Rocking on the Red River

I'm trying a new post using the suggestions made by Silver Fox. Thank you Silver Fox!!!!

I took a Riverboat ride on the "Spirit of the Red' ( Spirit of the Red web site) on the Red River today with Capt Sandy Jackson.  It sure was rocky on that boat especially when another boat would pass. It's lots of fun and I did it with a group of my Red Hat friends. I had taken the trip before but its always been on a field trip with a bunch of excited kids - IE lots of noise and being on my toes the whole time making sure no one goes over board. This time was with adults and it sure is different. I could sit back and enjoy it and actually hear the riverboat captain speaking. I actually felt like I had learned something new today.

When I had gotten up today there was a bit of a nip in the air when we first got up and a bit breezy. From owning a small boat I knew it would be no fun if I didn't dress accordingly. I was glad I did because I brought along a windbreaker which I ended up letting someone else use so they could view things outside in the front of the boat. Just about everyone else stayed inside. So at first I was staying inside and trying to take pictures but there was too much glare from the windows and eventually I ended outside too.
Here are some of the interesting things I saw today:
Shreveport is known for its Riverboat Casino's. Here the ElDorado. It started out as Hollywood Casino but through the years its changed its owners and its name. That's been pretty much true for most of the casinos in the town. Just like this casino Sam's town it used to he Harrahs.
With these riverboats they said the one thing you should notice is all the windows are black. They use to be clear but people were spending too much time enjoying the river view and not paying enough attention to the machines so they covered the windows so people wouldn't look out or know what time it was.
We cruised down the Red but then turned onto Twelve Mile Bayou or its sometimes called Cross Bayou. Twelve Mile Bayou would be an oxbow lake if it wasn't connected to the river. But because it is we just call it a Bayou. (The technical definition of a bayou is - 'A lake, or small sluggish secondary stream, often in an abandoned channel or a river delta. Local on the Gulf Coast. One of the half-closed channels of a river delta. Local on Mississippi Delta.' Quoted from Dictionary of Geological Terms 1976.)

The first bridge we encountered was the Spring Street Bridge. If you look under the eves of the bridge you will see lots and lots of circular things. These are sparrow nests. What you couldn't see was all the birds circling overhead. The boat spooked them and they took off in mass. At that point I was inside and just couldn't get a good shot of it (also I apologize for the poor picture you can see how things were reflecting off the window). Around here we love those little birds because they love to eat misquotes and being on the bayou you can just imagine all the little fly blood sucking critters we have.
If you look down the right front pier you can see a Blue Heron (also called Blue Crane) sunbathing. I guess he sees this boat so often it doesn't spook him like it does the sparrows. Also if you look you can see two people fishing on the bank.
Next we got to see this intriguing Bridge.
Its one of the more interesting sights in this town. It is aWaddle 'A' frame Bridge. It is one of only two left standing in the USA. It was built in the 1800's.
Here's another image of this bridge as we approached it on the way back.
Then we came upon a few boats dock close to each other.

What I didn't know it was one of the docks was the back yard of a local fish market. Boy you sure could smell those fish. But it was so neat to see that the guy actually catches them from the river and sells them to people from the river. You just had to pick out which ones you want.
We were leery about eating fish from the bayou but the river boat captain said that the Red River is one of the cleaner rivers in the country because there is no industry built by it that uses its water. (I don't know how accurate that claim can be because there is a lot of agriculture around the Red and I'm sure there's got to be fertilizers running off into it.) It is clean enough for Bossier City to use it as its drinking water source.

Here's some people buying their fish for today.

In the past I've seen these logs in the river and always thought that they were an abandon road or pier. Today I found out that they are intentionally put into the bayou to slow the bayou down during flood stage. The caps on them are to prevent rainwater from soaking into the top. This prolongs the life of the piers.
This isn't the best image, but it is pretty typical of what the banks look like along the bayou. The reason I took it was because there were a lot of turtles sunbathing on that log. If you look closely you can still see a couple still there. They got spooked too and most of them abandoned the log for the safety of the water. You can also see the slight splashing around the one log.
We then saw this next interesting feature. At first you think its just a small creek emptying into the bayou. But then you notice it looks like a little waterfall. (again this isn't the best picture.) In this area you just don't see waterfalls because the ground water table is so high. If you see anything its swamps.
I wasn't surprise to find out it was a man made feature. What did surprise me was to find out it was made during the Civil war. It was water slue for launching their boats that carried the Rebel troops. Water travel was the fastest way to move the troops during that war. Shreveport got its name from because it was one of the main distribution ports during that war. Also it was named after Captain Shreve the man who founded it in 1839.  He's also the same the man who freed up the log jam on the river during the early 1800's and thus making the river navigable again. The Great raft as it was referred to was reported to be 180 miles long. Bossier City started off as a trading post in 1840. 

