Hidden Treasures

 

Sometimes small towns are not given nearly enough credit for developing beautiful parks. Today we found just such a park to hike in Pendleton, Indiana, located in Madison County just north of Indianapolis along I-69. The park covers approximately 150 acres and is located centrally to the town of Pendleton. It has trails that follow Fall Creek and a couple of small tributaries in the area. There is also a decent sized children's play area and a variety of sports areas (ie...basketball, baseball, etc.) located on the grounds.


I would consider this a beginner's hiking park or more of a casual stroll. All of the trails appeared to be either paved or covered in gravel. There were very few real physical challenges beyond distance. Still, the grounds are well-maintained and well worth the walk in any season. The view from the bridge over the upper waterfall was enough to make the trip worth while for me. The backwash of the river just before crashing over the edge was truly amazing! I am endlessly fascinated by how water moves under pressure and waterfalls are always a delight, no matter what size.

Product Review: Swiss Gear Hiking Pole

I've recently purchased my first real piece of hiking equipment. It's a hiking pole made by Swiss Gear. It's something I've been wanting since I started hiking. My sense of balance going downhill and crossing streams over logs is a bit iffy, so I wanted something that could provide a little extra balance. Eventually I may get two, but for now I just wanted the one so I can keep a hand free for the camera.

The Swiss Gear Hiking Pole is a very nice piece of equipment for the price. I bought mine at Dick's Sports, which tends to be a little pricey, but I have seen it slightly cheaper at Wal-mart and online at Amazon. It's red aluminum with black ergonomic handles. The stick can be easily adjusted to height (which is great because I'm short). The handle has a small compass embedded in the head. I double checked mine and it seems to be working appropriately.

I've taken it out on my first hike and it worked just as I hoped it would. There is little to no flexing in the pole. The tip comes with a plastic cover or you can remove it to reveal the spike (would I would expect will be more useful during the winter months). I have found that just about or slightly above elbow height works best for me. I would give this product 4.5 stars out of 5.

Hiking and Textural Photography

Almost from the beginning of this year's hiking adventure, I've been taking pictures. The pictures I tend to take are more of textures, then things. Most of my images tend to be more close up. I am fascinated with the way patterns and colors interact in nature. I've always got my eye on the dirt in front of me or the way that water moves in rivers and lakes. My boyfriend gets a kick out of it. He tends to focus on a much larger picture, which is fine for a nature and wildlife photographer (photograph3r.com), but sometimes I will see things that he has missed. For instance, I love the way color plays across water. While he's taking pictures of the fall leaves on the opposite bank of the river, I'm taking pictures of the same leaf color as it dances on the river. To me, this is even more timeless, almost abstract. The fall color on water pictures you see in the slide show below have almost a Monet quality to them that I couldn't resist. And I love the contrast of the actual leaves floating through the color!

A Hiking We Will Go - Indianapolis Parks

I've always been lousy at keeping a diary and unfortunately, the blog thing is not going much better. I'm going to have to work on that, I admit.

Just to bring in possible readers up to speed (not that that will take much) I'm new to the worlds of hiking and camping, so this blog is going to be all about my various misadventures. My boyfriend and I have been doing the hiking thing now for a little over a month. He's trying to make a breakthrough as a nature photographer (see his work at http://www.photograp3r.com/) and I'm looking for a little natural inspiration in my artwork, so choosing to go hiking has been a real boon to the both of us.

Until this last weekend, we had been pretty much restricted to local area parks and nature trails, which don't get me wrong, Indianapolis has a great collection of! We've visited three parks so far. They are, Southeastern Park, Eagle Creek Park, and Holliday Park. All beautiful in their own distinct way. I have been doing some photography of my own (not nearly as good, but I hold my own), concentrating mostly on floral and fauna. Of the three parks we have visited in Indy, I highly recommend Holliday Park, which I mentioned in my last blog, as the most visually interesting, although Southeastern Park has some really nice creek bed areas and pathways. Unfortunately, Southeastern Park also taught me my first big lesson...Beware of the tall grass! I know, I know. It's something that's ingrained in most of us as children, but our first trip to Southeastern went on without so much as a hitch, so I just wasn't thinking about the possible repercussions of walking in tall grass near a creek bed until it was too late. My son was with us for this particular trip and had the most skin exposed. The chiggers found him an easy target!

Now I know some of you are screaming, why aren't you wearing some sort of bug repellent? We were. I had sprayed Deep Woods Off on my son and myself, but evidently wasn't as thorough with it as I should have been when I did my son. I came out of it with only a couple of bites. My son got them all over his knees! With a lot of restraint and a thorough shower when he got home, he was able to bring them under control and be rid of them within a week, but was none too happy about it. Needless to say, we have chalked this one up to experience and have tried to be more thorough in the repellent treatments ever since.

The Amateur Hikist

Introduction

All my life I've wanted to take up trail hiking, but could never seem to find the time or ambition to do so. Recently, I've put that interest into action and started hiking around some of the local parks located in Indianapolis, Indiana, my home town for the last three years. There are some great treasures to be seen out there that I had never known about until now! My blog, "The Amateur Hikist" is about my various adventures (more like misadventures), some of the advice that I have found helpful, and some of the pictures that I have taken along the way.

For example, the little creature you see at the right is a darling little chipmunk that I tripped across while traipsing along the trails at Holliday Park. Cute, isn't he?! He sat there, quite still, on a tree root and just watched me watch him for about five minutes. This was the closest I could get before something (probably more like someone) scared him off.

Next is a stone manuscript and a fabulous statuary ensemble, found in the same park, called "The Ruins". This find was completely unexpected. We came looking for nature shots and found some great architectural features instead. Turns out these pieces were originally from a building in New York that had been slated for demolition. The artist commissioned for this work was Elmer E. Taflinger, an Indianapolis native. The whole installation is a beautiful piece, but the waterworks are no longer functioning. In essence, it has become its name, a ruin, which is a huge shame. Hopefully someday the Indianapolis parks department will see fit to refurbish it and bring it to life again.