Sunday, April 11, 2021

Kentucky Capers

By Jen.

Dates: 10/19/2020 to 10/22/2020

From here, we had a choice: head south down the east-coast states or head back to Arkansas to finish the maintenance on the van. Since the remaining maintenance was eating away at Jonathan, we went back towards AR. But before then, we did try to do a few stops. In high school, I did an AFS (American Field Service) exchange for a few days with a high school in Eden, NY. Unfortunately, I did not keep in contact with my exchange family, but I thought it would be fun to drive through the town. I did remember a few of the locations from back then (over a decade and a half now). Then we made our way to Cook Forest State Park in PA, where I had heard about an interesting trail. But, it was raining and showed no signs of stopping for the next few days in the wider area. So, we bypassed the rain by heading directly to Kentucky. Our first stop there was Natural Bridge State Park.

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You can see how the rock is prime to create a natural “bridge.”


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Local fungi.


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The natural bridge is fairly massive!


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And narrow, with a rock staircase leading up to the top. 


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Standing on top of the bridge.


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Fall colors were just coming to the region.


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A walking stick! (My finger is next parallel to it for size reference, not pointing at it.) Jonathan almost stepped on it, so I moved it off the path.


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A natural rock garden.


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A “balanced” rock.

 

Daniel Boone National Forest surrounds this park, and when we went to find a campsite for the night, we ran into some locals who recommended Chimney Top at sunrise. So, we set our alarms, went to bed early, and made our way to the trail before first light. 

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Upon first arrival.


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Just a few wisps of clouds in the sky, which started to turn pink.


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The gap that we walked over in the dark (on a bridge) that apparently makes it a “chimney.”


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A pretty tree with giant leaves.


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Aforementioned giant leaf.

 

From there, we made the hop over to my grandma’s to say hi to her and my aunt before doing a skip and a jump back to Arkansas to do some more maintenance.

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