Getting to know Little Finland better...

This is one of those places which takes several, perhaps many, visits to understand and fully digest. A local hiking-club president told me that 'Little Finland isn't secretive about its treasures,' and he was certainly right about that. Still, it doesn't show them all on a first visit or to the unobservant, either.

The sculptures are everywhere, but you have to find the smaller parts which 'have personality.' Like, for example, The Dragon:

 

Or the Far-seeing Man. What is it that he sees in the distance? Is that an anxious look on his face?

 

 

Little Finland is a big place, with many crevices and ledges among which to wander:

 

 

At the very beginning and end of the next clip we can see tiny hikers dwarfed by the immensity of the plateau:

 

 

While the drone is superb for understanding the larger context, to see the unique personalities among the sandstone sculptures, you have to be down among them. Only the largest, free-standing figures reveal themselves to the airborne. The best are shy; one needs to search them out. For example, here are two of the Three Bears:

 

 

Of course, there are the occasional parades of Creepy Critters right out in the open:

 

 

I know, I know. They've reserved the rubber room for my overheated imagination...

 

A final view of the sculptures along the North end of the cliff where the entry road allows us up onto the plateau. Visitors are drifting back to their ATVs and Little Finland will soon be deserted.

 

 

Little Finland has indeed generously shared many of its treasures with us, but I hope to return with some local hikers who know the place far better than I do.

 

Meanwhile, our recent spell of superb weather (as global 'warming' blizzards covered the northeast) will soon end.

 

Ah, but my out-of-state trips begin in May.  Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming will offer new adventures for the Phantom drone and its pilot. Woo-woo!