a walk through time - the Devonian mostly

Friday, October 4, 2019
Charlestown State Park to Corydon, Indiana
49.2 miles

The front moved through in the middle of the night and we woke to a cool morning.  Thank you, God!  After a quick breakfast of oats and whatever else we could find, we set out to see what the day would hold.

Here is a view of the sunrise from our tent

The park roads are very hilly, but lovely in the early morning coolness.

Looking across the Ohio River to Louisville, KY

My park is in the shadow of the bridge.  It is a nice park with plenty of fishing piers and a boat launch.

Falls of the Ohio State Park  fallsoftheohio.org is located right near Jeffersonville on the Indiana side of the river where we are riding.  The park  contains a big fossil bed which is so dramatic and accessible it is world-renowned.  The Ohio River Greenway bike path goes right next to this fossil bed.  To give you some perspective there are 212 species of corals (just corals!) known from the fossil beds at Falls of the Ohio.  We picked up the free field guide pamphlet from the visitor center and managed to identify all but one of the fossil types detailed in the brochure.  

It does not take much skill to find fossils here.  It is an understatement to say they are abundant.

branching coral

wasp nest coral  

If there were two groups of fossils readily identifiable by most people as fossils, they would have to be dinosaurs and trilobites.  Trilobites became extinct about 245 million years ago, shortly before the first dinosaurs.  Here is a pretty good photo of one just taken with Iphone5 camera.  

This gives you an idea of the fossil bed area near the river.  It is amazing and everyone reading this blog should plan their next vacation around this location.  If you want to see more fossil photos, bring a bottle of wine to our house when we get back and settle in for a slide show.  Tom loves his new camera so we have quite a few more shots to show you.

The miles flew by especially after fossils and then a delicious lunch in Jeffersonville at Adrienne and Co.