Happy Trails . . .

Dave and I recently visited Indian Cave State Park.  Located less than 20 miles from our house, we drove by the sign for a year-and-a-half and repeatedly said "We should go there."   After looking it up on-line and seeing the beautiful hiking trails, we finally took the plunge a couple weeks ago.  Since this is as close as we're getting to a vacation this summer, here is the obligatory slide show.  I've kept the pics relatively small to keep this as short as possible, but click to enlarge anything you would like to see more clearly. (Preferrably NOT the pic of me dripping sweat.)

Start of the trail.  After a mile or so of this view I began to have Hunger Games visions.  I swear I heard a Mockingjay.

Ran across this about a half-mile in.  Sad that it ever existed.

Sadder still - this is the only headstone we could find.  Wonder how many graves were never marked.

Our first glimpse of the Missouri River.  

The talking tree from Disney's Pocahontas?

The Missouri River Valley from the top of the trail.

Here we are at the log cabin at the end of the trail - sweaty and red-faced, but proud we made it all the way.  And yes, we're aware it looks like there's a ghost standing behind me.  "Mysterious and spooky...all together ooky."

Tip for future hikes:  Some husbands find it annoying if you sing old Girl Scout songs as you go . . . "Val-da-ri, Val-da-ra.  My knapsack on my back."  Or maybe it was just my singing that he found annoying.

We parked near here so decided to explore a little before leaving.

There are only two buildings left in St. Deroin - this one, now used for candle-making demonstrations . . .

. . . and the schoolhouse.

"Lassie, run tell Mom I've fallen down the well."

One-lane road that leads to/from hiking trails we visited.

Now that's what I call determination!

The Indian Cave for which the park is named - awesome!

One of the hieroglyphs discovered at the cave - related to Lewis and Clark's boat that traveled this area and traded with local Native Americans in 1804?

Dave, wondering about the height of the hieroglyph carver . . . ?

One of Dave's biggest pet-peeves:  littering.   This spot is too beautiful to be marred by  thoughtless people and their food-wrappers, so he climbed over the fence to fill his pockets with scattered trash . . .

. . . and deposited it in it's rightful place.

The Missouri River from ground level.
 A year ago,  this area was under 20 ft. of flood waters

While I have spent many of my adult years in Nebraska, my heart still belongs to Kansas, so I had to catch a shot of the sunflowers along the banks of the Missouri.

Our plan is to hike all eleven trails within Indian Cave State Park - ranging in length from 1/2 mile to 6 miles. Two down, nine to go.  There's even talk of hiking in and camping overnight - but no one believes I'll actually do it.  Ahh... a challenge!