It was all misadventure

Charleston Falls is the most popular of Miami County's parks, and ironically, the only one with trails that are mapped in my Fenix. I had the day off, so after dropping my youngest off at school with his band stuff for the year, I headed over.

I took my camera equipment along because I wanted to attempt a long exposure shot of the waterfall, and I do like taking pictures. The parking lot was a little over half full, which surprised me for a weekday morning. That being said, it was far from crowded.

The first thing I noticed as I entered the woods was that it looked like someone had thinned out the trees. A lot. There were many trees cut or knocked down, and it just felt wrong. Maybe there was a reason for it, or maybe it was my imagination. I honestly am not sure.

I continued down the trail to the overlook for the falls. Or it would have been, had the falls been flowing. Sadly, no, I would not be photographing the falls today. So, plan B, the Observation Deck. I took the path down past what would have been the falls and hiked onward. I had thought about going to the observation deck from the beginning, but it wasn't my reason for being at the park. My last time going to the deck was cut short because of bees, and I wasn't sure where on the map it was. I continued on until I got to a junction in the trail that had a map. That map told me I just walked past the tower and somehow didn't notice. 

I admit, I may have been looking at my phone a little while trying to figure out if there was an easy way to attach geospatial data to the photographs, but I didn't think I paid that little attention to my surroundings. I turned around and doubled back to find.... nothing. Maybe not quite nothing, there was a suspicious patch of gravel. I thought to myself that maybe I read that map wrong. I mean, yeah, I have a degree in Geography, but maybe I just misread it. I turned down another path that intersected near where the observation deck was supposed to be and continued on into much thicker woods. No observation deck. I knew I had climbed it a few years earlier, so it had to be somewhere. I didn't find it though. Thinking that it just wasn't worth it, I went back towards my car. 

Near the trailhead I found a park employee doing maintenance. I asked about the observation deck and was informed that it had been torn down without the maps being updated. So... I guess that gravel was the location of the previous deck. 

I can't say that it was a waste of a trip though. I did get a little over two miles of hiking in, with a decent mix terrain. Had I known that the falls were dried up, I would have left the tripod in the car, and probably would have taken my hiking stick as well. There were a few places it would have been helpful to have had. I guess I will just have to make another trip out there, especially while I wait for hunting season to end around the other regional trails. It does look nice when it ices over after all.