The Falls of the Ohio State Park in Indiana is one of my favorite places to go on photo adventures. Not only are there fossil beds to explore but there's also plenty of other sights to take in from there (plus there's an ice cream parlor nearby). There's bridges, critters aplenty, and of course the Ohio River.
My pandemic partner and I went on our first photo adventure together here, last December. All these photos are from that jaunt. I don't recall which direction these geese were headed but they seemed to be in a hurry.
Along the river's edge there were plenty of fossils in the making...I want to know how long it will take that basketball in the bottom left to turn into a fossil. Fortunately there were plenty of fossils that had had enough time to season properly.
See? Fossils! Some of these I'd seen before, here and elsewhere but never realized were fossils. A park ranger came out and told us more about them and pointed out ones we'd overlooked. It was rather neat, I'd been there plenty of times before but never learned as much as I did in this one adventure.
I would have overlooked this second one as some sort of weird, weathered old concrete if the ranger hadn't pointed it out to us. The park is in a bend of the Ohio River, near its namesake falls. It offers an interesting mix of being quite close to the city and civilization while also feeling like you're out in the boonies.
The bridges make for fun shots to contrast with both the nature and the city skyline. Looking at these photos has got me pining to go back so I think me and my pandemic partner shall go on another adventure there soon :)
Until next time, y'all be safe out there and don't do anything I wouldn't do!
Ok, I'll admit. I'm a sucker for 'fossil beds'. I pull in almost every time there is a sign that says 'fossil' anything.
My favorite exhibit of them all? Badlands National Park, South Dakota. They have an outdoor exhibit that is just amazing, not so much for the fossils, but for the creative display. They have a wheelchair accessible raised wooden walk way with example fossils under Plexiglas with sinage. The accessibility is way cool, but it also keeps the masses from tromping around on the fossils themselves. It's just a very cool place.
I also really like John Day Fossil Beds near John Day, Oregon. Lots of hiking and finding (also with some sinage) to do there.
Great photographs of what looks like a very interesting area.
I was quite dubious going there the first time but I was also quite hungover, after that first visit I've been sold on'em. The Badlands sound badass, I will have to check that out when I finally make it there.
I'm usually skeptical of fossil and ghost town signage so I've never stopped for them, I may have to change that policy though. I pretty much stayed on the coast in Oregon but looking at photos of the John Day fossil beds and national monument makes me think that I will have to correct that sooner rather than later.
I'm more of a sucker for petroglyphs and Native American ruins/remnants, particularly out in the southwest. You ever visit Mesa Verde?
I really am a sucker for fossil beds, I get unpleasantly surprised from time to time, but once in a while you hit the jackpot. Ghost towns not so much... I know a few but they don't have any sinage.
I collect petroglyph areas. I have several that aren't on the big radar. Anytime you are headed this way I'd be happy to give you places and in some cases even GPS coordinates.
I do know Mesa Verde, I've been there once. I go to Choco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly (pronounced DeShay) every couple of years if I can. Choco Canyon is in an area where the Pueblos are still in use. The oldest continuous settlement in North America is close by, a Zuni Pueblo that has been lived in for over 500 years.
Another place I'm sure you'd like is the really poorly named Montezuma's Castle along the Verde River in Central AZ. The whole Verde valley has cool places in it. I'm really fond of Tuzigot which is way under visited. It's a massive Kiva ruin, just amazing.
I love the high plateau country in eastern Oregon, and the Fossil Beds are just a big bonus. It's a great area for me to just wander around in. I got caught in the last snow of the year (in May) up there one time and spent about 6 hours in a general store in a little town. It was just a good day except for the snow :)
I will definitely be checking in with you before I set out on another adventure in the southwest, that sounds lovely.
I got caught in the first snow of the season in crater lake, that general store was probably a bit warmer than camping in it was. It is beautiful country though, at least the little bit I've seen.
I stopped there once and went through the visitors center and took photos of the bridge and I am still sad that because of mobility issues I was unable to go down and walk the river banks. Your photos show how much I missed out on!
The visitor center was always closed when I was there, I've never seen it :S It's a lovely place but it would be a nightmare if you have mobility issues, I'm sorry that you didn't get to get down there yourself.
If you ever are in the neighborhood again, you can get down to the river's edge a lot easier just downriver in New Albany or across the river in Waterfront Park in Louisville, but neither place has fossil beds :(
Thanks for dropping by!
I made an attempt to get closer, but the pathway down was too rough for my mobility scooter and I ended up hanging out with Lewis and Clark! The Ohio is such a mighty river, with so much of our country's history along its shores.
Even if the pathway had been better I don't think it would have made much difference, the beds are rather rough and irregular. They're pretty good people to hang out with...did you see the metal birds hanging out up there too?
I don't remember the birds! I even looked back through my pictures an no birds!
I'd forgotten about them until I was looking through the photos for this post, I think they were in the back of the visitor center near the path down to the beds.
They are wonderful! I'm pretty sure if I had seen them I would have taken pictures I'm a bit of a bird lover! Thanks for showing me. That is a marvelous view of the river, too!
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