Next we saw this bridge. And at first you think its you typical bridge. But then when you really look at it you notice its different.
Here's a closer look. You can't read it but on it says '1931' the year it was built.
Then you think its different because it has distinctive bands on it. It isn't surprising to find out that those bands represent different flood levels through the years. Here's another picture of the central pier. That distinct white area was the result of flooding we had on this bayou 4 years ago. (or so the captain said. ) The one thing I thought interesting is the captain uses this bridge to judge if the bayou & the river are up or down. He says normally you don't see that dark lower band so the river is slightly below normal right now. I was surprised by this since we've had so much rain lately, this spring. But then I remembered we've been in drought conditions for the past couple of years and I figure that's probably whats accounting for its level now.
But I still haven't come to whats so unique about this bridge. Look at the central pier. Notice how round and big it is. Here's another image of it.
If you live in a bay area you probably recognize that this is a swing bridge. It was built so that it can open and close. It was designed that way so that larger paddle boats could traverse up and down this bayou. At one time this bayou and its off chutes could take you all the way to Jefferson Texas. What makes this even more interesting was the opening was done all by mechanical means and no electricity was used to do that operation. The bridge has not been opened in a long long time.
I thought it was kind of ironic that no electricity was use since it is right near the local power plant. Here's it next to some abandoned water works equipment. That's an interesting trip also. The city has turned the old water purification plant into a museum and it is very fascinating to learn about. I wasn't expecting to find out that the power plant only uses well water to cool things down and to run its facilities. With it being so close the the bayou you would just naturally assume they would use that. I'm sure that with so much water being nearby that the water wells use never run low and some of bayou water is bound to percolate through to the well reservoir.
A different angle looking at the power plant and the water system.

And here's a better view of the plant.
I just liked this picture of the Pacific Railroad bridge.
And this one too. In the back ground you can see the city of Shreveport.
And here's some better views of downtown Shreveport.
and another one.
Here's were the two bodies of water merge together. And another view of Sam's town looking over it.
We finally joined up with the Red and this time I was able to look at the Bossier City side of the River.
Here you can see another casino is being built next to Bras Pro Shop at the Bossier Boardwalk.
This bridge on the Red is called the Neon bridge because it lights up at night. It is also the old highway 80 bridge and also called the Texas Street bridge because this is the road you would take to get to Texas, which is about 30 miles away.
In the background you can see the Horseshoe casino and their boat. Here's a better view.
This weekend was a special time in this area because we have a festival called the Holiday in Dixie. One of the things that make it so special is that Barksdale Airforce base likes to have an open house complete with an airshow called 'Defenders of Liberty Air Show'. While we were rocking on the Red we could hear and see jet planes and other planes fly overhead and do amazing tricks. I did try to get pictures but the planes just show up as dots on a very blue sky background. Today was a perfect day for having the show since the sky was so clear and blue. If you look closely there is one jet you can barely see.
Since I had so many other pictures of bridges it just wouldn't be complete without a picture of the bridge that gets the most traffic and that's I-20.
And here's one of my favorite pictures that I took today of Diamond Jacks.
Here's a picture of looking up river. To the left is Shreveport and to the right is Bossier.
And finally here's two pictures that I just liked.
And this one I just liked the unusual way the river bank was eroding.

Revised 4-21-12
I opened up the paper today and saw an article about the air show.  I found out it is called Defenders of Liberty Air Show and corrected it in the post.  The planes are flown by the US Air Force Thunderbirds.

Today while walking the Thunderbirds flew over head again and I was able to get a couple of more photos.  I've cropped these so that you can see the planes better in them.

