valley.
It is a time to move about without the worry of humid air or ticks or mosquitoes.  The beauty of the stream banks will come into you.  The music of the winds will come to your ears.  You will take back the sights and sounds and remember them.  You will appreciate them.

The Cumberland River - Southeast Kentucky

Protect Fish, Wildlife and Plants; Kentucky's NRRA

 

 

Rock Bluffs - Big South Fork NRRA

 

Huge Cliffs with walking space in between - Big South Fork NRRA

 

 

 

 

Trail near Blue Heron - Big South Fork NRRA

A wide variety of habitats and associated wildlife are found at the Daniel Boone National Forest and the Big South Fork NRRA.  This area of impressive cliffs and rocks is in the Blue Heron area of the Big South Fork NRRA.  Writing or photography can only go so far; one has to be there to experience it.

Scenic cliffs

Turkey Run State Park, Indiana

 

 

This was the view somewhere in Turkey Run State Park in Indiana on an October day. The  rocks in this place seem to pull you toward them and to be an inspiration.  Rocky Hollow-Falls Canyon Nature Preserve, located within the Turkey Run State Park is a National Natural Landmark. The canyon contains forested areas of virgin beech-maple stands.  Some of the largest black walnut in the Midwest can be found in the gorges of Rocky Hollow-Falls Canyon. Steep sandstone gorges have eastern hemlocks and Canada yew in their valleys.  This sign describes the cliffs as dangerous and so they are if they are carelessly visited.  Perhaps a slow danger that escapes notice is our diet with chemicals present shown to be health risks. Perhaps a slow danger that escapes notice is the pounds and pounds of paint containing lead in the buildings we have to live in.  Perhaps a slow danger that escapes notice is the emission of compounds shown to be health risks.  Contaminants are  spread over the land from the tall smoke stacks of combustion sources operating in our region.  Going out and moving and seeing is the option for health especially where there are places so inspiring for us to see.

Walking

Jefferson Memorial Forest

This is the trail marker for one of the approaches for the Purple Heart trail.  The Purple Heart trail can be walked as a loop.  There is convenient parking between the hillside and Tom Wallace Lake.  Most the forest area is wooded.  There are few benches.  Consider bringing a square of nylon sized to sit on.   I have a tan colored bag that looks like an over sized pocket.  If I put a plastic bag inside the bag the water from the rock I am sitting on will not migrate to me.  My bag is a thick nylon that is unlikely to move even in a strong wind.  One learns to select gear that will not be moved easily by the wind.

Bringing gear to sit on is especially useful in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The trails have numerous logs that are good to sit on if one has a square to put down to make seating comfortable.  The Chimney Tops trail comes to mind.  The Chimney Tops trail is a very scenic trail with many firm spots that would make good rest stops.

The Jefferson Memorial Forest is a good place to practice walking awareness.  The forest is a good place to be aware that you are aware.

Over the river

Big Four Bridge

The former railroad bridge is built high above the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana.   The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway operated the railroad for an interval of time. That railroad line has been called the Big Four.  Because of that the bridge is known as the Big Four Bridge. The crossing makes a Louisville, Kentucky - Jeffersonville, Indiana path.  This provides a place for walking.  This place is an appreciation of the Ohio, a large inland river in America.  Another opportunity to appreciate a miracle that is here.

Making peaceful steps on the earth

Peace can be practiced with every step on the earth that you touch.  When you breathe in with your heart open you see the miracle that that surrounds you now.  When you breathe out with awareness of  your experience you feel the miracle that that is here now.  This life does have suffering for each being. When you experience the energy of holding your present experience in awareness you suffer much less.  When you look upon those in your community and others in lands all over with brotherhood you can help bring peace to your community and the world.

When you look upon another though eyes of compassion you suffer much less.

This trail is in the Lynx prairie in southern Ohio.  E. Lucy Braun wrote about this beautiful prairie. Lynx prairie is preserved for you and I to experience now. 

A little

The film Seabiscuit included the following thought, "You don't throw a life away just cause he's banged up a little."  There are people with bad feet and bad shoulders and hands and various physical challenges.  And most of these people can pack a cloth bag with some water and trail food and see this land.   Some cannot race along the trail.  And this land does not ask for one to race.  This land has some things to take one's breath away. In a good way. 

This place is the highway rest stop in Maryland that is Sideling Hill.  The traveler on I-68 can stop and walk along these rocks.

Green leaves - a miracle

 

 

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh

This image is from the Cumberland Trail in Tennesse where there are steep rock outcrops and wind swept bluffs.

Japan's concept

In Japan citizens enjoy Shinrin-yoku.  This is forest bathing.  This is a day walk in the woods.  In Japan forest bathing is believed to be healthful and enjoyable.  Materials from the living forest are believed to be health enhancing for those who go into the forest.

Those who mourn

From the Cumberland Trail, Tennessee

Going out into the woods is a solace for those who mourn. The experience of trees is a solace to those with unrequited grief.  There are real benefits to the act of going into the woods for the person that is mourning. The act of taking steps on the soil is a productive activity. When the leg holds up the body the earth provides the structure that helps the person that is walking. For those who mourn this can be a path to a better outlook. 
   
This image is from the Cumberland Trail near I-75 in Tennessee.  Along the Cumberland Trail there are steep rock outcrops and wind swept bluffs.