An Autumn Eve Jaunt To Nine Eagles State Park

 

When HD asked me Monday where I would like to go the next day, I thought of Nine Eagles State Park. It was farther than some of our mornings spent out trekking around, but I had only been there once - almost 56 years ago when it was one of Iowa's newest State Parks. 

I had hoped I might be able to recreate this photo from October 17, 1965, but absolutely nothing looked familiar to me. There was no way I could locate this exact spot. Of course the park has changed alot since then.

I had mentioned maybe we should wait and go later when the leaves had begun to color, but we went ahead as planned and had the park almost entirely to ourselves. That wouldn't be true in another month.

 

The first thing I saw when I got out of the car was this millepede. Luckily, I did not step on it.

There is a nice beach, picnic shelter and playground beside the lake now.

Bluestem grass lakeside. Big blue? Little blue? I can't tell.

A bit of color showing in the trees across the lake.

My photos are pretty much in the order I took them.

There was a large area of lotus pads with seed heads, but I chose to highlight this pad because of the rain drops still on it. 

I wanted a photo of a seed head too, but they were all turned toward the west and their backsides aren't as interesting as the front.

There was a lot of algae present in the water.

It was a cool morning, but the sun was shining, spangling on the water.

I am drawn to the beauty and bleakness of dead trees/limbs. They are starkly beautiful in silhouette.

It looks like Bud is fishing out there on the end of the dock. 

In reality, he has his camera on a monopod and is lining it up to take a picture of the lake.

He caught me unaware a few minutes later when I had my back to him and he told me to turn around.

So, even though I couldn't recreate the photo from '65, I do have a current one of me at Nine Eagles 

We commented on the drive down the hill to the lake about what a good picture the trees arching over the road would make, so on the way back we pulled over to take such photos.

I pointed my camera one way and Bud picked the opposite direction. I decided his view was better and walked over to aim my camera that way. Which is when a little spot of green caught my eye.

I can't pass up photographing lichen. As I say every time: "I like lichen." 

That brief pause garnered me a bonus in my trees over the road photo.

Just as I aimed my camera down the roadway, a deer walked across it and paused, looking my way when it heard the chime the camera makes when I turn it on. 

The Grand River flows through the north side of Davis City, the little town closest to Nine Eagles State Park. I took this picture from the bridge looking to the northwest. By the way, we did not see even one eagle while there, let alone nine of them. 

According to the IAGenWeb site for Decatur County, "Oral legend handed down through the generations was that the name Nine Eagles derived from the first white settlers observing nine eagles roosting in the trees of the area. The first postoffice in the township of Hamilton, established in 1849, was named Nine Eagles. There was also a trading post and mill nearby.

From Davis City we went west and north to Slip Bluff Lake County Park.

The lake can be accessed by foot from the first Iowa Welcome Center heading north on I-35 from the Iowa-Missouri state line, which we could have done, but we wanted to stay off the interstate.

Standing on the bluff, behind a low retaining wall, looking north across the fields, farms and woods that make our state so beautiful.

I am somewhat confident that this is where part of the bluff 'slipped' off at one time, providing a name for the park.

We saw many yellow and black 'slow moving vehicle' safety signs with a horse and buggy motif while in the Decatur County area, but it wasn't until we were west of Lamoni that we saw one on the highway. There is a community of  Old Order Amish around Lamoni and while we have stopped at the Amish Country Store in the Iowa Welcome Center on the west side of I-35 many times, we passed by on this trip. By the way, it worried me to see this buggy coming down the highway just over the brow of a hill. All I could think was, "What if some fast moving vehicle comes over the hill?" 

I only took one more photo on the way home - this one through the windshield at 55 mph - of the Eighme Schoolhouse on the west side of Hwy 169 north of Mt. Ayr. 

It is a much photographed building and was in better shape eleven years ago when we did stop there and take photos.

It was a very nice outing on a lovely, almost fall, day.

I brought home a little souvenir - my favorite kind of souvenir - a rock found near the lichen stick in the park. My already dubbed - Nine Eagles Rock.