I was not raised going to parks or exploring nature.When my children were growing up  we did some family camping. It was maybe 30-35 years ago when i was introduced to Palisades Kepler State  Park, Mount Vernon, Iowa.. In the past twenty years I have become a regular.. Taking my young grandson on his first big hike when he was just a tyke t,he day my mother died, after all that needed to be done was done ,going with all the grandkids and all our dogs to run and play on a sandbar on an early spring day, I went to walk the riverside, the day I was diagnosed with cancer,when a newly found niece came to visit from afar and the family got together to meet and celebrates, in the hours after my father's funeral, the first place I went out to walk with my dogs after doctor gave me ok post hip replacement, and any random Monday or whenever the time is free, it is not raining and temps are between zero and 90 degrees F I love living near to this wonderful park and learning more about it and the history around it. 

 

 

I would like you to meet the old stump. Most of the yearsIi knew it as a tall tree.summer 2024 it was clearly dead. Spring 2025 the tree was taken down. i am told some of wood will be reclaimed and used in lodge. Kepler Drive is the main road to the river. There is a signpost showing a stone restroom building  at 450 Kepler. This stump is too far from there. Keep going upstream. There are several tall arboreal elders lining the grassy area between the road and the drop to river . there are also several stairways  built decades ago that help one go down from road level  to drop down closer to river's edge.

 

 

In my early roamings  around the park I noticed a stone stairway disturbed by a large tree that had insisted upon growing between stones.I know seedling grow all over everywhere but found it curious to think of the first few seasons of this tree being allowed to grow there. Some park rangers along the way decided not to remove.. At some point it became a large tree pushing rocks. I would show persons that ever accompanied me on walks along the river bank

 

 

        

 

The trees have lined the shore like guardians. The world has been commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII and we see  there are so few veterans that remain.We know that generation is passing from us

. Here is a park shaped by the work of men's hands from that same generation.  

I have sat down on this new stump. the views of the river are fantastic from this vantage point. 

  To be rid of the stump would require tearing up the  jumbled stones, removing many, if not all in order to use a stump grinder.

.OH, a stump so defined by ring after ring of history

Maybe the stump can stand, remain as a marker of time         

In an effort to keep the stump around I have started a petition and love it if you could support my efforts by signing on via this link. Thanks  https://chng.it/HHZth44xzR