92 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



Above the caves, this wall of sandstone, carved and gullied by the 

 weather, rises some fifty or sixty feet. Near by a path down a small ra- 

 vine over a series of rock steps, gives access to the caves. The whole 

 is thickly wooded and affords a retreat, which, on a hot day is deliciously 

 cool. Just below the cave is a small spring of excellent drinking 

 water. Above, the country is heavily wooded for some distance back, 

 and both sides of the valley are clothed with trees. Just above the 

 caves, there are excellent picnic grounds where the forest is open and 

 the ground covered with greensward. This place is much resorted to 

 for picnics, and is reached by a road through the woods. 



Many rare plants grow in the valley and on the surrounding hills, 

 maiden-hair ferns are abundant on the slopes, and in the woods below, 

 grow the beautiful Virginia grape fern (Botrychium Virginianum). The 

 Clayton's fern (Osmunda Claytoniana), the lady fern (Asplenium filix- 

 foemina), the fairest of all our Iowa ferns. A deep and shady ravine, 

 known as Drakes Gulch, cuts into one side of the main valley. This is 

 a veritable fernery. The most abundant ground vegetation being the 

 lady fern, with here and there the Dryopteris goldiana. But the most 

 remarkable of all nature's productions is the walking fern (Camptosorus 

 rhizophyllus), This peculiar plant, growing on large rocks, sends out 

 long, slender and pointed leaves. The end of the leaf rests upon the 

 rock, takes root and forms a new plant, the old part withering away. 

 The new plant repeats the performance until the fern has traveled clear 

 across the rock. 



Woodman's Hollow is two or three miles southwest of Wildcat Cave, 

 on the other side of the river. It is a deep narrow valley half the width 

 of the former, and opens out on the Des Moines river. It is heavily 

 wooded as is all the country in this section for a mile or so back from 

 the river. The sides of the little valley are very steep and the upper 

 end narrows into a gorge, with a low, perpendicular rock cliff on each 

 side. These rock walls are covered with brilliant green mosses. It is 

 a beautiful and picturesque little valley, and under the dense shade of 

 the trees grows another large fern, peculiar to this locality the ostrich 

 fern (Onoclea struthiopteris). A small stream, the excavator of the val- 

 ley, flows through it and empties into the Des Moines. In close proximity 

 to Woodman's Hollow are other ravines, cut deeply into the earth, and 

 so densely shaded that they are cool on the hottest days. Many rare 

 plants besides ferns are found in these valleys. These cool retreats 

 furnish an entirely different flora from the uplands. From the high 

 points, three or four hundred feet above the Des Moines, beautiful views 

 of the river can be obtained. The valley of the Des Moines here is rather 

 narrow, and the heavily forested sides plunge steeply down to the 

 water. For sheer beauty of scenery, I have never seen anything that 

 surpasses it, although my travels have extended from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific. 



