kettles and sandstone, and a Bridges-R-Us product recall

I had the day off today, and I escaped north into the woods with my dog. Brynn and I spent the day hiking, rolling in mud (her), and snapping photos (me) in Banning State Park just outside of Sandstone, Minn., about 90 miles north of the Twin Cities.


Like you might guess, the area was developed as a sandstone quarry back in the 1890's or so. The forest has since reasserted itself, and all that's left of the old quarry are piles of conspicuously square-edged rock slabs, holes in the ground, and the occasional ruins, mostly with trees sticking out of them.


I'm a sucker for self-guided trails, so I done some learnin' about quarries and local history. I also learned that the Kettle River along which the ruins stand got its name from the round holes and formations, or "kettles," carved in the sandstone by the water. The accepted geological term for them is actually "potholes," which sounds much more scientific. I have dubbed the uncanny formation below the Eye of God for obvious reasons (photographed from below):


And what stretch of the river is God keeping an eye on? Devil's Gate. As He should.

Maybe someone should kick it in the butt.

It's a lovely park, and it was a beautiful day for a hike; the sort of day I love in the north woods, when you walk through shade into a sunny patch, and the smell of sun-warmed pine needles is present there as if it were part of the sunlight. There's nothing else like it.

I put more photos from Banning on Flickr if anyone's interested.

In one of those "small world" moments, I crossed a bridge in Sandstone that was under construction. I would barely notice usually, but today I noticed. Then I realized there was no construction: it was an inspection.

Look a little familiar? It turns out I had ended up on one of four bridges in the state that have similar construction to the 35W bridge, and the governor had ordered an immediate inspection of all of them. If the state could recall those bridges like cars or harmful-if-swallowed baby toys, they'd be back at the big bridge factory right now, but as it is, Pawlenty had to send the inspectors to them. Whether it was for safety reasons or to search for clues to what happened on Wednesday, I don't know. But two guys were in a basket taking a good look at the trusses. The yellow vehicle on the left is some sort of reverse cherry picker (clam digger?) that dips down over the side instead of lifting up. Very interesting to see. Sandstone is straight up I-35, and on the drive home, the sign warning that 35W is closed south of Highway 280 was the first real-world driving evidence I've seen that it really happened.

And since these coincidences usually seem to come in threes, here's another bridge I encountered today:

I've got your 'structurally deficient' right here!