Last week we took a short trip to eastern Arkansas and, after that, over to northeast Kentucky.

Our first campground was at Village Creek State Park.  The park is located on Crowley’s Ridge, a geologic anomaly of rolling hills in eastern Arkansas’s Mississippi Alluvial Plain.

With five trails totaling 7 miles, we had hoped to spend one day in the park doing some hiking.

Unfortunately, there was some kind of gnats hatching out.  After taking one walk the first evening where we couldn’t get away from them, we decided to alter our plans and check out some of the other parks in the area.

The first day, we went to Parkin State Archeological Park and Jacksonport State Park.  The next day, we drove over to Memphis and spent a few hours at Mud Island.  I’ll be posting more on these as I get the photo gallery set up for each one.

The last evening that we were there and the next morning before we left, we didn’t have much problem with insects at all.

Our next destination was Paducah, Kentucky, so that Karen could go to the annual Paducah Quilt Show.  Karen has several posts on her blog from the quilt show:

• The Quilt Show
• More from Paducah
• Second Day in Paducah
• Back from Paducah
• Our Last Day in Paducah (Saturday)

Elk, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 13, 2007

(click on image for larger version)

Information: Yellowstone National Park information

Gallery: Around the Upper Loop, September 13, 2007

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, May 5, 2009

(click on image for larger version)

Gallery: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Mountain Farm Museum
May 6, 2009
near Cherokee, North Carolina

The Mountain Farm Museum is a unique collection of farm buildings assembled from locations throughout the park. Visitors can explore a log farmhouse, barn, apple house, springhouse, and a working blacksmith shop to get a sense of how families may have lived 100 years ago. Most of the structures were built in the late 19th century and were moved here in the 1950s. The Davis House offers a rare chance to view a log house built from chestnut wood before the chestnut blight decimated the American Chestnut in our forests during the 1930s and early 1940s. The museum is adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. – National Park Service website

Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
Tennessee and North Carolina

Gallery: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

The thermometer has not gotten above freezing for over a week.

While we get snow here almost every year, it’s usually melted within 2 or 3 days and, even if we get as much as a foot like we did 2 years ago, it’s gone within a week.

A week ago we had a trace of snow, not even enough to measure.  It’s been so cold that some of that trace of snow is still on the ground in areas that are shaded all day long this time of year.

I’m not complaining.  We’ve lived in colder places.  One winter in the 70s, when we lived in a high mountain desert town in Idaho, it didn’t get above 0°F for a month and was below -20°F for a week.

And, in the almost 30 years we’ve here, we’ve had had other long cold periods.

But, that was then, and this is now.

Brrrrr!

September 15, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

On our last full day in Colorado, we toured the six-mile Mesa Top Loop Drive, visiting most of the archeological exhibits and overlooks.

Pithouse – For thousands of years, native peoples were living in the surrounding areas before coming to Mesa Verde.  As with people all over the Southwest, Ancestral Puebloans lived in modest dwellings  — shallow pits dug into the ground, covered with pole and mud roofs and walls, with entrances through the roofs.

In this excavation (above), what appears to be one pithouse is actually two.  The larger one, built first, around AD 700, was destroyed by fire. The smaller one, which looks like an antechamber to a larger room, is actually a second pithouse built soon after the first one burned.  It contains a new feature, a verticle ventilator shaft in one side, which appears in pithouses from then on — innovation!

Above is an Ancestral Puebloan kiva – an undeground religious room.  The small circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld – the Pueblo place of origin.  This early kiva design was continued in the Mesa Verde villages and cliff dwellings.

Many fires have swept across Mesa Verde over time.  Recent fires have exposed previously undiscovered Puebloan sites.

At our campsite on our final afternoon in
Colorado, 2009.

Mesa Verde National Park, September 14, 2009

We had tickets for a 10 AM ranger guided tour of Balcony House.  We had been to this ruin at least two other times before, the first in 1986, when we were in our mid-thirties.

To get into the ruin requires a bit of a climb, shown in the two views below and the one on the right, which exaggerates the steepness of the ladder because I had to rotate the image a little to get it all in.

Waiting to go through the small passage:

A hungry coyote zeros in on food — found on road:

Rabbitbrush with Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background:

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Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 14, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

September 13, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park

We were hiking the Knife’s Edge Trail near the Mesa Verde campground, with Karen in the lead, reading from the trail guide booklet, while I was trailing behind taking pictures.

Suddenly, we heard a very characteristic sound, a sound we’ve heard many times in the movies and on TV.

Most of the trail was plenty wide, but, in this area it had started to narrow a bit.

Of course, the rattlesnake blended in very well with the vegetation along the side of the trail. In the closeup crop on the right, I’ve outlined the head and tongue and added an arrow pointing to the rattle.

