Monday, September 2 - We did some hiking today at the 252 acres Mounds State Park.
The Mounds contains some of the finest examples of earthwork and mound buildings in Indiana. The Park features Native American heritage, and 10 ceremonial mounds built by the prehistoric Adena culture around 160 BC and also used centuries later by Hopewell culture inhabitants.
The ten mounds within the park were used primarily for ceremony, celebration and observation of solstices, equinoxes and stellar events.
The Great Mound is a circular earth enclosure with an internal ditch. The earthworks measure 394 feet across from bank to bank. The 9-foot-tall embankment is 63 feet wide at its base, and the ditch is 10.5 feet deep and 60 feet across at its top. The central platform is 138 feet across and was occupied by a 4-foot-high central mound 30 feet in diameter.
Embankment and ditch.
Entering the central platform.
What it might have looked like back in 160 BC.
Not quite as distinct as the Great mound is the Fiddleback mound.
No evidence has been found for homes of the Adena-Hopewill people in Mounds State Park. It is believed that people probably came to the site for short periods of time several times a year. They probably lived in the surrounding river valleys. No one knows what their dwellings looked like.
The Bronnenberg family recognized their responsibility to preserve the mounds. They guarded the mounds against artifact hunters. As the result of their vigilance, the mounds remain among the best examples in the state.
Their beautiful home.
The Park has six trails that circle and connect the mounds. They range from a half mile to 2.5 miles in length. Most are rated easy to moderate in difficulty, although we would rank them all as easy. We walked three of the trails totally about three to four miles.
One trail runs besides the White River.
There was some steep areas.
Trail master
It was a very interesting day and enjoyable refresher for hikes in the near future in Utah.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!
