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Winter Constellations LbNA #34275 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 19, 2007
Location:
City:Liberty
County:Union
State:Indiana
Boxes:6
Planted by:Jabber
Found by: Mr and Mrs Chickadee (3)
Last found:May 30, 2010
Status:FFFFFr
Last edited:Aug 19, 2007
SOME ARE MISSING updates to follow 7/2010

Winter Constellations

These stamps are placed is a beautiful state park along State Route 101 south of Liberty, Indiana. It is a fee area between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but open all year, and well worth it to support the area. Take a picnic lunch, and besides the wonderful hiking trails, you can ride horses, rent paddle boats, there are several playgrounds for the kids, a swimming beach and even cabins to rent if you want a leisurely weekend away. Enjoy your stay, watch for deer early in the morning and in the evening.

Hydra (The Snake)
Ursa Major (Big Bear)
Canis Major and Minor (Big and Little Dog)
Orion (The Hunter)
Leo (The Lion)
Gemini (The Twins)

Here’s a cool summer hike to make you think of the night sky in winter. You’ll need a dark blue or black stamp pad and a pretty good sized log book; the stamps are about 2”x3”. You’ll also need a compass. All the stamps are placed along the “easy” section of the Red Springs Trail which you’ll come to just after driving over the dam. BUT, this is really the middle of the trail; GO TO the next parking area past the dam where there is a picnic table and the trail head for this trail as well as the trail that goes around the lake. There is a restroom at the other end of this little parking area.

The easy part of the trail is indeed easy. We planted the boxes in about 45 minutes on the easy half of the trail. The rugged loop gets pretty steep, but is a very nice hike and offers a great view of the Red Spring. It only took us about 20 minutes to do the rugged half back to the car. Otherwise you’ll have to go back the way you came on the easy part or walk along the road back to the parking area.

OK, ready to go?

Box #1 HYDRA

When you get into the woods there’s another Nature Preserve sign on your left. Take 24 paces (2 steps per) to a spot where a sawed off log crosses the path. Standing on the path between the two ends of the log take a compass reading of 230 degrees. Several feet off the trail, you’ll see a fairly large tree with a hole at the base with some pretty obvious looking bark in front of the hole. Check inside, hopefully our little snake has not slithered away.

Box #2 Ursa Major

Continue along the path, at 24 more paces you’ll come to another dead fall on the left with a big root finger pointing to the sky. KEEP ON GOING . . . look up ahead to a bend in the path, 30 paces more and keep going, 35 paces more until you get to another log that is sawed across the path then on to where path turns back to the right. STOP! Look on left, several loose chunks of old sawed tree are close to a large standing tree with two uprights (one is half broken). Between the split logs and tree, covered by smaller pieces of dead wood you should find a big bear.

Box #3 Canis Major and Minor

Continue along the path. When you can see the road there is a slight rise in the path which curves right toward the road. On the right is an old downed tree about 30ft long. Go to the end away from the trail and rest a spell. The dogs are hiding under some bark at the tail end of the log.

Box #4 Orion

Keep your eyes out for the hunter in the woods. Up a ways is a large stump on the left in the trees as you walk along the road. The top part of the tree is hollow and is laying just beside the stump. This is no joke, we saw a pair of eyes watching us from inside the hollow log so don’t go there. Look behind at the top of the upright portion of the stump that’s where the hunter is hiding.

Box #5 Leo

What’s a lion doing in these woods? Keep walking and you’ll get a view of the lake peeking between the trees. You will come to a guard rail then the path goes back into the woods. A lion is hiding by the first dead fall on the left. The fallen tree lies between a big and little tree. In the back under the bottom trunk is where this lion is sleeping.

Box #6 Gemini

Keep going and you’ll come to a pretty good size tree that angles overhead across the trail. KEEP GOING . . . right before you get to the dam end of the easy part of this trail, is a short off shoot trail the goes toward the lake. When you get to the twin trees, before going down the hill and falling into the lake, make a sharp right turn and head to the 2nd downed log you come to, it’s about 10 paces and you have to walk over the first downed log. You can easily reach between the spot where the trunk splits and find the twins warm in their blanket of leaves.

WE FOUND IT EASIEST TO FOLD THE BAGS OVER AND SQUEEZE OUT THE AIR BEFORE ZIPPING THEM UP, THEN MAKE THE LAST FOLD AND THEY FIT RIGHT INTO THE CONTAINERS.

Now put your stuff away and cross the road at the dam and continue along the “rugged” loop of the path which will take you right back to the parking area where you left your car in about 20 minutes. Someday we may plant some boxes along this part of the trail, but for now, just enjoy it for what it is.