Indiana, Part 4 - Hiking in Turkey Run State Park [240705]

(Posted 250926) After a rainy first day hiding out in the Nature Center, we finally got full day of hiking in at Turkey Run State Park - and got to see some pretty unique scenery along the way.

-----

Friday started pretty similarly to Thursday, with us waking up in the campground and then driving straight into the Park to secure a parking spot by the Nature Center before doing our morning routine in the T42. The main difference was that the skies were merely mildly overcast, instead of dropping rain on our roof.

Once we were ready, a trail by the Nature Center led toward the network of trails in the northern part of the park, and eventually past the first interpretive sign.

Most of the park's trails are on the far side of Sugar Creek, which the trail crosses using a relatively hefty-looking suspension bridge.

Once on the far side of the bridge, we were technically in the Rocky Hollow Nature Preserve. We began our day's hike by proceeding clockwise along the Trail 3 loop.

As you may have noticed if you watched the bridge crossing video, the trails in the junction area come in from various elevations so there were a fair number of stairways in the area to connect them all together.

As we hiked, we came across a few spots in the trail where there was what was obviously fresh damage from the recent storm.

The sandstone composition of the cliffs exhibited some pretty colors and interesting erosion patterns.

As Trail 3 turned northward, we left the stability of the boardwalks and firmer ground and began threading our way through a slot canyon whose floor had definitely not dried out from the previous day's rain yet. The path was mostly some combination of damp to muddy soil, but there were some sections where we had to find fallen tree parts to walk on top of in order to stay out of a few inches of still flowing water.

The trail though the canyon eventually led us to Bear Hollow, which is at the bottom of "the ladders" and begins an area of ascent which the map marks as having "140 steps". With the trail being as wet as it was, some portions (like this one) might have been a bit concerning had the area's rock been slippery granite, but the nice grippy sandstone wasn't particularly difficult to walk on when wet at all.

The ladders were the last bit of excitement we encountered for awhile, as we continued northward on Trail 3 for a stretch before transferring to Trail 10 to hike out to the Camel's Back overlook. Trail 10 led through some nice - but unremarkable (compared to what we had already been seeing) - forest areas. The view from the overlook itself was pretty meh as well.

The mundane Trail 10 eventually intersected Trail 3 again, with its more interesting scenery which included upping the ante on the morning's slot canyons by adding an ethereal mist.

A brief diversion up the intersecting Trail 4 brought us to a feature known as the Punch Bowl.

Continuing back on Trail 3 again brought us to the area known as Rocky Hollow and some of the best scenery of the day, as the mid-day sun occasionally tried streaming through the mist wafting into the canyon.

Then it was back across the bridge for a late lunch in the T42. The morning's hike had totaled 3.35 miles with 393 feet of elevation gain, and took 3:11.

-----

After lunch, we crossed back over the bridge and headed west down Trail 3 again, taking the opportunity this time to go down the little spur trail off the side of the hill that led down to an area known as the Ice Box - basically a large alcove in the rock with a waterfall trickling down one side, and a couple of trees growing defiantly out of the center of it. The combination of the alcove's location, shape, and water flowing through makes the air temperature inside considerably cooler than the surrounding area.

Then we resumed Trail 3 and continued heading west onto Trail 5 when 3 turned north, and eventually onto Trail 9 which crossed over the stream that carved Falls Canyon, . . .

. . . past some gnarly tree monsters, . . .

. . . and a face in the rock, . . .

. . . before arriving in an area known as Boulder Canyon.

On our way back we saw some some pretty impressive trees growing on the edges of the canyon walls . . .

. . . as well as this "little" snake by the side of the path.

We forgot to stop the workout tracking when we were done so don't have an exact length for the afternoon's hike, but it was around 2 miles with 617 feet of elevation gain, and took 2:15.