2 US Air Force Thunderbird flying to get in formation for the Defenders of Liberty Air show 4/22/12

US Air Force Thunderbirds flying in formation for the 'Defenders of Liberty Air show' 4-22-12

I was just looking at my prints and realized I had another one of the Thunderbirds flying in formation.  I don't know about you but when I see these planes flying so close like that it just gives me goosebumps to see.  It makes you proud of our airforce if nothing else.

US Air Force Thunderbirds  flying in a line at the Defenders of Freedom air show 4/22/12

Musing: If you are ever crossing the country on I-20 and you are in the Shreveport/Bossier City area you should definitely check out the Riverfront activities. They're usually lots of fun.

Musing: It is different using the old settings. In some ways its easier and in others its more time consuming loading one image at at time. Right now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out normally and I don't have to go in and fix it.

Repost - Hogdes Gardens - Fixed version

This post was first done on  6/2/11  but I've had so much trouble with Blogger and used the original to demonstrate the problems so I didn't want the original one to be changed.  I thought the best thing to do would be to repost it with the corrected stuff.  But even in trying to repost I still ran into some problems.  But at least this is a whole lot better than the other. 
  The main reason I wanted to fix this one is because I've gotten a lot of searches for this particular post- for the fossilized palm tree and the stratigraphic section, and I can only imagine what people must have been thinking when they would see how messed up this post was.

Dana at En Tequila Es Verdad has been writing about sentimental sediments and this place definitely has some sentimental sediments for me as you will see.

  The other day I went to Hodges Gardens.  I first saw it in the Spring time and fell in love with it because of all the beautiful azaleas blooming. It is one of my favorite places to visit.

    It used to be a privately owned gardens that was opened to the public in certain areas. I could not believe this was someones private place.  I was so grateful that the Hodges were sharing this incredible place with others.  I found out later that it had been an old abandoned rock quarry that the Hodges had reclaimed.
Here are some pictures of those first excursions to it when it was privately owned.

Hodges gardens  (4-2-89)  25 Lower level Waterfall & Pool

Hodges gardens (4-9-93) 15 Azalea Hill

Hodges Gardens (4-9-93) 17 pathway to Lookout Tower

Hodges Gardes (4-9-93) Willow point

Hodges Gardens (4-9-93) Flag Island

Hodges Gardens (4-9-93) Map of the Louisiana  purchase on flag Island - With the  in the background

Hodges Gardens (4-2-89) A better view of the map of the Louisiana purchase on flag island

 
  Then Hodges Gardens closed for a few years and I was very sad I couldn't take people to it and visit it like I used to.  A few years ago the state acquired it and now it is a state park. I only found out it was reopened again this Easter when they started to advertise in the paper about seeing the sunrise there.  I'm so appreciative that it was taken over by the state and is opened again.  It truly is a wonderful place to visit, and should be shared with people.  They have put in some cabins and are doing a lot of renovations to the place so I wasn't able to see all of my favorite spots like flag island.

To find out more about it here's the link:

Hodges Gardens State Park, LA

 or here;

http://hodgesgardens.net/

  Living in Louisiana the one thing I don't like is the fact that there are very few rock outcrops.  I miss seeing rocks and the awe and wonder I get from looking at them. Hodges Gardens is one of the few places I've found that actually has rock outcrops because it Gardens was built around an abandon rock quarry.

Hodges gardes (5-22-11)  Lookout Tower on top of the old quarry wall.

 I just had to go and see the quarry wall.  But as I was going to the wall I got distracted by this rock.

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11)   petrified Palm wood.

Here's another area where  I was distracted by some other quarry rocks. (see below, blogger is messing with me. It won't let me move the photo to this location)

Here's a close up of the quarry wall.  The first thing I noticed was the red staining on the rock, more than likely due to iron oxide. Indicating that these sands were probably deposited in an environment that was sometimes exposed to air.

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) quarry wall with iron oxide staining on sandstone.

 Look at this area with the staining and a fresh cut of the rock.  What I saw was a white sandstone with some high angle cross bedding.  This indicated to me that the rock was probably some kind of beach sand that was above ground when it was deposited.
  Because of the fossilized wood nearby, it reminded me of the cheniers I had seen along the gulf coast when I used to live near Lafayette.  Cheniers are "A long, low 3-6 m high ), narrow, wooded, beach ridge or sandy hummock, forming roughly  parallel to a prograding shoreline seaward of marsh and mud-flat deposits (such as along the coast of southern Louisiana ) enclosed  on the seaward side by fine-grain sediments, and resting on peat or clay.  It is well drained and fertile, often supporting large evergreens oaks or pines on higher area; its width varies from 45 to 450 m and its length may be several tens of kilometers.' (Dictionary of geologic terms.  Rev ed - American Geological Institute (1976)

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) quarry wall with a fresh cut.

