Monday, October 17, 2011

Brush Creek Canyon

Yesterday, my husband and I took advantage of a sunny autumn Sunday by going on a drive.  As we pulled away from the farm he asked me where I wanted to go and I said, “Let’s go to Motor Mill so I can take some pictures and after that we can go wherever you want.”  On our way to Motor Mill, I suddenly got the notion that we should also visit Brush Creek Canyon near Arlington, Iowa.  Only one other time in my life had I been there and that was over 40 years ago, on a Sunday drive with my parents and siblings.

After backtracking due to a detour and our inability to be attentive enough to notice small signs, my husband and I finally located the gravel road leading into the park which which owns the name, “Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve”.Brush Creek Canyon 10.16.11   There was a hiking path buried in leaves which we followed for a short ways until it became too steep.  Besides lots of trees, we saw many pock-marked dolomite limestone formations, called “slump blocks”.  (I was expecting Fred or Wilma Flintstone to appear at any moment!)

Brush Creek Canyon 10.16.11 (12) Click here to see info about Iowa’s state preserves.

Brush Creek Canyon 10.16.11 (5)

The tree-filled slope led down to Brush Creek.  This is what canyons look like in Iowa!

Brush Creek Canyon 10.16.11 (11) 

We could have eaten our picnic lunch in the park shelter house, but since it was still before noon, we decided to travel on.  This is the road leading into and out of the park….

 Brush Creek Canyon 10.16.11 (1)

Tomorrow, I’ll show you Motor Mill.

6 comments:

Gail said...

Those rocks are very similiar to some we have here...do you know how they were formed?

Jeannelle said...

Thanks for your question, Gail. "Natural stream erosion" is the answer given in the Iowa DNR link I added to the post.

Michaele said...

Fred and Barney for sure : ) What a nice fall drive. I am curious about Motor Mill now.

Donalyn said...

Just lovely Jeanelle!

SandyCarlson said...

You are fun! Thanks for this post. Beautiful.

Judy said...

It looks like we did the same thing on Sunday...go for a drive and enjoy the beauty that is autumn!