Land of the Lost

Last year, my girls and I went hiking into an awesome park that I'd never been to before. It's on the hills around the Des Moines river valley and is quite a ways from our home, but close enough to do a day trip. But last year, the road down into the park was closed due to flooding, so we had to hike down and it seemed like we were in another world. No souls for miles and we half way expected dinosaurs or apes on horses to come around the bends.

Kind of a creepy feeling if you've got good imaginations...

which we do...

So this year. I called the park director to find out if the park was open yet. The damage from the flood last year was pretty extensive and I wasn't sure if there had been flooding this year or not. Turns out that there is a bridge on the lower entrance that is out but crews are working on it. We would still have to hike in if we wanted to go. We did.

I pulled into the parking lot at the north entrance and we saw a whole platoon of soldiers jogging up the closed road. *shoot* The girls didn't want to get out and hike down in front of them, so we decided to try our luck on the lower entrance. I drove out and down and found that indeed, the bridge was truly out. The girls didn't want to walk in front of these workmen either, but after going through the tall grass with lots of sticky weeds, they relented and we walked into "the park" past a bunch of workmen.

On the highway in, we walked and walked.

and walked and walked.

I was pretty sure we'd come to it pretty soon, but then we saw a satellite dish and then some houses where we could hear kids playing in the back yard. And then a campground... The road was abandoned tho. Probably because of the bridge work.

It was weird.

It was also then that I realized we'd probably missed the park entrance and didn't even realize it. I suggested that we turn around and head back. We had to get home in time to go to Robb's bagpipe performance and if we kept going on this weedy abandoned road, no telling if we'd have the energy to make it back to the car!

Someone in our group was upset and even laid in the middle of the road in frustration. I'm not saying who!

On the way back, we discovered that if the name of the park is on the side of the sign that faces us and we headed that way, then we're probably heading INTO the park NOW! hmm... Probably!With the bribery of ice cream on the way home and some pep talks, we made it back to the car dejected. I realized what time it was and that ice cream for lunch probably wasn't the most nutritious meal, so we opted for burgers & shakes from one of our favorite ma & pa fast food places before meeting up with Robb.

Found out later that the entrance to the park was completed gone. I mean GONE! The flooding had washed out not only the bridge we knew about on the highway but a bridge that wasn't there anymore and the whole area was sludged over with mud and muck. I should have taken Maddy's advice and hiked up the side of the hill over dangerous looking rocks. But I didn't want to have to carry anyone that fell on them back to the car.

Call me lazy!