Granite Cliffs Near Shanty Falls

Just to the South of the actual area of Shanty Falls was a mile long stretch of granite walls that extended almost to the Wabash River. They were chock full of small caves and some were on the ground level while others midway up the cliffs. The kids of the Marion YMCA had several trips to this location and all were even more amazed at these cliffs than they were of Shanty Falls.

Derek (pictured here) loved to play amongst the boulders that were littered throughout this stretch of granite cliffs.  Mark Aldefer was more interested in the small caves themselves.  One in particular must have been the home to a family of skunks because they always had that familiar faint odor to them.  These, of course, were not explored at all.

For young boys, both Shanty Falls and these granite cliffs were enough of an attention getter to keep them busy for a full afternoon.  Most times we would bring a sack lunch to eat at the falls and then split the day between the cliffs and the area immediately around the falls.  It was a great location especially when the water at Shanty Creek was flowing full. 

If you’ve ever been to Shanty Falls, located near Wabash, Indiana, leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of them.

Tyler at Big Bass Lake

I think that Tyler spent 80% of his time during the Salesian Boys Club camping trip to our property in his swimming suit. Perhaps one of the reasons why is that it rained nearly every day and he had the foresight to dress appropriately. He always said that he wanted to be ready for any swimming activity as that was his favorite time of the day be it at Big Bass Lake or on off-property trips to either Lake Michigan or the Little Manistee River.

He also wore his suit for any boating activity at Big Bass Lake.  He had brought along two sets of swimming trunks and some of the boys said he even slept in them.  One of the boys thought he was always dressed this way was to get a good tan but since the sun only came out a few times on that trip, that put that idea to rest.

Tyler even moved around the campsite in his swimming suit.  Now he did change to jeans and tennis shoes for hiking but that is about the only time we observed him fully dressed.  Around our wooded beachfront he always looked like he does here.  He must have been born in either California or Florida?  The two colors he always wore were red and blue making me think that he was very patriotic. 

Salesian Boys Club Camping Adventure

The Salesian Center, which housed the Salesian Boys Club in Columbus, Ohio, owned property just east of Columbus and some of the boys and I used that camp once for an outing. We stayed in a primitive cabin, complete with an outhouse, for two nights. On the first night, we played a game of Hound and the Hare where the kids hid and the two counselors, myself and an older boy called Jughead, searched for them in the woods.

Within minutes we heard a boy cry out for he had run into a electrical fence that we had not been told about on the property.  I found Scott Karasek badly shaken up and carried him back to the cabin.  He had two puncture wounds, so leaving the other boys in Jughead’s care,I headed back toward Columbus to get Scott some medical care.

I took him to Grant’s Hospital, which just happened to be right across the street from our boys club.  We had to wait for about an hour as just as we came in a gunshot victim took first priority.  Later, a nurse and doctor checked Scott out and gave him a tetanus shot. 

We then returned to camp for the completion of our two-day stay after notifying Scott’s mother.  The boys had a great time with a variety of events and so the rest of the trip went well without incident.  I’m sure that Scott will never forget that camping trip and his shocking” incident in the forest.