The Natural Bloomington Blog

When The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) marketing director told me the Fern Cliff Nature Preserve is his favorite, I knew I was in for a stirring photo hike. It helped that he confirmed a trail does indeed wind through the 150-acre Putnam County site. The Indiana Division of Nature Preserve's website says there isn't one. TNC's website says only that a trail exists.

While the Dedicated State Nature Preserve would have been more inspiring were I a botanist -- TNC calls it a "floral paradise" -- this sandstone marvel proved worthy of both its National Natural Landmark (NNL) status and the focus demanded by its rugged landscape. The terrain is treacherously precipitous. A trailside sign warns of "dangerous cliffs."  

Botanically speaking, Fern Cliff's sheer sandstone cliffs and moist, upland and lowland forests are literally dripping with ferns, mosses and liverworts unique to this part of the planet. Like that of the nearby Big Walnut Preserve, its NNL status means the preserve has "outstanding biological and geological resources."

That the Big Walnut Creek Valley is a natural wonder is evidenced by the fact that the U.S. Park Service designated 502 acres of it a National Natural Landmark (NNL) nearly a half century ago. By its 1968 designation, that means Big Walnut contains "outstanding biological and geological resources."

"The site contains one of the few stands in Indiana where beech, sugar maple, and tulip poplar grow on alluvial Genesee soil and includes relict species of a postglacial forest that occupied the area 5,000 to 6,000 years ago," the Park Service says.

And the recognition doesn't end there. Last Wednesday, I hiked through two Dedicated State Nature Preserves -- Big Walnut/Tall Timbers Trail Unit and Hall Woods -- and alongside a bean field to find a third -- the Hemlock Ridge Nature Preserve -- too overgrown to negotiate. The three are located along a six-mile stretch of the Big Walnut on either side of Bainbridge, a one-light town west of Danville with a population smaller than its zip code, 736 and 765.

We heard McCormick's Creek long before we reached the Statehouse Quarry, which sits creekside a quarter mile or so upstream from the White River West Fork. And I can't say I was thrilled when I found the creek a muddy, coffee-with-cream color. The water rushed, unlike I'd ever seen it, with a deafening roar. But the idea of roiling muck as the day's visual image didn't exactly delight.

For the most part, my instinctive reaction missed the mark by more than a quarter mile. I literally turned the mud to photo gold, as evidenced by the McCormick's Creek Photo Album I posted (and one from Cataract to come). The swirling water over the creek beds' glistening rocks slaked my thirst for abstract photographic expression, even if the sudsy accumulations at the fall bases were anything but refreshing.

McCormick's Creek State Park just east of Spencer is Indiana's oldest state park and turned 100 years old on July 4. The Statehouse Quarry, which commenced operation in 1878, is so named because it produced limestone used to build the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

I spent most of my time adjusting to a new teaching environment this past week, and a short photo trip to Martin County wasn't too productive. It is late August, after all. Southern Indiana natural areas, like the Bluffs of Beaver Bend Nature Preserve we explored on Friday, are hot, muggy, buggy and overgrown. The upshot -- I didn't spend much time processing new photos this week.

Instead, I used what photog time I could steal from the transition to complete a seemingly endless process of reducing more than 3,200 nature images to a couple dozen of the best for my Gallery on our new site -- Indiana Nature Photography - Workshops and Tours. The gallery and site will be works in progress for a while, but go ahead take a look. Here's our mission statement:

"Indiana Nature Photography is an Indiana-based project dedicated to exposing and sharing the region’s extraordinary and unexpected natural beauty through digital photography. A collaborative effort between two of Indiana’s most committed and creative outdoor photographers – GaryMorrison and Steven Higgs – INP offers workshops, blogs and other educational opportunities with nature photographers and other kindred spirits."