We didn’t turn around and go back down the trail. There was still a ways to go yet, so, from a safe distance, I started scuffing gravel and rocks toward the snake with my foot.  After a little bit of that, it uncoiled and slithered into the brush, still rattling until it was a good ways off the trail.

I’ve completed another photo gallery from our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park.  It  includes images from Moraine Park, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake, and has photos of elk, deer, a couple of chickarees, a chipmunk, birds, wildflowers and more.  (For more of my travel images see Haw Creek Galleries.)

Our son-in-law knows a lot about bedbugs.

When he travels, he always takes the headboard off the bed in his hotel room off the wall as that is a likely place to find them.

The company he works for now has a new tool to locate hard-to-find bed bugs — Max, the bedbug dog.

Our son-in-law does make an appearance — of sorts — in the video on the right.

The hand with the bedbug on it near the end of the clip?  That’s his hand.

The star of the clip is, of course, Max.

Got bedbugs?

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
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Mammoth Cave National Park images
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Haw Creek galleries

]]> http://exit78.com/mammoth-cave-whitetail/feed/ 3 http://exit78.com/another-trip-to-over-12000-feet/ http://exit78.com/another-trip-to-over-12000-feet/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:00:40 +0000 Mike Goad http://exit78.com/?p=2559

Rocky Mountain National Park — September 5, 2009

We’re really not much for spending a lot of time in shops or arts and craft shows any more, so after Saturday morning in Estes Park, we decided to head back into the park again — up to Trail Ridge Road by way of the old Fall River Road.

(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)

Sure enough, a nice group of elk, bedded down for the day.

One of the many switchbacks on the one-way Fall River Road.

Quite chilly, 46°F with a 26mph wind speed for a 37°F wind chill

On the way back down, headed to Estes Park.

Soon after we were in the park, we saw certain indicators of wildlife ahead.

On the way up, we saw much more fall color than just a few days before.

At the top, it was spitting rain with a little bit of frozen stuff mixed in.

Trail Ridge Road at about 12,000 feet above sea level

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Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 5, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

Madison River
September 15, 2007

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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“Around the Lower Loop” Yellowstone gallery September 15, 2007

check out our Yellowstone information page
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Haw Creek galleries

I first saw this big fellow from the road below the campground. He and ten or more other elk had moved up into the trees between the campground, which is on a lateral moraine and the Moraine Park meadows below.

I walked back up the trail to the camper to let Karen know about elk being very close to the campground and then walked a few sites down to see if I could see them again. Sure enough, there they were. This big bull elk was in the woods slowly moving up the valley.

At about the same time, I could hear a bunch of coyotes yipping off in the other direction. We had heard a some a couple of nights before, but not nearly as clearly.

Eventually the bull elk bedded down for the day. I guess they are most active at night with their feeding and breeding. The meadows are closed to the public from 5 PM to 7 AM during the rutting season. The closure started the first week of September.

Where this guy decided to bed down was pretty neat, too — right below our campside. I took the picture of our camper below from the same spot that I shot the image above.

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

Young spike elk in West Horseshoe Park area

Still smoky

Gold mantled ground squirrel on Aluvial Fan Nature Trail

Karen and Mike at Hidden Valley

Controlled burn in the park

Elk in meadow (click for larger panorama view)

A smoky sunset

Rocky Mountain National Park — September 1, 2009

We decided to limit our first full day to lower elevations rather than heading directly to Trail Ridge Road, which runs up over 12,000 feet above sea level.  We started out by going to the visitor centers on the park’s east side.

We got out of the camper fairly early and made it to the Fall River Visitor Center before it opened and saw more elk on the short drive over.

The Fall River Visitor Center is just outside the Fall River entrance station.  We hadn’t planned to spend any time in Estes Park or do any shopping until later in the week, but, since the visitor center wasn’t open yet, we decided to check out an adjacent gift store.

The air in the area was still very smoky. I asked the rangers at the visitor center information counter about it and wasn’t terribly surprised when they told me that it was from the fires in California.

After leaving the Fall River Visitor Center we drove through Estes Park to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center.  It really isn’t much, as visitor centers go, even though it is at the entrance to the park that has the highest traffic.  The park headquarters is also located at Beaver Meadows.

The next visitor center that we stopped at was at Moraine Meadows, in the same area as the campground.  As we were going to an exhibit area on the upper floor, one of the volunteer nature interpreters was announcing a guided walk on the nature trail at the center.  It was interesting and we learned a few things.

For example, have you ever got a good whiff of a Ponderosa Pine?  Get up close to one and take a smell in one of the cracks in the tree’s bark.  I was surprised to find that it a very pleasant odor, reminiscent of vanilla.

Our next stop was the Alluvial Fan.

