Mooner’s Hollow Trail & A Surprise From My Daughter

On October 12, 2017October 12, 2017 By KimBuskingHendersonIn Missouri State Park, Mooner's Hollow Trail, St. Francois State Park, UncategorizedLeave a comment

There are so many great places in Missouri to hike, Russ and I often have a hard time deciding where to go next. The same goes for my daughter Kelsey and son in law Eric. Russ and I had narrowed down our picks to a couple different parks a couple hours South of home. We’d decide on the fly Sunday morning. Kelsey called Saturday asking for suggestions and I told her about a few of our possible trails and a couple in Illinois. We’re almost to our destination, Mooners Hollow Trail in Bonne Terre Missouri, when Kelsey calls to ask where we are going and to tell me they are going to Mooners Hollow! Like mother, like daughter! The trail is a 3 mile loop and we agree that Russ and I will start at the trailhead and Kelsey, Eric and their friends Moriah and Ethan will start at the end and we’ll meet in the middle. This is the first time Kelsey and I will knowingly be hiking the same trail at the same time, even though we’re not hiking together! IMG_20171008_110701651 IMG_20171008_112451380 IMG_20171008_113701283 IMG_20171008_122116092 IMG_20171008_123631469

We finally met up with them almost 2 miles in! Kelsey tells me she left me a gift further on down the trail, I just have to find it! It’s off trail, on the right, under a big rock that looks like a turtle head, across from an area of white stones in the stream! Oh, and I won’t be able to see the turtle face coming from my direction! My head is on a swivel trying to look back up the trail for a rock turtle and white stones! That girl!! I find a big turtle rock…on the left. Finally, white stones! To my right is a huge long cliff like area, but darn if I see a turtle anywhere! And it’s a climb getting up to it. But I found my gift and it melted my heart!! I wanted to take it with me but it was not possible. One of these days we’ll get our timing right and hike a whole trail together!

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A Little 1982 Colorado Memory

On October 12, 2017 By KimBuskingHendersonIn Colorado, UncategorizedLeave a comment

In 1982, one of my really close friends, Corinne, was getting married in New Mexico and I was her maid of honor. My friend Cindy was going to drive with me to New Mexico for the wedding then we were going to head up to Colorado for a week before heading home. A great road trip for a couple of young girls, no doubt! Plans were made, hotel reservations made. Then at the last minute, the dates for some of Cindy’s college finals changed and she couldn’t go. I was going nuts! My parents wouldn’t let me make the drive from St. Louis to Roswell New Mexico by myself, even though the bride’s 14 yr old brother might be going along too. None of my other girlfriends could go. My mom…my MOM…suggested Scott, the guy I was dating…for like 2 months! Really?! Wasn’t sure how he’d take to Colorado or my Mustang…this was Scott of the permed hair & spritzer bottle of water/conditioner mix and hair pick that he kept handy under the drivers seat of his Trans Am! IMG_20171010_011220621

We take my little ’79 turbocharged Mustang without AC and hit the road. Smooth sailing the first day. We spend the night at my uncle’s house in Moore Oklahoma. At some point the second day, I want a break from driving and ask Scott to drive. He has waited until then to tell me he doesn’t know how to drive a stick shift! You’ve got to be kidding me! I tried to teach him in a parking lot…LMBO! I’m screaming in my head…don’t screw up my car doufus! I drove the rest of the trip. The wedding was beautiful and we headed to Colorado the next day. This guy had no business being in that state! The mountain highways scared him. I tried to take him up to this beautiful lake but the road was closed halfway up by snow and I had to back down for a bit…I think he cried a little! I stopped by a beautiful fast moving stream. Wanted to get out and explore and climb on rocks. Not a chance in hell was he going to get near that stream, much less rock hop or climb out on the log like I did! At least he took pictures! IMG_20171010_011541 IMG_20171010_011611 IMG_20171010_011704

Our hotel had a heated indoor pool and a hot tub out on the deck. He wouldn’t get in the pool because he forgot his ear and nose plugs. He wouldn’t get in the hot tub because the water was too hot and the air outside was too cold! I didn’t think anything could ever make me want to leave my favorite place on earth…but he did! We left after 3 days. I never saw him again after that trip! My mom was devastated! I think she had been hearing wedding bells! Yikes!

I found the above pictures when I was going through my hundreds and hundreds of pictures looking for pictures of my son to post on Facebook for his 28th birthday. I don’t think I’ve shared any pictures of him…so, meet my son Ross! And his girlfriend Tiffany and my grandson Sean as a little guy. You’ll be meeting my daughter Kelsey in my next post…we finally met up on the same trail!

WP_20150731_012 — Ross at the county fair truck and tractor pulls with the pulling truck he built.

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Hike #2 With My BFF – Matthiessen State Park

On August 20, 2017August 22, 2017 By KimBuskingHendersonIn Dells Canyon and Bluff Trail, Matthiessen State Park, Ottawa illinois, Stone Carving, Uncategorized2 Comments

Dells Canyon and Bluff Trail. We changed the name to Stairmaster From Hell Trail! This is the park Crystal and I went to on Friday afternoon, took a look at all of the stairs at the trailhead and said “No thank you!”. I hate stairs! I fell down icy stairs a few years ago and broke my ankle and heel and split a tendon. Eventually had surgery to remove a piece of bone and repair the tendon which resulted in major nerve damage and the tendon repair failed. A second surgery to attempt to repair the damage resulted in a severed nerve and I’m pretty sure the tendon repair has failed as well. Half of my foot and my heel are numb and I walk with a weird gate and take stairs one at a time, leading with my left foot. Over time, this has effected my knees…they don’t like stairs either! It all hurts like heck, but I finally decided I needed to get up and start moving, I have the rest of me to take care of. My feet are going to hurt no matter what I do, sitting at my desk, watching TV or getting outside and enjoying nature and my friends and getting much needed exercise! So, I decided to conquer those stairs! With my BFF at my side, I could do anything! I wish I would have counted all of the stairs we went up and down that day. We did count one section going up from the lower dell to the middle trail…142 stairs! We went down 75 of them from the bridge into the lower dell. That was just a small portion of the stairs we went up and down!

