The Rise of the Lost River!

First off, the blog layout keeps changing – sorry about that, I'm trying to learn the limits of what Blogger can do and add some new elements to the blog. Hopefully I'll continue to update it and make it better!

Today I managed to have another Southern Indiana Safari – and now I'm able to make my second post in my series on cool, out of the way places right in our Indiana "backyard." It was a great day outside, and I was looking forward to getting outdoors and taking some photos. Today I took my roommate along, and we drove down to the quaint little town of Paoli, Indiana. I had three destinations picked out: the Orangeville River Rise, the Wesley Chapel Gulf and the Pioneer Mothers Forest. They're all within about 15 miles of each other, and they're all uniquely interesting.

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The Orangeville Rise (or "The Rise of the Lost River")
Because Southern Indiana is rich in limestone, it's also criss-crossed with a network of underground caves, rivers and other unique geological features. Large portions of the southern part of the state have what's known as karst topography – a landscape shaped by the erosion of a layer of bedrock – such as limestone. Because of the dissolution of this rock layer, the area displays many unique drainage features and is home to thousands of caves. (Here's another interesting link about karst topography features: Karst in Indiana).

The area near Paoli has a rich karst topography, and the aptly-named Lost River is a great example of the complex nature of the hydrological system. A Sierra Club article about the river says this:

One of the most complex hydrological systems in the world winds through southern Indiana, dotted with deep springs, caves and sinkholes.
Except after heavy rains, a 22-mile section in the middle of the river is dry, while the water continues to flow underground, coming back to the surface in impressive springs called "rises." The water flows underground at depths of up to 150 feet.
The Lost River has been called an "underground Grand Canyon" and "three-dimensional river delta."

We set out to find one of few of the rises that happen to be on publicly-owned land. The Orangeville Rise is one of the locations that the Lost River suddenly bursts forth above ground again, bubbling to the surface just below a cliff on the south side of town. It's clear locals use the rise as a swimming hole, but exactly how deep the water is would be hard to measure – some sources indicate it's easily over 100 feet deep. The water is unbelievably clear and cool and has the most wonderful green tint to it. The Orangeville Rise isn't hard to find, and is right off the side of the road, designated as a National Natural Landmark. Definitely worth seeing.

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The Wesley Chapel Gulf
About five miles east of the Orangeville Rise is the Wesley Chapel Gulf, which is found in a small, 187-acre island of the Hoosier National Forest. The topography is drastic and unexpected – amongst the rolling farmland is a 1,000-foot wide sinkhole!

The Wesley Chapel Gulf was formed when a large section of the underground topography collapsed, sinking the terrain and exposing many caves, springs and other karst features. The most breathtaking part of the gulf is pictured above – where a large spring bubbles to the surface below the 200-foot cliff. According to most estimates, the water rises about 150 feet (that number rises to more than 300 feet if you believe some of the locals) and promptly flows into the cliff wall and disappears. It's really quite incredible. I'm not entirely sure of the name of this particular feature, but I think it's called the "Boiling Spring."

Once again, the water was incredibly clear at the top, while just below the surface it took on a pristine green color. You could actually hear the water coming to the surface and running under the cliff. It was amazing, and exceeded all my expectations of how beautiful it would be. There are also lots of caves in the area (caving, of course, is strictly prohibited) which criss-cross in every direction imaginable. They are prone to flash floods, just as the water level of the spring is apt to change often. After such a dry summer, I'm sure the water level was relatively low in this photo. I want to go back sometime when it's rained a lot and see how high the water rises. As dry as it was, I still got pretty muddy (especially my butt... when I slipped and fell... multiple times).

While we were at the Boiling Spring, we met two of the friendliest and funnest local beagle dogs – I nicknamed them George and Lennie in the fashion of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." George was the leader, while Lennie was a bit bigger but just followed George around. Anyway, the dogs ran up to us as soon as we hiked back to the gulf and followed us around the whole time (I was impressed with their climbing skills). I caught this picture of "George" and I think it shows exactly what he's all about. What a happy life. Both George and Lennie (who didn't kill any rabbits or mice while we were there, to my knowledge) were both rewarded with a Nature Valley granola bar when they followed us back to the car.

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The Pioneer Mother's Forest
Not much to say about this one, as the visit here was cut short by my inability to find the darn place, and the fact that it was getting dark (and we were getting hungry). The Forest Service sells the Pioneer Mother's Forest as Indiana's only public old-growth forest – there has never been a tree cut inside the boundaries of the park, as far as their records show (apart from one or two for pioneer firewood, I'm sure).

