Missouri: Three Creeks Hike

Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

I joined a hike at Three Creeks Conservation Area hike, hosted by the Sierra Club.


As winter continues to hang on, the morning began overcast and chilly. Begrudgingly, it did lighten and warm some as the day grew.

Nevertheless, petite wildflowers made a showing. Two adept identifiers, the hike guide and one of the hikers, named spring beauties, wake robin (trillium), sweet william, wild plum (tree), pussytoes, toothwort, lousewort, Dutchmen's breeches, bluebells, false rue anemone, [true] rue anemone, yellow violet, common violet, large bellwort, and a couple I'm forgetting.

Wake robin (trillium). Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

We saw the foliage for future blooming may apples, wild ginger, wild geranium, and colombine.

Paw prints. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

It wasn't just wildflowers. I added two carcasses to my carcass collection: 

Dead frog. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

A video:

And a fossil. 

Crinoid parts. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

And a prosaic hiking sight, poop. (I so love how such a pretty, poetic word as prosaic describes something ordinary.)

Poop. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

 A fruitful walk.


Below, a slide show:

Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

Big Bend National Park: Fossil Discovery Exhibit

Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

On my way out of Big Bend National Park, I stopped at the Fossil Discovery Exhibit.

Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

Blindingly sunny day.

I am generally a pretty shallow-minded museum and exhibit visitor. The Fossil Discovery Exhibit does have a few things to ooh and ahh over for people like me.

Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

Ooh, look how big his teeth are!

Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

Ahhh, take my picture standing next to the big head!

Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

But other than some cursory glances at the audio-visuals and the outlying scenery - and a trip to the bathroom - I was done. That's entirely a reflection on my exhibit-attention-deficit tastes and not on the quality of the exhibit. As if I needed to say that.

Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

I also may have been thinking about lunch.


It did remind me of my trip to Dmanisi in Georgia, the presumed birthplace of Europeans.