Indiana Waterfalls

For Memorial Day weekend, I had United miles that would expire so I flew to Chicago to get waterfalls in a couple more states.  Being United, my flight was delayed, Avis was incredibly slow in getting my rental car, and Chicago traffic was terrible.  But finally, I made it to Indiana.  My first stop was at Fall Creek Gorge Nature Preserve, near Williamsport.  A short trail led into the preserve.  Soon I came to a crossing of a tributary of Fall Creek at a little chute.

Just upstream on Fall Creek was the most narrow section of the gorge.

There were a lot of potholes in the creek here and it was really scenic.

And very out of place here in rural Indiana - the drive in had been farmland as far as the eye could see.

The trail continued a little further to a small waterfall on Fall Creek.

Although it wasn't very high, it was creek wide and scenic.

The gorge began just downstream of the waterfall.

There were some pretty wildflowers blooming here as well.

I saw some great waterleaf and wild geraniums along the creek.

After some pictures, I headed back.

My next stop was Williamsport Falls, the highest in Indiana at 90 feet, or so the sign at the parking area said.  It was right in the center of the little town of Williamsport.  The overlook was right next to the parking area, but the view from here was partly obscured by trees.

The falls were definitely flowing well.  I continued past the fence and found a place to scramble down to the base for a better view.

The lighting wasn't great but the waterfall was really nice.

Hard to believe such a big waterfall exists in such an otherwise flat area.  After some pictures, I climbed back up.

My next stop was across the Wabash River at Portland Arch Nature Preserve.  I first parked at the north parking area off Scout Camp Road.  The North Trail led from the parking area down to Portland Arch, one of the only natural arches in Indiana.

In high water, the small tributary was flowing under the arch.

Right past here were the ruins of an old dam on Bear Creek.

I saw some Virginia waterleaf blooming along the creek.

The trail lead right along base of the cliffs.

There were nice views of the canyon down here.

The trail then headed back up to loop back to the parking lot; I saw a cute raccoon as I was finishing up.  Just a short drive further was the trailhead for South Trail.  This trail led down to the bear creek and followed it around to the confluence with Rattlesnake Creek.

It was a scenic little trail through the forest.

Near the parking area, a bunch of ragwort were blooming.

That was my last hike for the day.

After finishing up, I drove to Lafayette and checked into the Hampton Inn.  The hotel and room were very nice.  Just across the street was Tapawingo Park and the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge across Wabash River.

The Wabash Heritage Trail, a national recreation trail led along the river here.  I followed this trail southbound passing the wastewater treatment plant where there was a little garter snake along the trail.

Past here were some beautiful fields of butterweed.

I had seen a couple of these fields driving in but nowhere to stop.  So this was a good opportunity to get some photos of all the yellow flowers.

The paved West Lafayette section ended shortly and I got on the unpaved Tippecanoe County portion.  Flooding on the Wabash River prevented going much further.

So I turned around and headed back.  The river was really scenic in the evening light.

A fountain was right at the base of the pedestrian bridge.

I was close to the hotel now, but wanted to find a restaurant before heading back.

I was getting really hungry by this point so went to Scotty's Brewhouse for dinner then back to the hotel.

Duke Forest Hikes

Saturday was going to be hot, but I wanted to get a hike in before it got too bad.  I headed to the Al Buehler Trail in Duke Forest.  This trail is on Duke Campus and technically not in the forest, but it's maintained by the forest.  From the parking area off NC-751, I hiked clockwise around the loop.  The trail first passed through a wetland area where stream restoration is underway.

Just off the trail was a wildlife blind, though I didn't see anything in the wetlands.

Shortly past here, the trail crossed over a dam that created a retention pond to improve water quality.

A connector trail led to a short fitness loop and then I got back on the main trail.

It makes a big loop around the golf course and eventually back to the trailhead area.  It was still pretty early so I drove north a mile or so on NC-751 and parked near Gate 3.  Hiking in on Gate 3 to Gate 7 Road, I took a short detour on Pine Thickets Forest Trail and then looped around to Gate 7.  There were some sundrops blooming along the trail in open, sunny areas.

I made a loop on the Gate 5 Road and then headed back.  Before leaving, I hiked Gate 2 to Gate 4 Road, making a detour on each of the little spurs.  It was around noon when I finished up and had really gotten hot by this point.

Alex's Birthday Hike

Saturday we Alex's 10th birthday so we had to celebrate.

First, we headed to Eno River State Park for a morning hike.  Parking at the Fews Ford access to the park, we first hiked the Cox Mountain Trail up and over its namesake and then along the river.  There were a lot of mountain laurel blooming along the river.

Then we crossed back over the suspension bridge and hiked the Buckquarter Creek Trail.  There were still lots of wildflowers blooming along the river.

Coreopsis and fire pink were adding some color to the river.

It was pretty hot and humid by the time we finished but we missed all the rain storms.

Heading back to Raleigh, we had lunch and then took Alex to Goodberry's for an ice cream cone.

Especially on a hot day, ice cream was a perfect treat to celebrate his birthday.

Calloway Forest Wildflowers

Saturday, we took Alex for a hike in the Sandhills.  We took US-1 south to Southern Pines and then NC-211 past Aberdeen to Calloway Forest Preserve.  This area of longleaf pine forest is being restored through prescribed burns to support the red-cockaded woodpecker and other rare species dependent on the longleaf.

The land was given to the Nature Conservancy by the NCDOT in 1981 and is now part of Rockfish Creek Game Land.  A wildlife road runs through the preserve and makes for a great hike.

The spring wildflowers were really blooming in the forest.  Bull nettle has small white flowers, but I kept a distance from this stinging plant.

There were lots of blue sky lupine blooming in patches throughout the area.

There was also a lot of vetch growing.

Although many sides roads split off, we stayed on the main trail, eventually reaching a loop.  Going right, we hiked the loop counterclockwise and saw many more wildflowers.  The thin canopy from the pine trees allows a lot of sunlight to reach the forest floor.  Grayhairy wild indigo is a yellow species of indigo that we saw blooming.

Near where we turned around, there was longbranch frostweed flowering.

Looping back around, there was an interesting section where the left side of the trail had recently been burned and the wiregrass was just starting to grow back.

On the right, it had been a while since the last burn and the wiregrass was much more grown out.  The wiregrass was the only thing popping up on the burned side.

Hiking back, there were more wildflowers, including some we has missed on the way out.  Piedmont staggerbush makes small white bell-like flowers.

Grassleaf roseling is related to the spiderwort.

By the time we made it back, it was starting to get pretty hot out.  So we made the drive home as Sandy had to work in the evening.