Well, if you know me, you know that I LOVE trees, so I thought this place was pretty cool. There were enormous birch, oak, maple, sycamore and tulip trees. I don't think we hiked in far enough to really get to the biggest trees – most of the forest looked like much of the forest you see in Indiana already. It was still beautiful though, and I'd love to go back in a few weeks when the fall colors are out and find the really big old trees.

Anyway, it's time to go back to watching Raiders of the Lost Ark – an appropriate end to an adventurous day. If you want to know how to get to any of these places, give me a shout – they're not hard to find if you know what you're looking for, and they're all within an hour of Bloomington.

The case in Jena.

If you haven't already read about the "Jena 6" – six black high schoolers facing murder charges in a rural Louisiana town, please check out the following link to NPR's coverage of the story. Inform yourself.

In summary: Last year, three black students sat under a tree at Jena High School where white students would normally sit. The next day, three nooses were hung from the tree. A group of white students was found to be responsible for hanging the nooses, and received an in-school suspension for the "prank" (the school's word). In the following days and weeks, race relations in the small town high school continued to deteriorate. A black student was beaten up at a party attended by mostly white students, and the next day, when he got in an argument with a white student who was at the party, the white student went to his car to get his gun. The black student and his friends wrestled the gun away from him and took it home – and were charged with theft of a firearm. The culminating incident occurred when six black students beat up a white student after he allegedly used racial slurs. The boys were initially charged with aggravated assault, but the district attorney changed the charges to attempted 2nd degree murder. For more information, particularly about the trials, please read below...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14533821

For those of you at IU, there's also a facebook group (of course) you can check out for more information.

http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4897458234

I'll refrain from stating any opinions about the case and let you make your own decisions. I have a feeling you'll be hearing more and more about this story in the coming weeks.

Only who can prevent forest fires?

First off, happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Who knew it was September 19th? Glad I found that out before it was too late. But let's be serious, shouldn't every day be talk like a pirate day? Arrr!


I'm home sick from work today – just woke up tired – and while I've been spending some time navigating the clogged tubes of the internets, I came across this photo from the 2007 Albequerque Hot Air Balloon festival, which took place early last week (incidentally I've seen the Hot Air Balloon festival in person, in 2004 when I was living in Santa Fe.)

It seems like Smokey is making a bit of a comeback these days – he's featured in a new series of forest service commercials with the traditional "Only you can prevent forest fires" slogan, and still has his face plastered on state and national parks all across the country.

So what better way to have Smokey watch over the dried, tinderbox forests than to literally have him looking down on campers below, right? Well, sure it's a great idea, but the Smokey campaign went a little wrong.

Whoops! Reports say both people who were navigating the giant bear head through the skies weren't seriously injured in the crash. This does make the marketing scheme a little less effective, though, doesn't it? Just found this amusing and wanted to share. :)

Prince Caspian...

For anyone who loves the "Chronicles of Narnia," Disney has released a video preview of the new "Prince Caspian" movie, due out on May 16, 2008. The movie is based on the fourth book in the "Chronicles of Narnia" series, in which the Pevensie siblings return to Narnia to again fight an evil that threatens the land.

This isn't an official trailer, but does contain some movie footage. Looks good - I'm just excited to see Reepicheep.

http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/blog/vid_player.swf?vid_id=1

Female rocker alert!

It's rare that I find a musician who speaks directly into my heart – whose lyrics cut so deep into the heart of who I am that I absolutely feel the song deep inside me. It's even rarer that I find a female singer who reflects my own heart so well – after all, there are a lot of fundamental differences in the male and female hearts. But after getting a recommendation to listen to some Betsy Walker (it's actually "betsy walker" on the album, but I'm not into that whole lowercase thing) I was instantly hooked. I've enjoyed some female Christian music before – namely Jennifer Knapp and Ginny Owens, but I think Betsy is an instant favorite.

Incidentally, Betsy is an Indy Indie rocker. She's from Indianapolis, is independent, Christian and has a beautiful voice.

This is her song "Blessings," which echoes a prayer that has been in my own heart for months, a prayer I still pray every night for certain people in my life.

"Blessings"

May you walk with the Lord all your life,
And not turn to the left or the right.
May your pace match the step of the almighty guide
May you walk with the Lord all your life.

May you ache of the Lord all your life,
May you run that you might win the prize.
May you hunger and thirst and be satisfied,
May you wake with the Lord all your life.

And may there be blessings on you,
And may there be mercies ever anew.
And may you find all his promises true,
May blessings fall all over you.

May you fight for the lord all your life,
May your courage not fail you in night,
May you put on his armor and stand in the light,
May you fight for the Lord all your life.

May God grant you peace,
Grant you peace,
Grant you peace.

