Thursday, May 13, 2021

Salamonie River State Forest, IN

ABOUT THE PARK: 
Salamonie River State Forest - Indiana Department of Natural Resources 

DIRCTIONS: 
GPS Coordinates 40.809009, -85.682888
Hominy Ridge Lake Parking (parking is not shown on  the trail map)

TRAIL MAP: 
Salamonie River State Forest Horse and  Hiking Trails - Indiana Department of Natural Resources

HIKE DISTANCE:  4.5 miles

THE HIKE: 
Heading back to New Jersey from Missouri on travel day 1, hike 2 of 2.
We started on a trail to the far right of the parking lot heading towards Salamonie River.  It was a very muddy and chunked up trail from heavy horse traffic.
Salamonie River at the Salamonie Dam
Zooming in to a waterfall on the other side of the river.
We arrived at the river just in time to see two crows chasing a bald eagle.
At times there were trails where horses were not allowed ...
... and those trails were in great shape.
A Greater Yellowlegs in the Salamonie River.
A waterfall with a trickle of water coming down.
Several trails branched off steeply uphill with no signs so we just went up ...
... and followed a very faint trail ...
... until we hit an actual trail but with no blazing and very few signs I had to rely heavily on the Gaia app to determine where we were.
A rare marker for the blue trail.
There were supposed to be several waterfalls along the way but they must have dried up because I had no luck in finding them even though there had been rain recently.
Ah ha!  A waterfall.  Seems I found two out of the five.
Crossing the dam at ...
... Hominy Ridge Lake ...
... back to the parking lot.
A tired dog out for the night in the motel.

Kokiwanee Nature Preserve, IN

 

 

ABOUT THE PARK: 
Kokiwanee Nature Preserve - ACRES Land Trust
 
DIRECTIONS: 
GPS Coordinates 40.819359, -85.683047

TRAIL MAP: 
 

HIKE DISTANCE:  2.7 miles
 
THE HIKE: 
Heading back to New Jersey from Missouri on travel day 1, hike 1 of 2.
Straight ahead from the parking lot is the wide main trail.  We immediately turned right on ...
... the Mossy Heights Trail.
Starting to catch glimpses of the Salamonie River down below.
The descent down to the river was so steep it involved some sliding down on the behind.  There was a waterfall off to the right but there were tons of children there and it did not appear to be flowing well so we just continued on down.
At the bottom, right on the River Trail.
Following closely along the Salamonie River.
Frog Falls with a trickle of water coming down.
Salamonie River
Heading back along the River Trail.
On to another waterfall.
Climbing up steeply out of the ravine but this time with some steps.
Kissing Falls
Crossing over the top of Kissing Falls.
A few more dogwood blooms here.  They were all gone in Missouri.
At Fawn Lake the trail to the left is a wide, mowed path.  We took the footpath to the right ...
... which turned out to be unused and becoming overgrown.
We worked our way around back to the  main trail ...
... back to the parking lot.  Now a short drive in the car across the river to Salamonie State Forest.