Another view of the quarry wall. The angular cut to it really stood out to me, and also how the vegetation is taking it over so that soon you won't be able to see much of the rocks.

I started to head back toward the car and saw these rocks that had been exposed and weathered for a lot longer than the quarry wall rocks.  There were a lot of tubes going through it.  I took those to be tree roots that had been filled in.

Some other well weathered out cropping rocks. 

Weathered rocks at Hodges Gardens

The first time I went I was amazed to find petrified wood there and it had always fascinated me.  I couldn't remember how it got to be petrified or the age of it but I did know it had to be Cenozoic in age because all the rock outcrops in the state are that age.  I did figure there had to be a source for the silica.  Was it from hot ground water underneath the area like Hot Springs?  No because there are none of the other features you see with the hot springs. .  Here's some other pictures of the petrified wood.

 The next three pictures are of the same log that you see when you stop at the rangers place to pay to get into the park.

 This was a good angle because it looks like the bark is still on the tree.  When I first saw it I just thought it was a log that was left there, but when I went up to it I realized it was petrified wood that has been beautifully preserved.

 I like this picture because you can also see how you are on a ridge That sticks above the surrounding country side.

 Here's another log that has been wonderfully preserved.  Based on others opinions this was a palm tree, thus indicating that the climate was warmer for this area when it was deposited since palm trees are not native to this area anymore.

Fossilized (palm?) tree (possible Palmoxylon) at Hodges Gardens

 When you get to the park you are given this map, to help you get around.

Map of the surrounding area of the State park for Hodges Gardens

And also this little bit of information about the place.



On the day we were there the area had been hit by lightening and the water features were not running especially the ones on the Lake.  Usually there is a fountain running in the middle of the lake.  However we did get to see Canadian geese, with there young ones, which was just as fascinating to watch as any of the water fountains.

Hodges Garden Lake

Hodges Gardes (5-22-11)  5. Going to the gift shop

We parked the car and started at the gift shop to find out what was worth seeing .  That's were we picked up the information on the Gardens.

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) 17. the Lookout Tower

Hodges Garden (5-22-11)  Looking at the lake from the Old Fashion garden

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) 18. The roses in the Old Fashion Garden

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) 16. Cascade Waterfall

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) 11. Double stair case bed. (note the water wasn't working today)

Hodges Garden (5-22-11) 25. Lower level pool- with water lilies

 I could not leave the place without getting this picture of the man himself--- .

Hodges Gardens (5-22-11) 10. A. J. Hodges Bust

I couldn't wait to get home and to look some of this stuff up since I had forgotten what I had figured out about this stuff from when I last was able to visit the place.

When I did get home I was disappointed at how little there was about the geology of the area and the state for that matter.
Here's what  Wikipedia has to say about the Geology of Louisiana and the state and the Louisiana link.

Geology

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

The underlying strata of the state are of Cretaceous age and are covered by alluvial deposits of Tertiary and post-Tertiary origin. A large part of Louisiana is the creation and product of the Mississippi River. It was originally covered by an arm of the sea, and has been built up by the silt carried down the valley by the great river.
Near the coast, there are many salt domes, where salt is mined and oil is often found. Salt domes also exist in North Louisiana.
Due both to extensive flood control measures along the Mississippi River and natural subsidence, Louisiana is now suffering the loss of coastal land area. State and federal government efforts to halt or reverse this phenomenon are underway; others are being sought. There is one bright spot, however; the Atchafalaya River is creating new delta land in the South-Central portion of the state. This active delta lobe also indicates that the Mississippi is seeking a new path to the Gulf. Much engineering effort is devoted to keeping the river near its traditional route, as the state's economy and shipping depends on it.

 So I went on to see what I could find out about the gardens.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Hodges_Gardens_State_Park .  
There were some other links that were good for some additional  pictures and info.  Here's http://www.toledo-bend.com/hodges-gardens/index.asp link put out by the tourism bureau .
I like the one by the .bicyclesports.us  the best for its pictures.


