Terri of the Trails: 2019

Ghosts

October 31, 2019

Trail 2, McCormick's Creek State Park, Indiana

It was not the kind of day most people would choose for a walk in the woods. It was the kind of wet cold that seeps into the marrow of your bones, like cold rivulets traveling through cracks in the rock, seeping into the center.

But, we were not deterred. As the morning moved on, wind was added to the mix of cold and rain, and then snow.

But, why not? Walking would keep us warm. And, it was Halloween. This was Halloween weather and we were going to dive into the experience.

Would there be ghosts, too?

We chose Trail 2 because we had never walked it, and due to its description on the park map (moderate, only about a mile, and through McCormick's Cove Nature Preserve). There was also something else along the trail I wanted to see, in relation to a more complex writing I am working on. But, that's another story. Stay tuned – keep watching this blog.

Whole map of McCormick's Creek State Park

Section of trail map showing area containing Trail 2 and Canyon Inn

Now for our ghostly walk – finding the past, or the past finding us. And, other mysteries.

We had stayed at Canyon Inn, in the park the previous night. It was built on the foundation of an old sanitarium (or, a get-away place for weary rich folks, back then, before this became a state park). The sanitarium (and adjacent land) was the start of preserving acreage in this area purely for its beauty and restorative value, for serenity and revitalization. Of course, the park (established as the first Indiana state park in 1916) is still all of that, and we feel happy staying at the Inn, and enjoying this wonderful park.

But, the background of the park is another story.

Trail 2 begins near the old CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Recreation Hall, built in the 1930's.

The CCC men built a number of structures in the park (but, that's another story).

The old Recreation Hall brings back memories (though, I'm not old enough for my memories to extend back to the 1930's). I peered into the windows, trying to make out details of the interior through finely-meshed screens.

What I was looking for was the ghosts of life in the old Nature Center, which is what this building was until the early 1970's, when a new Nature Center was built elsewhere in the park. I tried to see the old exhibits around the perimeter, and some in the center, as they were in the late 1960's. They were not like the fancy new ones, but we had fun and learned through them. I see myself gingerly putting my hand through a hole in a box to guess what was inside. I see my little brother Joe holding a bird's nest he found, and the wonderful summer intern, JoAnn, bending down to him, even remembering his name. I try to see both my parents and my siblings in a circle with other park campers in an open end of the room, singing songs, laughing, as JoAnn and Chief Naturalist Lucille Pitt led an activity.

The door on this side was the entrance to the Nature Center years ago

Those were memorable, influential times for me, a budding Naturalist, in that building.

But, that's another story.

On to the trail.

One thing we knew about it – we would be hiking downhill for awhile, into the lowland near McCormick's Creek, then, of course, the way back would be all uphill. Everything else would be a surprise (other than what I was looking for).

The first part revealed a forest floor of autumn leaves in a variety of colors and shapes, contrasting with the broad heart shapes and bright green of Wild Ginger leaves.

Down we went, through the wet autumn forest.

A sinkhole in the distance - this common feature of karst topography is seen throughout McCormick's Creek State Park - but, that's another story

Along the whole trail, we came upon trees darkened by the rain, some with mysterious holes, or with gnarly roots like wicked witch fingers.

Some trees and logs were covered by beautiful mosses and lichens, enlivened and brightened by the wet day.

Moss gradually covering Sycamore trunks in the lowland

Blue-green lichen growing among patches of moss

Fungi, moss, and lichen - common companions on an old log

Fungi appeared in ghostly white, or weird forms, or in fairy-like places.

And, there were ghostly ferns!!

These are either Bracken or Lady Ferns. I am leaning toward the former, but wish I had looked more closely. To find out why some ferns turn white as winter approaches, see: www.savetheredwoods.org/blog/wonders/winter-white-ferns

And, plants in seed that had become ghosts of what they once were.

As we walked the trail down, down, down, we started to see random blocks of stone – out of place, scattered. Irregular shapes re-carved by forces over time, moss smoothing the edges and softening their hardness. Sometimes the stones peeked from beneath a cover of fallen leaves.

