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| The Lodge at Barren River Lake |
This park is located just south of Glasgow,KY, and has a beautiful
hiking trail running through the golf course and through the woods
toward the lake. We went there in search of a bald eagle, so we
took the paved Bike Trail, to Peter's Creek trail (see map),
which lead to a bluff with a view of the lake.
Click here for Info about Barren River Lake
Map of the Park
We began our walk at the Lodge and headed south
to the Bike Trail.
The lodge is at the bottom left on the map. Refer to the map at any time.
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| Turn left here to get on the Bike Trail. |
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| This road leads to the golf pro shop (see map). The trail goes across this road and follows the road for a short distance. |
So far, we've spotted chickadees, titmice, wrens, cardinals,
a white-breasted nuthatch, and many juncos.
a white-breasted nuthatch, and many juncos.
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| Kai spotted a Golden-crowned Kinglet in this tree! |
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| Photo taken from the Cornell Bird Website, below. |
"The kinglets tiny bills are suited for gleaning insects from twigs, but what insects could
there possibly be about in the winter? How do these golden-crowns manage to find up to
three times their own body weight of food each short winter day, as they predictably
must to have enough fuel to keep warm."
from Bernt Heinrich's book Winter World.
The lake in winter;
A golden-crowned kinglet
Flitting above us!
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| Turn right, here. |
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| We heard a strange sound that sounded like loud wooden bugles. We looked up and saw some Sandhill Cranes!!! |
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| Three of the five Sandhill Cranes that we saw! |
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| Photo taken from the Cornell site (above this photo) |
These cranes stay at the lake throughout the winter!!
The cranes bugling
As they fly overhead;
A winter resident.
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| I will have to explore this quiet creek, next time. |
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| Lichen and Small White Bracket Fungi Website for mycophiles: click here. |
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| This was a perfect day for a walk through the woods. |
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| My favorite walks are along streams. |
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| If you look at the map (below), this trailhead is above fairway #11. It leads to an area overlooking the lake. Map of the Park |
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| From here, the trail is shaped like a lollipop; it goes straight for a while, then makes a loop. |
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| An outrageous number of club mosses called Ground Cedar... a vascular, seedless plant, a step above true mosses. |
Ground cedar;
Hardy and evergreen --
A winter blanket.
These plants give color to an otherwise brown landscape. If you look closely you can see the yellowish sporangia, or sporecases.
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| Ground Cedar with spore cases. They do not make seeds. Click here for Info |
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| Here the straight trail ends and the loop trail begins. Follow the sign and turn right, past the large Beech tree. Info about Beech Trees |
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| Deciduous Forest canopy |
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| There was a good mixture of pines, cedars, and deciduous trees, here, with many singing Chickadees. |
"Chickadees supplement their fat stores by jabbing insects and seeds under flaking bark,
storing food for later recovery. They are particularly fond of caching food by poking it into
the undersides of small branches. These caches are vulnerable to plunder, so each chickadee
flock in the forest defends a winter territory from which neighbors are vigorously excluded."
from David George Haskell's book, The Forest Unseen
Finally, we can see Barren River Lake. If you look at the map, this is at the very top of the Peter's Creek Trail.
We were there for only a minute when Kai spotted a Bald Eagle!!! |
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| We saw two Bald Eagles and heard another! I didn't get a good photo; can you see the eagle flying away from us in the above photo? Click this photo to enlarge it. |
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| Photo taken from the Cornell site (above this photo). |
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| This is a great trail with a variety of tree species...sycamores, oaks, hickories, maples, tulip poplars, sweetgums. Click here for info about Oak trees. |
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| You can't see them from here, but we heard the Sandhill Cranes to our right. |
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| This is a plant called a Beechdrop, which has already flowered and dropped its seeds. It's an odd plant that doesn't have chlorophyll and has become dependent on the nutrients of the Beech tree, provided by fungi. Info about Beechdrops |
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| A rare winter mushroom. Read a post on The Solar Calendar, which explains the seasons as I, and the ancients, observe them. To me, the Winter Solstice is actually Mid-Winter and not the first day of Winter. |
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| You can see that at this time of the year the angle of the sun at noon is very low, and that angle gets lower each day,until Mid-Winter, the solstice. Info about Mid-Winter, the Solstice |
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| This trail circles back to the Bike Trail, which we followed back to the lodge. |
This was a fantastic day. We saw what
we came here to see, the bald eagle, and also
were pleased to see and hear the sandhill cranes!
If you're in the area stop and see this State Park.
Stay at the lodge or in the cottages or at the
campsite, or just take a walk through a quiet
forest for a couple of hours. It's a beautiful place.
forest for a couple of hours. It's a beautiful place.
Get out and explore
your natural surroundings!