As you can see there's nothing mentioned about how the quarry and the rocks that were there forming the quarry came into existence.  
So I went to the state geologic map that I got at a place were Paul Heinrich ( link ) said it was free to use.  I hope it is because I printed it and have scanned it in since I couldn't get it to rotate into the proper position.

Generalized Geologic Map of Louisiana by Chacko J. John   http://www.lgs.lsu.edu

 From that you can tell that the area is part of the Catahoula Formation, Oligocene Series, Tertiary, Cenozoic (abt 37-24 my).
 And below is a Stratigraphic chart of Louisiana. 

Tertiary Stratigraphic chart of Louisiana, www.lgs.lsu.edu

Again this stuff was not of much help since it just names the Catahoula formation and its relationship to the Frio Formation which is found in east Texas.   Nothing about its depositional environment.

   So then I went to a book that I have found very handy in the past.  'Roadside Geology of Louisiana 2nd ed' by Darwin Spearing (2007) Mountain Press Publishing Co. (I must admit I have found these series of books call 'Roadside Geology of (state)' very helpful starting points for learning about the geology of an area you maybe traveling in.)
  Spearing didn't have much but he did have some things.  On pages 14-15 he writes "The Oligocene Catahoula sandstone is a fairly hard rock that supports ridges across central Louisiana.  Its coarse sand was deposited in river channels.  It has been called a rice grain sand because of its large grains.  The Catahoula sand contains volcanic ash, which apparently blew in from the west.  It commonly contains petrified palm wood."
  Spearing was right about the Catahoula forming ridges in central LA as could be seen from when I was there and could look out over the area when I checked into the park.  To me it is the ash in the sand that has harden it to the point where it is more resistant than the other formations that are around  it.   I can accept the ash coming in from the west.  I know that that period of time was volcanically active as seen with the petrified forest remains in Arizona.
  I do have a problem with them being called river channel sands.  I saw little evidence of it.  It went against my sense of reasoning that the Catahoula ridge would be trending east - west when the rivers in the area are  flowing in a north-south or northwest to southeast direction.  Now I have to find other info on the Catahoula sands.  I blew up the section and highlighted the Catahoula sandstone outcrop in pink, so you can see what I mean.

The Catahoula Sandstone www.lgs.lsu.edu

The Catahoula look like they are beach sands just from knowing the depositional history of the area.  I remembered being told by a boss 'to think of all of Louisiana's property as beach front property because at some point in time it probably was.  It just got progressively younger the father south you went.  To really understand what was going on you had to observe the southern part of the state.' So that's whats sticking in my mind when I see this formation. 

So now its onto other articles to find out what others think it is
The USGS writes about it in Mississippi  and is located here.  I still didn't find this very helpful.  I did think it was interesting that they were dating it Miocene in age verses Oligocene in Louisiana.
The USGS also has this to say about it in Texas at this link.  At least in Texas it is Oligocene in age.
I searched the Generalized Geology of Louisiana and found this at the LSU site ( Catahoula Formation link www.lgs.lsu.edu) which was prepared by the Louisiana Geological Survey staff. and it says this about the "Catahoula Formation, - consisting of sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone deposited by rivers, with some material derived from the alteration of volcanic ash blown to Louisiana from the west.  Much of the sandstone is hard, and the Catahoula outcrop belt is marked by the most resistant and prominent landscape element in the state." Again River deposits - but I wonder what criteria they used to make this assessment of the sand as a river channel sand and not a beach or chenier sand.

I searched more under Catahoula fossil palms and found this delightful piece by Mike Viney 'Back to Oligocene Louisiana,- Palmoyion of the Catahoula Formation,   2008)  At least in this article it talks about why they call it river deposits and also mentions the beach deposits with the palms growing on it. The good thing is I now know what type of palms those trees probably were (Palmoxylon), and why they are Louisiana's official fossil.

Finally I came across this little article by Paul Heinrich ( that seemed to make the most sense).  It was about fossilized bird tracks found in the Catahoula sandstone (here's the link  again)- again another thing indicating to me its beach and not river channel depostits.

I'll keep on looking trying to figure out more about the Catahoula sandstone it is intriguing to me. Also it is fun looking into all this geology stuff. ..