Raccoon River, Walnut Woods State Park, West Des Moines, Iowa. September 30, 2021.
Cee’s theme for the Midweek Madness Challenge is Autumn or Spring. I decided to stick to Autumn and use pictures I have taken in the last several weeks.
Some of the apples were ripe for picking at Center Grove Orchard when I was there in mid-September. That morning’s excursion ended at the Hay Café for lunch. The fresh, chunky applesauce was good; the warm apple crisp was even better. I might need to go back soon.
Though not advertised at the orchard when I was there, I found the pumpkins.
Pumpkin on Vine. Center Grove Orchard, Cumming, Iowa. September 14, 2021.
When searching for fall color on the 20th of September, I found these red sumac leaves at the center of the plant.
Sumac. Big Creek State Park, Iowa. September 20, 2021.
On the last day of September I found these beauties – some kind of a vine that winds around tree trunks in the woods.
Leaves, Light and Shadow. Summerset State Park, Iowa. September 30, 2021.Leaves, Summerset State Park, Iowa. September 30, 2021.
This is not a trestle bridge. In the early 1970s it replaced a 1912 high trestle bridge for the Union Pacific Railroad (which had replaced an even earlier bridge). Abandoned as a railroad bridge in 2003, it is now part of the 25 mile High Trestle Trail in central Iowa.
The entrances on either end of the half mile long bridge are marked by towers that “speak to the cutting and slicing from natural sources that formed” the Des Moines River valley. (From signage along the bridge.) The dark rocks in the structures are a nod to the coal seams in the land and the coal mining history of the area.
Supported by 22 concrete and steel piers, the bridge stands 130 feet (13 stories) above the Des Moines River. Being able to see the wider base of the piers is an indication the river is really low – not a good sign in mid-June.
Its height is one thing. But it was the addition of twisted steel framework that made the bridge notable.
43 steel cribbings are sculptural forms that embody the coal mining history. The changing geometry of the cribbing radiates around you. The viewer moves along the path as though moving through history, through the tunnel of a mine.
– From a sign along the bridge
The previous two pictures are looking toward the western end of the bridge. The next two are shot toward the eastern end.
For more information about the bridge, click on the following links: – Iowa Virtual Museum: High Trestle Trail Bridge – shows pictures of the early effort to convert the bridge from abandoned railway to a bicycle and pedestrian trail; – Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: High Trestle Trail – provides a history of the bridge and the rails to trails effort and shows a picture of the bridge lit by blue LED lights at night.
Another LQQK 