One of the places that Dennis and I had considered camping at was Big Bone Lick Park because they had some interesting hiking, a pool and a herd of bison. Since we finally ended up camping somewhere else (Stonelick Park), we decided to go check Big Bone Lick just in case.
The park is pretty large and has a very interesting nature informational center. It was fascinating to hear about how silt and sedimentary layers collected underground when the area was covered by sea. After the sea and glaciers retreated, the layers started feeding “salt licks” which in turn attracted Mastodons and Woolly Mammoths (and other large animals). People soon followed the animals and settled in the area. The salt licks, although providing salt for the huge animals, also ended up being deadly, since areas congealed into thick bogs that trapped the huge animals. On the plus side, it conserved their remains in such a way that many years later, anthropologists were able to find them and answer many questions about Mammoths and Mastodons being different creatures that lived in similar time frames.
Eventually, people started eating more off the land and less off the animals. One of the exhibits, speculated that the native people could’ve had a hand in eliminating Mammoths and Mastodons by over-hunting.
Big Bone lick has a large-scale exhibit of different animals caught in a bog (Giant sloth, Woolly Mammoth, Mastodon and Bisons) and the first of many hiking trails starts off right behind the exhibit and main visitor’s center.
During the trail walk, we encountered many new wildflowers to identify (which we did, of course, after carrying our nature backpacks). During our break, we found a bench and the boys and I sketched different things. The hiking trails goes by a “salt lick” so people could see and experience what they were. There was a time where Big Bone and other local salt licks were populated by hotels with bathhouses, which promised medicinal properties to the salt licks.
The final part of our trip included seeing the local bison herd. At one time, it was estimated that the US had huge herds of migrating bisons but they were severely hunted down to the brink of extinction. The park has a small herd, which had 3 baby bison when we went there.
After our hiking and visit to the visitor’s center, we drove around the park to see the campsites and I have to admit I was happy we camped at Stonelick and Lake Kincaid. The Big Bone Lick campsites were very exposed (not a lot of greenery or trees), small and the pool was tiny. We took down the 2-3 sites that would work, just in case. If we were to come back, it would be for the great hiking!
Te amo!