The Electric Company

I've always fancied myself to be a bit of an environmentalist and conservationist. I'm certainly not ready to join Earth First or Greenpeace, but I love the world that God has given us and believe we should protect it.

Recently God has really laid it on my heart to do everything I can as an individual to save the planet in small ways. I've been listening to some really excellent sermons on the subject – namely the "God is Green" series by Rob Bell and his compatriots at Mars Hill Bible Church (if you're going to listen to one, listen to "God is Green IV: Tomatoes and Towers," which you can download here). I've also been doing a little bit of independent research on the Internet, and I have been reading some really interesting books on what it means to be a Christian and love the planet. "Serve God, Save the Planet," by Dr. James Sleeth, is an excellent, page-turning book that has opened my eyes to the excess waste I generate every day. Sleeth, a former New England ER doctor, gives spiritual reasons why we should care about the planet, and then explains how we can take action in practical ways.

Our electricity bill from Duke Energy for August was $75.74. It's one of the higher electric bills we've had to pay, but we finally caved in in August and ran the air conditioning for consistent days. Luckily our apartment stays pretty naturally cool, but the consistent combination of 98 degree days with 90 percent humidity was a bit much.

So here's the current goal: halve the electricity bill. Granted, it will be a little easier since September brings cooler weather and open windows, but it will take a little extra effort to get the bill below $38.00. The lowest we've paid since we moved into the apartment in December is about $60. I'm not sure how the end result will turn out, but here's the plan of action:

• Turn out the lights! Probably the most obvious answer, but still very applicable. Lights need to be turned out when not in use.
  
• Turn off & unplug. This goes for computers, appliances, and other random electric devices. This means turning off the computer entirely, instead of just letting it go to sleep. It means unplugging small electric devices that draw a constant current – for example: the electric shaver I have that doesn't need to stay plugged in when it's already fully charged. Larger devices like the television and stereo draw power even when they're turned off. TVs draw current because they're always "partially on" – waiting for you to click the remote and turn the set on. Most stereos have what's called "phantom power" – power that's provided even when it's turned off. By using a surge protector to shut power to these devices completely off when they're not in use, a lot of electricity can be saved.
  
• Energy-efficient light bulbs. OK, they're still expensive, and I can't afford to buy a lot of them right now. And it's wasteful to replace bulbs that are still perfectly good. However, I did buy four compact fluorescent bulbs to replace the most commonly used bulbs in our house. Compact fluorescent bulbs use about 25% of the electricity traditional incandescent bulbs use to produce the same amount of light (lumens). They also don't generate heat and last a lot longer.
• No dryer. A clothes dryer draws an enormous, enormous amount of electricity. As Sleeth points out, it would take five work horses rigged to a turbine to generate enough electricity to run a clothes dryer. That's a lot of power. I've got a clothesline, and I can use it.
• Our clothes dryer has a light bulb in it that turns on when you open the door. Granted, this takes a miniscule amount of energy, but it's pretty ridiculous. I don't need a light in the dryer. I'm going to disable it.
• Canvas grocery bag. Sure it's a little dorky to carry around, but I really don't need to throw away five plastic grocery bags every time I go shopping.
  
• Bike and walk. I already bike the three miles to work most days, I'll just have to get that extra motivation for those days I really don't feel like pedaling.
  
• Windows open! Obviously this one is going to be pretty easy for the month of September. We'll see how it goes after that.

Again, these are simple, everyday things we can all do to be more conscious about the beautiful world God has given us. The less power we use, the less power plants we need. If fossil fuel power plants go offline, we have the benefit of having less pollution and less dependence on oil.

I'm not advocating that we need to shut down our modern lives and live in a semi-neolithic sate. But there are many, many ways we can be more responsible with the incredible amount of luxury we are afforded by living in a country like the United States.

Will definitely post more on this topic later, including the results of the electric bill test in about a month.

Right in our backyard...

I'm making a point of visiting interesting, funny and strange places near Bloomington. It's not the most beautiful place I've lived, but there is certainly a lot of character in the hills (and people) of Southern Indiana. On Monday (Labor Day) a small group of us went out to the Greene County Rail Viaduct.

A viaduct is a series of spans or arches used to carry a road or railroad over a wide valley or over other roads or railroads. Not many people know that there's a stupendous viaduct right in our backyard, in Greene County. In fact, the Greene County viaduct is said to be the third largest of its kind in the world.

The viaduct spans the Richland Creek valley on the Illinois Central Railroad. Built in 1906, the viaduct is a half-mile long and up to 180 feet tall. Reportedly six or seven trains still cross the 100-year old structure every day.

I walked out onto the viaduct a little bit – as far as I was willing to go, anyway. Remember "Stand by Me?" I didn't want that to happen, as there's nowhere to go off the sides of this thing.