On The Road July 13, 2019

PHOTOGRAPHING KELPZIG MILL
(Click on Any Image To Enlarge It)

Another road trip with Bob Colvin this time to Klepzig Mill. It was a beautiful day, blue skies with white puffy clouds and a temperature of 86°. We left Jefferson City, MO at 5 AM, stopped in Rolla to have breakfast at Waffle House and refuel on coffee. We traveled highway 63 to 19 then got on 106 to H and finally highway NN. Driving straight through will take approximately 2 hours 52 minutes but like I said we stopped for breakfast.

We stopped at Rocky Falls because I wanted to get a reading for a Milky Way shot later this month. There was only one family there but this is a local favorite and can fill up by noon. From Rocky Falls Shut-ins you have a 4 min, 2.1-mile drive to your turn off to Klepzig Mill. Turn left on County Road #522. This dirt road can be very muddy and is narrow, not recommended for large motor homes or trailers. Klepzig Mill is less than a mile on the right. There is no sign or defined parking area, and it's easy to miss in summer vegetation, so watch carefully.  This is a rough road, not the worst I have been on but just a heads up. However, if you take the road, there is a two car parking area right next to the Mill.

The first time I visited this Mill I hiked to it from Rocky Falls. Great hike for the adventurer. Hike from Rocky Falls along the Ozark Trail, or park at the end of the pavement on NN and walk up the dirt road. It is in a spectacular setting, surrounded by the Rhyolite rock of the "shut-in" canyon made by Rocky Creek.While we were there three 4-wheel gators pulled up loaded with sightseers. It appears a local company offers guided tours to this area now.

This first image was taken looking southeast at the mill. It was 9:30 AM or 8:30 AM by sun time. The morning sun had not cleared the tops of the trees yet.  My last visit was in October of 2011 and the area was rich in fall colors. The shut-ins surrounding this area is (for me) the highlight of this location. The Rhyolite rock has a red/mauve color to it. Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition. It can be white, light-grey, or pink. It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic. The mineral assemblage is usually quartz, sanidine, and plagioclase. Biotite and hornblende are common accessory minerals. It is the extrusive equivalent to granite.

Nikon D850, Sigma Art 24-105mm-f/4, f/7.1, 1/200sec, ISO 160, EV -0.67

Built by Walter Kelpzig in 1928. He was the first in the area to introduce barbed and woven wire for his refined breed of dairy cows. He sawed logs into boards for his house and an outbuilding and saved good boards for neighbor’s coffins. Klepzig Mill was a grist and sawmill, not much to look at and but was a building type that replaced log cabins of the times. This was a building that could be erected by one or two people on the ground and then raised into place. He ground corn and was noted for grinding corn fee for the poor. In this side view of the mill, looking west, I used a higher ISO because the area was heavily shaded and I was hand holding the camera.  My focal length was at 35mm and I had image stabilization turned on which allowed me to get by with 1/30 sec. 

Nikon D850, Sigma Art 24-105mm-f/4, f/11, 1/30sec, ISO 400, EV +0.67

This area is fed by Rocky Creek Stream, which consists of run-off water, underground water and I think a spring or two. It flows into the Current River. Most of the exposed igneous rocks of the St. Francois Mountains region are Rhyolite rather than granite. Igneous rocks are formed from volcanic activity. Granite is a coarse-grained igneous rock formed from magma that cooled underground and was later exposed. By contrast, Rhyolite is formed when magma is cooled above ground. Shut-ins occur where a broader stream is “shut in” to a narrow canyon-like valley. Shut-ins typically occur in Missouri where streams flow through softer sedimentary bedrock materials such as dolomite or sandstone and then encounter the more resistant igneous rock. Setting up for this composition took some maneuvering through the creek and across some very slick rock.

Nikon D850, Sigma Art 24-105mm-f/4, f/16, 2.5sec, ISO 100, EV, 6-Stop ND Filter

Klepzig Mill is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways which was established in 1964, making it America's first national park area to protect a wild river system. The Ozark National Scenic Riverways is known for its caves, springs, sinkholes and losing streams. My last image of this Mill for this blog is a wide angle view highlighting the pink rock shut-ins, and cascades.

Nikon D850, Sigma Art 24-105mm-f/4, f/16, 1/15sec, ISO 100, CP & Split ND Filter

FYI, the Caster Shut-ins is the only pink granite in Missouri and it along with Missouri Red Granite can be found just two hours away in the Fredericktown, MO area.   Another Blog and another 1-day outing with Bob Colvin.  We left early but we were back by mid-afternoon.  Visit Bob's Facebook page to see his infra-red version of this area and thanks for stopping by. As always comments and inquiries welcome.


John Gilbert
gilbej49@gmail.com
www.jmgilbertphotography.com