Parke County and Turkey Run

After leaving Muncie I decided to visit Parke County, IN. Home of more covered bridges than just about anywhere.

West of Indianapolis, this is an area of Indiana that the last Glacier missed so there is a more undulating nature and more wooded.

I made the mistake of coming during the annual festival so some traffic hindered pictures

Also, Roads had a tad of water left from yesterday's downpour and rural Indiana is all dirt, or crushed limestone roads which pretty much packs into dirt.

All of these bridges, 30 or more, are of similar design called Burr arch. 

 

Fall is ahead of me so I'm trying to be quick

 

I had to limit pictures because the program got overloaded but I took over 100 and just made it thru half the bridges and I'm still going

Minor change of plans next day. My new camp site at Turkey Run State Park wasn't avail yet but I didn't want to waste the day so I just parked in a lot and took off for a hike. 

There is a bridge in the park so that was the hike.  It has probably been close to 50 years since I was here......that scares me!

But what a perfect day to be exploring and remembering.

This is quite different from the corn forests of eastern Indiana where I grew up. 

This is a gulch.....remember that....it's a test

Remember putting  jigsaw puzzles together?

a couple choices(this is a Hollow)

 The roar of walking thru crisp leaves and the smell of October

  Hike destination reached and the camera batteries heldup!

 colors are awesome for October even though everyone says the drought affected the trees.

 ok, what is the difference between a gulch and a hollow?  there are both here and I'm sure Ichabod Crane would know, (you know...the Sleepy Hollow guy). 

                     My favorite hardwood is the Shagbark Hickory

but Sycamore shine on a clear day

                    Back to Ichabod, coming up to this at dusk

                    and thinking you could get thru safely

This is so fitting...I'm sure Ichabod would feel right at home

 a gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Sudden intense rainfall upstream may produce flash floods in the bed of the gulch

oh, then there is gully, copse , arroyo, wadi............... oh give me a break............by the way......it's a HOLLER!

last but not least

This guy just happened along and posed quite well.  They weren't this big when we used to ride in the hopper as it was being filled!!

FYI  the beans were not affected much by the drought but the corn stalks are short and the ears are even shorter and Bob says they only expect about 25% of the normal bushel per acre......that will never pay the mortgage on this monster!