MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2022 #7 - SUMMER CLOUDS

Clouds over the Mississippi River, Clayton, Iowa

We met with friends from northwest Iowa in Guttenberg today and took a little drive along the mighty Mississippi to the little river town of Clayton, Iowa. Following an excellent lunch at Clayton Lighthouse Restaurant and Bar we saw some great development of clouds over the river. What serious photographer would not take out the camera and try to tell a visual story about a summer day in August in the Upper Mississippi Valley? My choice was black & white and to see a preview of the final result right on camera screen, the Nikon Z 6II was set to monochrome picture mode. Since I shoot always in RAW the color information is still in the file and if I would ever change my mind about the picture intent, making it a color version, this is still possible. My monochrome settings include a red filter and that meets exactly what I would do in the old days of B&W film photography for a landscape with clouds as we saw today. Great day, good times!

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 45 mm, 1/1000s, f/8, ISO 100

COLLECTING FOSSILS (YEP, LEGALLY!)

If you look at the second photo first, I don’t blame you if you ask me, have you been back in Badlands National Park, South Dakota again? No, not at all. Joan and I stopped on our way home from Pilot Knob State Park last Monday at the incredible Fossil & Prairie Park Preserve in Floyd County, Iowa, located just a few miles west of Rockford, Iowa. The park includes an abandoned shale pit, preserved kilns, and a large area of native prairie. Our time was limited and so we just explored the former shale pit.

Shale pit at Fossil & Prairie Park Preserve, Rockford, Iowa

The rocks in the park are Devonian formations and about 375 million years old. At that time Iowa was still located near the equator and seas covered most of the land. As a result we can find many small fossils between the relatively soft limestones and shales. And here is the cool thing, fossil collecting is encouraged within the park. And that’s what we did and enjoyed (beside making a few clicks with the camera). I found mostly Brachiopods as you can see in the first photo, but Joan had also some Gastropods, little snails that scavenged the ancient sea floor.

If fossils and rocks are not “your thing”, well, the native prairie area with some wetlands and a pond looked very promising. Unfortunately time was too short to explore all of it, but we definitely “bookmarked” this area in our brains for another visit sometime.

(source used for some details provided in this blog post: Park brochure by Iowa Geological Survey)

PILOT KNOB

Tower on Pilot Knob, Iowa

I hope my friends here in the US had a great Labour Day weekend and those of you who enjoy using a camera had a chance to make some extra clicks on your Monday off. We pitched our tent for a couple days at Pilot Knob State Park, located near Forest City in the north-central part of Iowa. Other than where we live, in the drift-less area, this landscape was formed by glaciers. They deposited the rocks and earth that formed the hills and valleys that are now Pilot Knob. Dedicated in 1923, it is one of the oldest parks in Iowa. The tower on top was built by the Civil Conservation Corps in the 1930’s (source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources website).

A little bit before sunset we hiked up to the tower. While I was still trying to make the best possible click of the warm sunlight on this old structure Joan lifted our little dog Cooper up on the wall that surrounds the observation deck. 

From the top you have a gorgeous view over some of the most fertile land in the world. Wooded little hills, small lakes and potholes, some wetlands and patches of restored prairie make this part of the state very charming.

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4