In July, 1982, the old Lawn Lake dam failed and sent a torrent of water down Roaring River to Fall River.  Along the way, it swept anything in it’s path away, including trees and huge rocks and boulders.  It left behind an alluvial fan where the steep river mountain valley met the meadow of Horseshoe Park.  Several people died and Estes Park streets were flooded with 6 feet of water.

We’ve visited the Alluvial Fan Nature Trail several times over the years and it’s interesting to see how nature is healing, albeit slowly, the scars of a man-made disaster.

Other places we visited included Beaver Ponds boardwalk, where a short boardwalk takes the visitor into meadows that are slowly being formed as silt is deposited in old beaver ponds, and Hidden Valley, which is one of several commercial ventures that have been returned to a natural state.

For many years, Hidden Valley was a ski area.  The ski lift was closed in 1992 and removed within 10 years.  Restoration of the area to near natural condition continues.

In the evening, we walked from the campground down to the meadow to see if we could see any elk.  There was a large number, spread out over the meadow in the area just below the campground.

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

From our campsite

Trail from campground to Moraine Park meadows

Elk on the north lateral moraine, west of campground

One of the younger large bull elk

Rocky Mountain National Park — August 31, 2009

Our last day of travel on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park should have been our shortest of the three days. However, the GPS showed us getting to the park at 5:30 P.M., about the same time we stopped each of the first two days.

We were traveling mostly on two-lane highways, missing most of the freeway traffic — and bypassing most of the urban areas along the eastern slope of the Rockies, though I made one change to our route while traveling that had us going straight into Denver until I got it straightened out when we stopped at a big box store — (WalMart).

Unlike the previous day, there was virtually no wind. Unfortunately it was very hazy and we had no chance to see the mountains until we were almost up to them.

This was the worst day, so far, for delays due to road construction.

On the last stretch of road heading into Estes Park, we had to wait for a lead vehicle to guide us through the construction area.

We were the first in line and a long line of traffic built up behind us. We tow a small car behind our small motorhome and I was a little afraid that I would have to pull over to allow faster vehicles to pass on the hills.

It didn’t happen. I was able to maintain the speed limit going up hill and, after 2 minutes, there was only 2 cars behind us — and by the time I pulled over to let the faster vehicles by, there was only one. The other cars must have all turned off — or got hung up behind a slow vehicle.

As we got closer to Estes Park, the haze began to look more and more like smoke. In other years, when we’ve been in the mountains, there were many forest fires in the mountains to the west of us, which isn’t the case this year. We were wondering if it might not be the fires in California.

Our campsite in Estes Park is wonderful. The campground is on top of a lateral moraine — built up from the debris that was pushed to the side by glaciers during ice ages.

A trail next to us goes down into the meadows where the elk feed and breed during the fall of the year. We’ve already been able to see quite a few elk after supper when we took a drive. It wasn’t until we got back that we realized that they were actually quite near to where we’re camped.

We also drove up to Bear Lake. There are a lot of good trails in the area. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some hiking in.

Oh, and the GPS was wrong.  I’m not sure what error I made, but we were in the park and set up by the middle of the afternoon.

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

[between 1898 and 1905]

Detroit Photographic Co.

Library of Congress Photochrom Print Collection.

The Photochrom Print Collection has almost 6,000 views of Europe and the Middle East and 500 views of North America. The richly colored images look like photographs but are actually ink-based photolithographs, usually 6.5 x 9 inches.

Near Tower Falls
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
September 17, 2007

From the Tower Falls and Canyon Area gallery.

Haw Creek Galleries

day 65

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

May 5, 2009

from Great Smoky Mountains National Park photo gallery

(see more photos in other Haw Creek photo galleries)

day 62

Park Visitor Gored By Bison

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
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A visitor from Southern California was gored by a bison in a Yellowstone National Park campground Wednesday morning.

The 55-year-old man from Norco, California, was staying in Bridge Bay Campground.  About 11:30 a.m., he was taking pictures of a bull bison that was wandering among the campsites.  When the two got to within about ten feet of each other, the bison charged the camper.

The man received a puncture wound to the upper left thigh.   He was treated at the Lake Clinic, and then transported by ambulance to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, Wyoming.   His injuries are not considered to be life threatening.  The man’s name is not immediately available.

This is the second time a park visitor has been injured by a bison this summer.  A 50-year-old woman from Spain was tossed in the air by a bull bison in the Canyon area on June 24, while talking on a pay phone.  She was treated for minor injuries.

A bull bison can stand six feet tall, weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and run at speeds up to 30 miles an hour. Bison can be dangerous at any time, but may be more so during the next several weeks which are the peak of their mating season.

Park regulations require people to stay at least 25 yards away from most animals like bison and elk, and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves at all times.  Those who fail to abide by these requirements not only put themselves in danger, they may also be subject to a citation and fine.

Visitors desiring a closer look at animals are encouraged to use binoculars, a spotting scope, or the zoom lens on their still or video camera.