Year 2, Day 318: Lean on Lodge Getaway, Part 2, Happy Hikers

Jared told me on our way out to the lodge that he had planned something and if we wanted to do it Tuesday or Wednesday. I picked Wednesday but then saw it was pouring rain and the event was going to be outside, so I opted to break up the full day of us being there with this little excursion. He had looked up a local state park where we could go hiking! So we ate breakfast, worked on finances, ate lunch and then took off for the park. But at the park he choose, they were having a “deer reduction” time, as in they let the hunters come in and catch a few deer so the area is not overrun with deer. So we turned around and ended up at the infamous Turkey Run State Park instead.

Turkey Run State Park! Wow! No wonder everyone talks about it! It was THE MOST PERFECT DAY for it, seasonally! Everyone who knows me, knows that fall is my favorite season! I miss my home state of NH the most in the fall because of the fall foliage. Well, Turkey Run certainly has enough forest to come really close to what I remember back home. They have this huge suspension bridge to one of their more vigorous “very rugged” hikes in and out of the stream beds that run in the spring. There were a few hills and valleys to traverse, so there were lots of stairs, lots of canyons, and even some ladders to climb! And a newly broken foot bridge! I used to hike around the backwoods at one of my friends' house in Candia that a good sized stream, all by myself, or with my friend and our siblings. I loved being outdoors and such. I don't do a lot of it, or I volunteer to stay back with the kids if others want to do it on vacation, because I know I'm going to be super sore the next day or few days. I don't do anything “very rugged” when I take the kids anywhere because I know I'm just going to hear “Are we there yet? I'm tired. I'm hungry.” and they will not keep their voices down, which means they will scare all the wildlife. The kids also don't let me linger. I say all that because it is a super treat just to be out in nature with them and brings my brain back to the days of my youth. So, when Jared asked which trail I wanted to do, I said something to the effect that I always have to walk the easy paths for the children, so why not do a more challenging one today? I don't think I've really shown Jared before how I can do these kinds of things, or that I used to do these kinds of things. We hiked a lot with our youth group in NH during my high school years. So, I wanted to prove to Jared, that yes, I'm not that old, and despite my physical ailments, I CAN hike stuff like this. So we did! It was only 2 miles, but as the pictures will show, it seemed like 20! I was so happy and couldn't stop smiling because Jared picked this out for us to do. He's not the one who plans romantic trips or outings. We hardly go out on a date. And I knew that from the beginning. I married a very practical man, and that's fine by me obviously! So when he surprises me by taking the time to think about something romantic, I swoon. Oh, the weather was gorgeous, too. Just a little bit cool, and colder in the valleys, but we were very appropriately dressed. I had brought my winter dress boots in case we went for a walk around the property, so although I didn't know about the hike in advance, I had them to wear. Jared had his “mickey mouse” water tight massive boots. We wore our winter coats, but had them unzipped when we got warm. Hats and gloves nearby, but we didn't need them. I had put some fleece tights on under my jeans and I was perfectly warm. Plus I wore 3 pairs of socks. Again, we weren't too hot or too cold. There were 3 other pairs of people on this hike, one pair were taking pictures complete with a tripod and huge camera backpack. A couple of single people were experienced hikers with raingear and a backpack on. There were a group of high schoolers from a ministry nearby, but one of them might have twisted her ankle as we saw fire and rescue come down the path, complete with a backboard. They parked their vehicles on a trail that was wide enough for their vehicles. And we saw one 5 person family. Very, very quiet in the park since it was Tuesday. I was definitely exhuasted after all that, but I think I had a ton of adrenaline, too. I'm wicked proud of my accomplishment as well!

I just wish I had taken my DSLR camera! I had thought about it, but I felt kind of silly when I thought we were just going to be sitting around just the two of us. Jared thought I would bring it anyway, so he didn't think to make sure I did. Oh well, I didn't need it clunking around while we hiked anyway. I'll just have to take it the next time! It made me think twice about how many pictures I took, too, because my iCloud is full again. So, I will try to tackle that mess over the weekend. Meanwhile, the cabin doesn't have wifi, but we did get a bar or two on our phones so we were able to keep up with email. Most of my social media apps have notifications right on my phone or I'm notified through my email, so I don't have to look at my social media apps as much as I think I need to. Therefore, I just kept up with email and didn't look at the social media apps. I did look up a video on YouTube about frozen shoulder exercises and Jared looked up a couple of songs. Otherwise, we put the phones down. I didn't even play much of my phone games, read, or cross stitch like I had hoped to do, but we found better things to do anyway.

