Iowa became the 29th state to join the United States on December 28, 1846. The capital city is Des Moines. The highest point is Hawkeye Point at 1,670 feet.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 3 - June 13 - Iowa - Stop 2 (Indiana Dunes, De Immigrant, Amana Colonies, Des Moines, Madison County Roads)

Holliwell Bridge InteriorBridges of Madison County, Iowa (IA). The first planned destination for the third day of our road trip was in Madison County, Iowa. That is The Madison County! What do I mean by that? Remember Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood), Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep), and most importantly the mean yellow dog? Yes, this is the county where the movie The Bridges of Madison County was filmed (for the most part).

I only have a few photos to share with you. First, this was early in the day and quite a bit of road was ahead of us and we also managed to run into another group apparently following the bridges in a similar sequence. That made it more difficult to get a human-free photo of the bridges.

The first two photos in this post are from the Holliwell Bridge, the only covered bridge featured in the movie that I managed to photograph. We also visited other bridges but those were not in the movie.

Holliwell Bridge ExteriorBridges of Madison County, Iowa (IA). From my internet research I found that the county originally had 19 of them, of which only 6 remain. Aside for their natural fate some also fell victims to arson and burned down. An interesting fact that I learned that was not obvious to me was that they were named based on the closest resident. It makes a complete sense but I would not have thought of that. Not only did some of the bridges burn down due to arson, Francesca's house was burned in a fire on about a year after the Cedar Bridge was destroyed.

Below, I am listing the three bridges that were featured in the movie and three more that bring the total number to six. I've also listed the internet pages I found useful and an interesting read.

Movie Bridges:

1) Roseman Bridge in Winterset, IA, built 1883, renovated 1992; 2) Holliwell Bridge in Winterset, IA, built 1880, renovated 1995; 3) Cedar Bridge over Cedar Creek (where Francesca met Robert), built 1883, moved 1921, renovated 1998, destroyed by arsonist 2002, replica dedicated 2004

Cutler Donahoe BridgeBridges of Madison County, Iowa (IA). Three more (non-movie bridges):

1) Cutler-Donahoe Bridge in Winterset, IA (originally over the North River near Bevington), built 1870, moved 1970, renovated 1997; 2) Hogback Covered Bridge in Winterset, IA, built 1884, renovated 1992; 3) Imes Covered Bridge, St. Charles (originally by Patterson, moved in 1887 to Hanley, moved in 1977 to St. Charles), built 1970, moved twice, renovated 1997

Sources:

• Iowa on 50States.Com
• Madison County, Iowa - The Bridges of Madison County
• John Weeks' Highways, Byways, And Bridge Photography - The Bridges Of Madison County
• The Bridges of Madison County
• The Bridges of Madison County on Filmwerk

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Promaster 72mm Circular Polarizing Filter
• Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack,  Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards
• Nikon Capture NX2

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it!

St. Helena TrailFall in Letchworth Each fall is different and this one is no exception. First, it looked like the colors would come early and a few early frosty mornings got the season going. Then, Indian summer kicked into gear and daily temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and nightly temperatures above 40 or even 50 slowed things down considerably. All in all, we're probably back to the average schedule. It feels like the slow down will take a little bit of a toll with leaves drying and falling before colors peak but we will see. I try not to judge and guess but rather be there and watch.

With the Internet giving people an easy snapshot of the progress of the season from their couches I feel too many people do not benefit from this information but rather miss out. They sit, and wait, and sit, and wait, and then the peak comes when they are too busy or a rainy and windy day throws a monkey wrench into the planning. Isn't it better to be out and about as much as possible? Yes, maybe you will catch the peak or maybe not, but you won't miss fall altogether then, will you?

In Western New York, Letchworth State Park is a very popular destination especially during the fall season. The colorful foliage lining the high banks of the Genesee river is hard to resist. The whole natural splendor is also extremely easy to see. Just by driving the park road and stopping at the official viewpoints everyone can get a high dose of colors. It's almost too easy!

And then of course, for those more adventurous, the park offers quite a few hiking trails. The trail heads are well marked but I feel; the trail map is lacking detail and information. There are many small waterfalls throughout the park that are not marked and overall the long and narrow layout of the park made it challenging to provide a detailed map. Maybe the best approach is to hike them all!

Colors on Genesee River BanksHigh Rocky Cliffs in Color

Anyway, on this particular visit we decided to venture off the beaten path at least a little bit and parked by and followed the St. Helena trail #13. This trail takes you from the top of the gorge into its very bottom where the Genesee River is more of a creek at this time of the year. Right from the start, the season was showing off! Leaves crackling under our feet, and more yellows over our heads created a nice tree tunnel to walk through.

As from the top, even down by the river the views wee mostly devoid of red short of an occasional splash on a tree in a hurry. The colors were a nice mix of green, yellow, and some starting orange. While a little more red will further spice the scenery up I always enjoy some remaining green. In my opinion, it makes the other colors jump out so much more and become so much more vibrant.

I've included the second photo here for couple reasons. First, the group of trees created a nice central focal point on the cliff wall, surrounded mostly with rocks and spotlit by sun. Second, isn't it unbelievable where trees can grow? There is nothing deceiving about the angle of the wall in the photo, it's an almost vertical cliff!

At this particular spot, we've also observed erosion in progress. It felt like someone accelerated geological time by a factor of a thousand at least. Every few minutes a large chunk of the wall peeled off and came crashing down into the river below with a huge loud splash!

The last photo shows the Genesee River gorge from a non-traditional angle. Instead of the wide views from the top showing the gorge below here the gorge is captured from the river bed. At this time of the year, the river is a rather narrow creek following the deepest parts of the gorge leaving most of the other flood area open to vegetation.

Genesee River Bed in AutumnLetchworth Gorge from River Bed Genesee River Bed in Yellow - Not the traditional view of the Genesee River Gorge in Letchworth State Park

Have fun this autumn season of color and get out as much as you can!

Sources:

• Letchworth State Park Trail Maps
• Foliage Reports for the Northeast
• Past Letchworth State Park photos in my gallery

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Induro Carbon Fiber 4-section Tripod (CT014) (my travel tripod; its four sections give it smaller collapsed size and it's also lighter than my standard workhorse tripod. It has been through deserts and oceans and is still going strong after 4 years)
• Manfrotto ball head (496RC2)
• Hoya 72mm NXT Circular Polarizing Slim Frame Glass Filter (the first two photos; yes, the slim frame matters at 24mm on full frame as it prevents vignetting in the corners and leaves you with more usable image)
• Cokin graduated ND4 filter (last photo)
• Cokin P Holder with a 72 mm Adapter (last photo)
• Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack,  Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards
• Exposure delay mode of 2 seconds, no remote release
• Nikon Capture NX2

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it!

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