Big Trip, Day 3: Rock Run Preserve

On Day 3, June 7th, Joan and I drove down to the Rock Run Preserve, part of the Arc of Appalachia, to hike the new trail there. We drove from the Murphin Ridge Inn down to US Highway 52 and proceeded east, parallel to the Ohio River, until reaching a gravel drive and parking lot on the north side, just beyond Sandy Springs.

The sign

A small roofed structure resides near the start of the trail.

A little further on the trail is adjacent to the McCall cemetery.

The cemetery dates back at least to the mid-1800s, and there are many stories told by the dates on the stones.

Civil War veterans, young women and their infants, all aspects of a hard existence we don't appreciate in the 21st Century.

Back on the trail, this tree caught my eye.

A thousand tentacles

We steadily climbed and encountered a boundary stone, a survey demarcation. This hillside had been an important chunk of property for someone. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

A very curvy tree trunk.

Eventually we reached the loop junction,

where a jumbled sandstone pile, perhaps from old quarrying, greeted us.

This was an excellent place to pause, with a view -- peeking between the leaves -- down to the Ohio River.

Other interesting lithic samples lay by the side of the trail.

Joan and I continued counter-clockwise on the loop, paralleling the river, passing by square-cut sandstone bluffs formed by quarrying, and the pools at their feet. Sandstone from southern Ohio was used extensively through the state for construction, including capitols and courthouses.

 

Next we encountered another boundary marker.

With a few switchbacks we gained the lip of the ridge, and an old settlement site, including a modest well dug into the ground. There were wet spots in various depressions, perhaps borrow pits from a century or more ago.

From here the route descended into a small valley, with one fallen tree to clamber over or bypass. We spotted a species of tree that puzzled us.

We were astonished to later discover that it was an Eastern Redbud! We've all admired the showy spring flowers, but here it was just leaves and the pea-like seed pods. The redbud is unusual in that although it is a member of the pea family, it does not "fix" nitrogen; it fails to take N² from the air and add it to the soil.

 

Eventually the loop turned around and took Joan and me downhill again. Here's a photo that displays the tendency of sandstone to fracture into layers.

At the loop juncture we paused again, and watched a tugboat push a couple of barges upstream.

On the final leg down to the parking area Joan and I spotted this example of new life emerging out of old.

Then it was time to drive back to the inn, clean up, have dinner, and (ugh) pack up as much as possible for tomorrow's drive down into Kentucky and the Red River Gorge.