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Ha Ha Tonka State Park Safari
Highlights
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You must pre-register for all safaris.
CSA explores Natural Bridge
One of Several Large Sink Holes and Glades
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Ha Ha Tonka is Typical of Missouri's famous Karst
Topography. Here intrepid CSA explorers visit a Natural Bridge. Those on
the far side are in a glade, in a large sink hole formed when the rest of
the cave collapsed, leaving only the "Natural Bridge"
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Participants Gather at Camp CUMCITO
Friday Night (City Union Mission Camp in the Ozarks)
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The Ha Ha Tonka Safari starts Friday evening at Camp CUMCITO (City Union Mission
Camp In The Ozarks) near Warsaw, Mo. Typical agenda Friday evening allows
for late arrival of guests. Get acquainted, setup camp, campfire, sing
along, SMORES.
Saturday
typical agenda: Brief introduction to Karst, travel to Ha Ha Tonka State
Park.
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Seminar on the Origin of Caves
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Classical Karst consists of Caves, Underground Rivers,
Sink Holes, Springs, Natural Bridges and porous rock. It is all found
in the small area of Ha Ha Tonka State Park, in abundance. But how did
it all form? We will learn that most of it formed in the very short space
of a few hundred years, and even cave decorations (stalactites, etc.),
in spite of the slow rates frequently observed today, could have all formed
in less than a hundred years.
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The Turkey Pen Trail
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Exploring
the Turkey Pen Trail we see a natural savannah and gradually enter the
Karst area. We also view the beautiful wildflowers among the trees that
make this one of the few remaining natural savannahs.
Natural wildfires
are required to maintain a savannah.
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The "Devil's Kitchen" a small sinkhole
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The kids are
always the first to find, and the leading explorers of, The Devil's
Kitchen, a small sinkhole. Here, a few of them explore one side of
the hole, which, as you can see, has access from the top. Less obvious
is the fact that the cameraman is standing in the original cave passage
below the kids. Even less obvious is that this small sinkhole was
part of an enormous room in a vast cave. The ceiling of the cave was
about 60 feet above the cameraman.
Just
outside the "Devil's Kitchen" we'll all walk through the
larger sinkhole, equal to several football stadiums. We'll rest along
one of the former walls of the cave, a site used by Indians as a temporary
shelter. And we'll notice a striking difference in the ecology of
the sinkhole than that of the Ozark hills around it.
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Some of the Safari Group Take a Break While Traversing the "Devil's Promenade"
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The Devil's Promenade
You may have noticed that, according to the
wisdom of our public servants, the devil owns most of the planet. (Actually,
Hindu gods own Grand Canyon)
("Many are the afflictions of the
righteous" Psalm 34:19)
As you make this walk you will also notice that this immense
sinkhole (as well as the other large ones) has become a beautiful glade,
with an ecology much different than the Ozarks around it.
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Ha Ha Tonka Spring
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The
major spring at Ha Ha Tonka forms a small river that once powered a sizeable
mill. Some of the kids are shown here enjoying the spring. Behind the
camera the rest of the folks are exploring the large hill formed from
the ceiling of a large collapsed cave. The "room" some of the
kids are standing in was over 100 feet high. Atop the bluff in front of
them is the 60-room Ha Ha Tonka Castle, built by a Kansas City man who
was killed in the first fatal automobile accident in Kansas City.
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Copyright: © 2024 by Creation Science Association for Mid-America (CSAMA)
Organization: The Creation Science Association For Mid-America
Copyright & Disclaimer Notice
Saturday - 12/14/2024 |