A Hiker's Path: Exploring a Lake Monroe peninsula known for migratory birds and turtles
The Amy Weingartner Branigin Peninsula Preserve, which covers 48 acres, was acquired in 2015. The land was purchased with funds donated by several members of the Weingartner family in memory of their daughter, Amy, who died of cancer in 2012. Other funding was provided by Monroe County, the Bicentennial Nature Trust, the Community Foundation of Bloomington-Monroe County, and other members of the Sycamore Land Trust.
Volunteers from the Hoosier Hiker’s Council helped construct the trail, which is surrounded by the waters of Lake Monroe, outside of Bloomington.
I had read that the peninsula itself is known for its many migratory birds and for the abundance of turtles that can be found at different times of the year along the shoreline of Lake Monroe. (A peninsula is a piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.)
The preserve is habitat for a variety of wildlife and provides a panoramic view of of the lake as the hiker follows the well worn trail that exists there. It’s hilly, has hardwood forests, and water can be seen from either side of the peninsula trail, which ends at the water's edge, along the shoreline of the lake. The hiking trail is about 2 miles long.
It was a beautiful, sunny day with a high temperature of 52 degrees on the day I hiked at this beautiful preserve.
When I arrived, I parked at the trailhead, then took off down the path.
The trail was lined with white pines and eastern cedar trees with a few hardwood trees mixed in. There was a great view of the lake on either side of the peninsula. I climbed a couple of big hills and before I knew it, I had arrived at the water’s edge, on the shoreline of Lake Monroe.
Of course for me, this was the best part, evergreens aside.
Construction of the lake started in 1960 and it was finished in 1965. It covers 10,750 acres of water surface and extends through Monroe and Brown counties.
The lake was in rare form on this day. It was completely quiet. No ripples in the water from passing boats. Just very tranquil.
The surface of the water reflected the blue sky overhead and there was a light mist, almost a bit of fog in places around the shoreline. There was a small strip of beach around the edge where the end of the peninsula met the water. There were small rocks and a few fossils scattered about.
It was the perfect spot for meditation.
Lately I had been thinking about the approaching new year. I wondered where the next year might take me. I was hoping to hike a lot of new places. I was hoping for many things; great expectations to dream about. What a beautiful and calming moment it was at that water’s edge, thinking of the future but still enjoying the present moment that I found myself in.
That’s what so many of my hikes are for me: spending time in solitude to glean what I need from the time spent in a forest or in a park or on the shore of a lake or the banks of a creek. Or even on a high mountain pass.
Nature is so healing and calming. I visit her every chance I get.
It was time to head back and I soon found myself back at the parking lot. It had been a great end-of-the-year hike!
The preserve is located on Rush Ridge Road off of Ind. 446 just north of the causeway over Lake Monroe. The preserve is closed on weekends but open during the week.
A quote for your week: “I went to the woods, because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” — Henry David Thoreau, "Walden; or Life in the Woods"
Until the next trail, Susan
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Hiker visits Lake Monroe's Amy Weingartner Branigin Peninsula Preserve
