Starting again at Whitewater

I am not in St Charles Sitting at a table at a local coffee shop but I spent the morning and early afternoon hiking the Dakota Trail to look for nice spots to put musicians. The dakota is a 3 mile hike with at least three major inclines and valleys to overcome so I am a bit tired but still plan to hit the main hike along the trout run trail and up to inspiration point before sundown.

I spent a couple days helping out with an art opening for my father in law in Osage IA before this which was fun. He is a great artist living in Arizona now and this show was to try and find homes for some of the artwork that is still up in this area. (Check it out if you get a chance at the Mitchell County Historical Society in Osage, IA)

I managed to find a place *way off trail but still pretty easy to get to that you can see inspiration point from. I think it will be a good spot but I got a few scrapes on the way down as I didn't follow my tracks thinging I would find my way back to the trail with an alternate route but instead ended up scaling down a big hill that led all the way to the south picnic area. Wow.

The Dakota trail is extremely beautiful but re-affirmed my belief that I had chosen the right trail as many of the other very picturesque valleys did not have the same amazing echoes as exist in the valleys overlooked by inspiration point. Not just visually inspiring. Also sonically!