The hike took 2 hrs I think, but we had plenty of time to get back to the guest house to cook supper. Supper was pork steak, a garlic rice/quinoa mix and PEI mixed veggies. Easy and delicious. We had to cook everything on the top of the stove to guarantee that it was cooked well. The Q & A page said that the oven might take twice as long to cook something and you have to keep turning it. It was a modernized stove with an electric burners on top, but the knobs were all weird. Interesting! But it's amazing how quickly you can get in and out of a place without kids in tow! I really needed to be reminded that I'm not just a homeschool mom that drags her kids to every field trip known to man. I LOVE these kinds of nature things and education but my kids just don't always appreciate it. I have to be careful to remind myself of who I'm doing this for, them or me. So it was great to do something for me for a change! It was a reminder to me of who I was, and still am, and want to continue to be in the future – curious, observant, enjoying any surroundings I am in, especially if there are less people to talk to.

Uh oh, this can't be good.

The park was established 100 yrs ago or something, so perhaps these are almost as old.  There were a lot of stone steps and you could tell this park has been used for a long time, but maybe not too much foot traffic.

Yup, pretty old stonework for the suspension bridge although I'm sure the wood of the bridge isn't that old.  I was very impressed with the huge cables!

First of 3 selfies we took!

We bounced up and down a little thinking about how Abishai and the others love to bounce over the suspension bridges on the playgrounds we visit.

Water! Beach! Colorful trees! Blue skies!  Almost like PEI, only it's freshwater and not salt water.

This.

For just a camera on an iPhone, at this size, it takes decent pictures, don't you think? Wow!

Pine trees!

Older stonework steps.  So far so good, easy to maneuver.  But not much for handrails!  And it's a straight shot down a cliff!  I don't know if I would bring young kids out here.

This should have been our first clue that it was going to be rough going.  This was the way you got down part of the trail.  And no, the real steps weren't washed away or anything.  Eeek!

Gorgeous!

A beach! No, just a riverbank.

Lots and lots of sandstone!  Not much limestone, of which Indiana is famous for.

The trees were so gorgeously colored with half of their leaves on and the other half on the trail we hiked.

So most of the trail is under water come springtime.  But it makes for a great hike in the fall!

Would be a waterfall in the spring.

Trees have no where to go when they fall sometimes.

Now these are washed out wood and concrete steps.

So they put ladders in place of the stairs!  We literally had to climb two ladders to get out of this gorge!

That's a long way down!

Wow.

The stairs are chained to rocks so they don't float away during the rain run offs.

These steps must have been chiseled away a very long time ago, and then used and worn away by water and man.

Selfie #2.  I accidentally took my dad's scarf with me, which made me nervous so I never took it off.  I don't know why I leave it in with our winter things.  I have his old winter hat as well.  And I wear my mom's hat sometimes.

Jared was fascinated by this perfectly smooth tree!  I enjoyed the canopy and crispness of the air without all the wind.

90 stairs! There's a part with 140 stairs on trail #5.  We were on trail #3.  This is definitely a hike that most of our crew would not do, especially Leah, because of the stairs alone.

Freshly crushed bridge.  It probably happened sometime this year and they haven't been out to clean it up yet.  We were supposed to go across the bridge.  We did, but it was a tight squeeze.

Lots of little pools of mud and slippery rocks.  And there was a hint of oil coming from something, down the stream, as well.

Some more of those old, hewn out steps.  Very, very slippery.

So cool!

A panoramic view of one of the overhangs.

Yup, that's me!

The tree fell down and didn't have anywhere to go, so, it's just literally hanging out here.

So much of this landscape reminded me of hikes I did in high school in New Hampshire's woods in the fall.  Lots of fallen rocks, changes in elevation, and the colorful leaves!

The underside of the bridge!  You could walk from one side to the other under it and continue on a different trail on the other side.

Water reflections!

Again, I think I'm getting better at "setting the stage" and capturing the angles I see so many photographers get, even when I just have my phone camera.  So pretty!

And last one for Tuesday, November 14th.  We'll have one more post on our little trip to conclude our story.

Selfie #3 with the light being reflected up to our faces from the water.  We were perfectly dressed for this very vigorous hike!