Spirit of the Woods Hike- Manistee River

 
I am not forgetting that I have things to show you yet from Alabama. However, today was the monthly Spirit of the Woods hike, and I couldn't let that pass without sharing.

We started at Seaton Creek Campground and headed across the Manistee River on the suspension bridge that has been nicknamed Little Mac, because it's just a "little" smaller than the Big Mac.



The river was beautiful. It had rained earlier in the morning, and the colors all looked very rich.



Possibly because of that early rain, only three of us showed up to hike, Dave, Loren and me. That was ok. We are good friends and it was nice to just walk and talk with each other. Often on group hikes we are trying to get to know new people so we don't get to visit ourselves.



With wet trunks and sun trying to break through the gray sky, you can really see why red pine get their common name!



We walked an hour and a half- no clue how far... just till we felt like turning around. Then we walked back to the car and ate our lunches.

The colors aren't quite at peak yet, but they aren't shabby!


Sorry for no post last night, but the drive home took forever. Construction turned most of Indiana into a parking lot, and I went directly to work, without even going home.

	See Trail Club Hike- April for some of the same places in a different season
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Hiking and Horses

 
This morning we went to Joe Wheeler State Park for some hiking. I saw several more interesting plants (to share another day). First we did the Blue Loop Trail. It was about a mile, and was all in the woods. I took pictures of several trees that I have no idea what they are. Maybe there will be more botany pictures another day.



Then we hiked a trail along the Tennessee River that is one of the Alabama Birding Trails. We didn't see many birds, but it was a pretty walk, with the water in view most of the time. Right near the end I found a plant that may be a one-in-a-lifetime sighting. You'll be seeing that one one of these days for sure.



After we ate, we drove across the Wheeler Dam and stopped to take pictures. This one was a Tennessee Valley Authority project, and it's about 1.2 miles across, and 70 feet high. It's interesting to me how it's so difficult to get a sense of scale. If someone had asked me to guess how long it is I would have said about a half mile.



In the evening, we went to a church activity for the seniors at a ranch. They do horse therapy with all kinds of at risk people, and did a demonstration of some of their techniques. They asked for some volunteers to do one of the exercises. This lady is learning how to put a halter on Bud, the horse.



I especially liked this, because the woman in the pink blouse has Alzheimer's, and the staff people were really nice to her. Although it was a "demonstration," I expect some good things were happening out there in the field.



Tomorrow we head home. It's been a great week!

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Alabama Botanizing

 
There are a lot of plants down here that I'm not familiar with at all.

Crepe myrtle trees (Lagerstroemia sp.) are planted everywhere! They seem to be the primary landscaping tree. They are often mentioned in fiction books set in the south, but I didn't know what they look like. Now I do! I've seen dark pink, light pink and white blossoms. They are a small, multi-trunked tree.


The bark is light gray and sheds throughout the year resulting in a mottled appearance. It's quite attractive.



Flowers are in a large panicle at the end of the branch. I think the main flowering season was past because there were only occasional blooms and people tell me the trees are covered with blossoms at the right time of year.



The plant was brought from China and Korea around 1790, and now has hundreds of cultivars with great variety. The petals are all crinkled like crepe paper, hence the name.



This evening we went to another house to pick up a few more of Loretta's boxes. While there, the owner asked me if I was familiar with the red buckeye (Aesculus pavia). I was not. I'd never even heard of it. It's another species in the same genus as the Ohio Buckeye and the Horsechestnut. It was already dark, so I didn't get a picture of the tree, but it's much smaller than its cousins.

The buckeyes grow 2-4 in a pod. This one has three.



While the Ohio Buckeye is a much darker brown, you can see how rich and reddish these look. I'm keeping a couple to see how they dry. A bowl full would be a pretty decoration.



We did more eating out with friends, and visiting. Also did some shopping for clothes for Loretta. I'm not much of a shopper, but it was fun to help her search some sale racks for things she would like, and she got several very pretty tops for very little money!

	See Horsechestnut
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Food- Cave- Food- Music

 
Can you believe this? After staying up until almost 3 am, Randy got up and had the table nicely set, and bacon, eggs, and biscuits & gravy (we are in the South) cooking and ready for us to eat at 8 am! He said he loved doing it. What a guy!



Loretta and I had planned an adventure for the day- to drive to a place called Cathedral Cavern about two hours away. At almost the last minute Randy and Annette decided to take off work and go too. Not only that, they drove and all we had to do was ride in the back seat of a nice new car.

Let me tell you about this cave! I'll be writing my monthly newspaper column about our trip there. It was so much better than I expected. It's a fairly recent discovery, with the inner rooms only being found in 1952. It boasts four "largest" features in a commercial cave, which is pretty amazing, I think. First is the entrance. It is 126 feet wide and 25 feet high, and is the largest natural entrance in a cave open to the public.



There were many, many features to see, and I took a gazillion pictures, with about three-quarters of a gazillion of them being useless. I'm bringing you five, which leaves me a few different ones to use in the newspaper. Here is "Goliath," the largest single formation stalactite column.



Fortunately, this is a state park, so the [stupid] shutdown didn't affect our plans. The pathway through the cave is 1.3 miles long and you walk in and walk out, so it was a nice stroll for me, and a bit of a hike for some people. They do have a paved walkway and an electric cart to serve as a sag wagon, and for accessibility. The third prize feature is the largest living smooth flowstone waterfall. This means it still has water running over it, which continues to build new rock.



And then we have the largest rough flowstone wall. Rough flowstone is created by water dripping, instead of running in a sheet. Think about how many drips this needed!

If you can see the large vertical crack in Goliath, and the smaller horizontal one in the smooth flowstone, these probably occurred during the great New Madrid Earthquake of 1812.



Finally, I had to include some other interesting columns. Really hard to pick only a few photos.



The three large formations in the front right of this picture have not stood still long enough to become stuck to the floor, like the ones on the left.



Seriously, if you ever are in NE Alabama, this cave is worth a visit. I didn't show you the cathedral room because I want to use that picture in the paper. It's such an amazing cluster of columns it gave the cave its name.

On the way home we stopped at a pizza place called Pie in the Sky. That was an adventure in itself. Their pizzas were excellent, but I had a chicken pesto salad that was to die for, and didn't cost an arm and a leg.

Was this enough for one day? Nope! Then Loretta and I went back to where we are mainly staying, and made music with Mary all evening. We did make one recording, but we think we should spare you from it. Maybe we'll try recording again tomorrow before we all get hoarse.



Well, we were making a joyful noise. That's all we needed.

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Just a Totally Fun Day

 
Except for a few errands, we did all fun things (except we kept having a forgetful Monday, but no major consequences resulted).
We bought yarn for a new project. Here's what I got done today. I'll keep you guessing for a bit yet, as to the goal.



Then we went for a walk on a trail by the Tennessee River. One end of it goes part way across the river on a former railroad bridge. It is the oldest river bridge in Alabama! However, it only goes to an island any more. It was the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, which became Norfolk & Southern. Originally, the lower part that is now the foot trail was a toll road. The train ran on the upper deck.




Then, we had to treat ourselves to Yogurt Mountain, and this time I remembered to take a picture of more than the spoon! They had pumpkin spice flavor for fall, and it was awesome.



Loretta had a meeting in the evening but after that we went to the home of friends Annette and Randy (see yesterday's post), and watched the end of the Texas Rangers' ball game, and then... we played Mexican dominoes until after 2 am! What fun.



I'm too tired to be cute and tell you funny stories, but we had a great time.

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