The vista at Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National Forest was fairly crowded. A few miles away, the lake and the hiking trails and the bluff at Pounds Hollow Recreation Area were much less busy, though still in the national forest. After taking in the Garden of the Gods, Ann and I spent a few pleasant hours there early on the afternoon of October 11.

Near the parking lot is a small beach on the small Pounds Lake.

From there, a trail leads more-or-less southwest.

The lake’s still in view much of the way, and what a sight in mid-October.Tall trees mark the path as well.

Eventually the lake peters out into more of a wetland.
Leaving that behind, the land is covered with leaves this time of the year.

When the wind blew, more leaves cascaded to the ground.

Pounds Escarpment rises from the forest floor along the trail, with parts of it curiously mottled in black and white.

The CCC crafted some stairs to climb to the top. We climbed them.

It wasn’t all stairs. Along the path there were a few fat man’s misery passages, which I suspect were natural cracks enlarged and smoothed by CCC muscle power.

At the top of the escarpment is a viewing platform, not nearly as crowded as the Garden of the Gods.

In fact, we were the only ones there for a few minutes, taking in the wooded vista.