As we walked along, the stones became more numerous, and larger.

A pile of moss-covered stones surrounded by seedling trees

And, they were piled higher.

Richard going down a side trail near a large pile of stones

Piles of moss- and lichen-covered stones revealed secret dens or passages.

Something larger was revealed, gradually coming into our view.

What was this, which looked like ancient ruins melting into the forest?

It looked like stair-steps to a lost temple, and maybe a ceremonial altar above a pool.

It was, in a sense. This was the Old Statehouse Quarry, the place I wanted to find, where once people toiled hard every day, all day, to carve and extract great blocks from the Salem Limestone bedrock.

Instead of piling stones to build a temple or altar, or anything, the blocks would be pried from the bedrock, shaped, and hauled far away to build other structures.

Some of the stone was used in the building of the old Statehouse in Indianapolis. It was loaded and transported west to the White River, then carried across the river to a railroad on the other side, where it was loaded onto trains and carried north.

Earlier than that, some stones were transported across McCormick's Creek and then eastward across the land, to an area above the canyon, to build the foundation of a log cabin (and cellar) and a springhouse for Jesse Peden and his family.

Some were transported, in 1857, to the same location to build the under-story and pillars of the impressive barn of Jesse's son, Thomas.

But, that's another story.

What we came upon was the remains of the quarry, an unintended memorial to the work of many men (and horses), to blood, sweat, and tears, to local topography and industry, to the enabling of farm life and the walls of government.

We were walking on history. I tried to imagine the ghosts of the men toiling at this site - marking, cutting, shaping, lifting ...

There were mysteries here:

How many men worked each day, for how many hours?
How much stone was quarried over the lifetime of the use of this place?
How much of a load could one horse pull? How many horses pulled a load?
How long did it take to pull a load of blocks all the way to the White River, or to the land above and beyond the canyon and great waterfall?

The "handwriting" of hard work, long ago

But, that's another story.

And, what would we find deep in the crevices of the stone, if we were small enough to explore them?

We can see the original level of the land behind the old quarry

The quarry had been gouged out of the landscape, changing it forever. But, Nature had been reclaiming her domain and taking advantage of the created situations in interesting ways.

Trees growing among the quarry rocks

Walking Ferns clinging to the rock along ridges

Sharp-Lobed Hepatica, which will bloom in early spring

The young forest growing on top of the Old Quarry

The edge of the Old Quarry above McCormick's Creek, and part of Trail 10

The edge of the old quarry rises above McCormick's Creek, which pours over the big waterfall far to the east and then tumbles into the White River to the west. Normally one can hike the rugged, stony creek (Trail 10), but not on this day, as torrents of water rushed by and spilled over small rapids.

McCormick's Creek, upstream

Across McCormick's Creek from the Old Quarry, toward Trail 7

McCormick's Creek, downstream

(Why is it called McCormick's Creek? That's another story)

Rushing down toward the White River

Over time, water collected in the excavated bowl of the old quarry, forming a pond. I wondered what kinds of life it supports throughout the year, and thought I would return sometime during spring and summer to investigate and observe.

At the far end there was a population of water plants.

I think they are Lizard Tail, but it would be better to see them closer.

We lingered a good while around the Old Quarry, taking it all in. But, we also needed to be on our way, on the rest of Trail 2.

What was that noise behind us, as we were leaving the Old Quarry?

For awhile, we still found piles of limestone blocks and segments of quarry work away from the main quarry site …

… including another pond area created by long ago excavation …

… and a dinosaur leaning forward to drink from the pond …

… which mysteriously disappeared as we moved past.

We were curious about the large lowland area to our right, between the trail and McCormick's Creek. Was it a normal floodplain?

Many trees (mostly Sycamores) had multiple trunks.

Richard said he thought the area had been logged. The trees all seemed fairly young, too. We saw so many quarry remnants to the left of the trail that we wondered if this whole area had been scooped out long ago, and that it actually had been, before then, as high and steep as the land to the back of the main quarry site.