Hemlock Cliffs Road Trip

I woke up this morning an was asked, “Do you want to go on a road trip today?” I said “to where?” He says “to a cliff” I say again “Where?” He says “In Indiana” I say “Indiana is a big state, Where in Indiana?” Finally I get an answer to Where, that I know. He says “Hoosier Forest”

We go eat some lunch, fuel up the truck and get some drinks then on the road to Hemlock Cliffs ( http://www.indianaoutfitters.com/Destinations/Hoosier_National/hemlock_cliffs_trail_dest.htm ) Our destination is just an hour and a half away. It’s a crisp fall day, 50 degrees and partly cloudy. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon trip and short hike in the woods.

Hemlock Cliff1

A one mile hiking trail leads you down into the canyon. Hemlock Cliffs is a valley of beauty in Southern Indiana. I Love the fall season, as we walk down the trail, I enjoy the smell and the beauty of the cliffs. It keeps a cool climate created by the box canyon shape of sandstone formations and seasonal waterfalls. You can find unique trees and plants that grow there some of which include, hemlock, wintergreen, wild geranium, french’s shooting star, mountain laurel and liverwort. We didn’t see all of these different plants, being fall. The area is a sight to behold! There are sandstone rock outcrops, over-hangs, cliffs, rock shelters and ravines. Much of the sandstone is “honeycombed” by weathering of iron ores. There are springs, small caves and subterranean drainage in the underlaying limestone. I did get lots of pictures of the area.

Hemlock Cliff

Now we are ready to hike back out, mind you we went down into this canyon now we have to go up! We make it back to the truck and both decide we need to do more walking and get into better shape!

Our next destination is Buzzard’s Roost, ( http://www.wildlifeviewingareas.com/wv-app/ParkDetail.aspx?ParkID=600 ) so on we go! As we are driving along the road, just around a curve shining in the sunlight is an old barn painted bright red with a billboard sign painted on the side. Michael stops in the road and says see if you can get a shot of that, you don’t see those anymore. So I roll down the window and get a couple quick shots, then on we go. Just a bit farther down the road we came across an old bridge, you guessed it, we stopped to get some pictures. We reach Buzzard’s Roost and turn onto a pretty much single lane road. With the fall colors it was so pretty driving into the tree lined lane. We get to the area and discover there is also a small primitive camp ground there as well. Very pretty and peaceful place!

Buzzardsign

The trail begins on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River. From there a steep trail ascends through a hardwood forest to a rocky stream that runs into the river with waterfalls and large sandstone outcrops .The trail is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long. The overlook area has primitive camping and picnic facilities. It has multiple trails with many small caves. Since it was beginning to get dark, we did not hike the whole trail.

BuzzardRoost1
Now loaded back in the truck to our next destination, The Overlook Restaurant! As we head down the road, we came across another old one lane bridge in Alton, IN and stopped to get pictures.

AltonBridge

Just before we reach the restaurant, we saw another overlook on the Ohio River and got a couple shots there.

roadsideoverlook
We arrive at the Overlook Restaurant and go in to have an Awesome meal! Perfect end to a Great Day!http://theoverlook.com/

I will get some pictures uploaded on here, just as soon as I get them off the camera lol probably tomorrow, now it’s time to sleep. It’s been a good day!

 

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Author: Cheryl Deig

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