On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
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For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Tons of great stuff today, lots of odds and ends coming tomorrow.
Today, pictures from valued commenter Schlemazel.
Southeastern Minnesota was not visited by glaciers in the last advance. As a result its geography is different, but then there are 4 or 5 different environments in the state.
We stopped by several state parks in SE over the weekend and I am submitting photos from one, Whitewater. The limestone turns the creek white in the spring so the original people named it whitewater.
Whitewater creek
Taken on 2017-09-02
The creek is great for trout fishing
The waterfall on the creek
Taken on 2017-09-02
The limestone is eroding and I was just checking the progress
The steps
Taken on 2017-09-02
The climb up the hill starts with a couple hundred steps
looking back down the steps
Taken on 2017-09-02
After the steps there is still a long way across rugged paths to reach the top
me looking at the view
Taken on 2017-09-02
This photo does not do justice to how far down it is from here
the view from chimney rock overlook
Taken on 2017-09-02
This photo does a better job of representing the distance
Chimney Rock
Taken on 2017-09-02
the reason the overlook is named
A couple more from Whitewater State Park
flowers
Taken on 2017-09-02
Whitewater State Park
We saw a lot of mushrooms (non edible) but not many flowers this time of year
the trail
Taken on 2017-09-02
It is a mile from Chimney rock to Inspiration Point and some of the views are spectacular
another view
Taken on 2017-09-02
It was a glorious day and while the hike was rugged we had a great time
The Great River Bluffs State Park offers some wonderful views of the Mississippi River And the penal colony across the river
view 1
Taken on 2017-09-03
Great River Bluffs State Park
These photos are mostly going to be of the views
view 2
There are a lot of islands in this part of the river
view 3
Taken on 2017-09-03
Off in the distance you can see the penal colony currently serving Koch Industries.
Lock and dam
Taken on 2017-09-03
John A. Latsch State Wildlife Park
This is actually taken in Latsch wildlife Park which is a couple minutes up river from the park
Ghost Plants
Taken on 2017-09-03
These I believe are very rare. They are “Ghost plants”, Monotropa uniflora, also called “Indian Pipe”. it is white because it does not contain chlorophyll. It is parasitic, instead of generating energy from sunlight. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from trees. Since it is not dependent on sunlight to grow, it grows in the dense forest
Wow! What a great set of pictures, and what a great finale! What a neat thing – I’ve never heard of them, though perhaps I’ve seen them and not realized their import. How cool!
Thank you so much Schlemazel, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
raven
Nice, I used to camp and fish on the big river down at Keokuk, Iowa and the bluffs up river are awesome.
OzarkHillbilly
That country along the Mississippi from northeast Missouri all the way thru Iowa to Minneapolis is astoundingly beautiful.
Down here, Indian Pipe isn’t quite common, but it’s not rare either.
satby
So beautiful Schlemazel! And I have never seen or heard of ghost plants / Indian pipe. So I learned something new today. Thanks!
Betty Cracker
Very beautiful country.
Schlemazel
Those are all xell phone pictures, I wish I had a decent camera and Bill’s skill because I don’t think I am doing justice to how gorgeous that area is.
MomSense
Beautiful photos.
debbie
Absolutely stunning views!
rikyrah
Those pictures were beautiful. Thanks so much ?
hedgehog mobile
Thank you…gorgeous pics!
MomSense
We have a lot of Indian Pipe where I live. I think it’s a dense forest, lots of decaying material kind of thing.
sherparick
@OzarkHillbilly: I agree, it is probably the least known natural wonder in the U.S. Also, it is a great area for spotting and watching bald eagles.
Waratah
Looks very green and lush just like the books I have read described. I am sorry that the one time we were close to seeing some of your state we ran out of time and had to start the trip home.
eclare
Beautiful photos! I miss mountains.
Mary G
Beautiful country, thank you. Glad to hear that you’re doing so well you can hike around the woods.
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly:
I was going to say, Indian pipe is something I remember from my Missouri girlhood. Vaguely. At least the name. But I think the name was attached to something like what’s in the pictures.
Major Major Major Major
Gorgeous!
And what a weird plant!
@zhena gogolia: @OzarkHillbilly: Wiki says it is “generally scarce or rare”.
Origuy
I run across Indian Pipe occasionally. I found a different mycotrophic plant called Snow Plant on Mt Pinos, north of LA, once. The picture on that page doesn’t do it justice; here’s the picture I took.