We were at the trailhead by about 8:45 am. The parking lot was almost full! I have mad parking skills and always get good parking places, which I did. We took our time going down the stairs. We had no idea what we’d find once we got down there. Tons of people and a bridge over a stream and waterfall/lake! And of course, more stairs if you want to go down into the dells and get to the stream!

IMG_20170805_092941055 — First chunk of stairs at the trailhead

IMG_20170805_093132217 — Second chunk of stairs down from the trailhead

IMG_20170805_093138294 — Looking back up a chunk of stairs we had just descended

IMG_20170805_093620731 — View looking over the bridge into the lower dell

IMG_20170805_094153118 — Stairs descending into the upper dell

Crystal and I headed for the upper dell stairs. Just going down the stairs it was beautiful! The stairs end right in the water but there are round concrete stepping pillars to use. I didn’t take many pictures in the upper dell because there were so many people. I feel funny taking pictures of random strangers unless they’re far away or really cute guys, haha!

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After exploring the upper dell and dodging people, we went back up the stairs and followed the road-like trail to a sign that said Lower Dell and yep, more stairs! A lot more stairs! A family…grandma (younger grandma), dad, pregnant mom and 3 little ones had gone down the stairs before us…pregnant mom carrying a toddler 😲…I was impressed! Down we went. I’m guessing 150+ stairs until we got to another bridge. Crossed the bridged then another 75 stairs (I did count these) down to the stream. It was even more beautiful than the upper dell! And more people. The weather was beautiful, people were taking advantage it and I don’t blame them. This time, the sun was just right for most of my pictures. I think they turned out pretty good for a phone camera. Once we got to the end of the canyon where the waterfall was, there were several caves I would loved to have explored but I didn’t have a flashlight and there were a lot of people going in and out of them in the dark…just didn’t want to go there! There’s a big stone face carving in front of one of the caves that’s really cool. I have no idea how old it is. While searching for information about the carving, I found a website with a really good article about Matthiessen State Park and the dells. https://hubpages.com/travel/Matthiessen-State-Park-Oglesby-IL

I’d love to go back and do this trail & yes, the stairs, again in the fall when the trees are changing but I can only imagine the crowds! So maybe I’ll try to get back there in the winter when the trees are bare and maybe not so many people. Ottawa is about 70 miles from Chicago, 250 miles from St Louis…it’s a beautiful area to visit, a fun weekend getaway. https://pickusottawail.com

Tree growing upside down. There were several like this throughout the canyon!

The Nature Institute, part 1

On August 10, 2017August 10, 2017 By KimBuskingHendersonIn Uncategorized1 Comment

IMG_20170618_114529596 Back in June, before the blast furnace hit the Midwest and called a halt to hiking for me, Russ and I decided to head for Illinois and see what we could find. To find hiking trails we use an app called Alltrails. It’s a nifty little thing. You can search for trails near you, or you can search by city, state, park, difficulty, distance, activity…there are all types of filters. Most of the trails will have photos that others have downloaded to give you an idea of what the trail is like. Once you find the trail you want, the app has GPS directions (Google Maps) to get you there. You can record your route (distance, elevation, time, speed) on a map of the trail. This comes in handy if you’re on a trail that isn’t marked well and you happen to get off the trail or turned around…yep, I know first hand! So, I found The Nature Institute in Godfrey Illinois. 3 miles, moderate, features a waterfall, lightly trafficked. 40 miles from home…SOLD!

The Nature Institute (TNI) is a non-profit land conservation and environmental education organization based in Godfrey, IL. https://www.thenatureinstitute.org/

Our hike started out on an old crumbling blacktop service road and I’m thinking…crap, this isn’t what I thought the trail would be like! I hate walking on blacktop!

The blacktop didn’t last long! We eventually came upon an open area with a fantastic view of the Mississippi River, the Olin Nature Preserve Skeet Range. I’ve been reading through TNI’s website as I’ve been writing…it’s a pretty amazing place and I wish I would have checked out the website before we hiked! IMG_20170618_120546090 IMG_20170618_120609337

On we went down into a hollow. It was beautiful! My pictures do not do it justice. There were several old growth trees that were massive and again, my pictures don’t capture just how big they really were. We came upon a little monument/plaque with a couple of log benches. Hop Hollow. The plaque tells how from 1790 to 1863 the picturesque Hop Hollow was an entry point on the Underground Railroad. Sympathetic landowners helped hundreds of slaves try to reach freedom. Gave me chills. I’ve read dozens of books about the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and slavery but I have never knowingly stood in a place that was part of the Underground Railroad. I want to take my grandson there so he can see it and maybe when he’s older, have a better understanding of what the Underground Railroad was, how difficult it was to travel… There are a couple of big old dead trees at the site. I wonder, could they be from way back then? Probably not, but I like to think that they were part of that history too!

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