Wednesday, 11 January 2006

Red River Gorge

It appears the national park's service that runs Daniel Boone National Forest are having a bit of difficulty. The amount of traffic Red River Gorge receives every year makes it impossible to enforce many of the parks rules which has led to the gradual destruction of a number of landmarks within the park.

Despite years of trying to control the damage from overuse at the gorge, including adopting rules five years ago that make campsites next to trails and along clifflines illegal, Forest Service officials say they simply have become outnumbered.

On any given day, there are just one or two Forest Service law-enforcement officers working a five-county area that includes the gorge, Eling said. They often must focus on more pressing priorities, such as busting people with methamphetamine labs or marijuana plots, finding lost hikers or investigating vehicle break-ins.

At risk, however, is not just grass and trees, which can grow back, but one of the nation's designated archaeological treasures. American Indians used the gorge for thousands of years, and they left behind tools, clothing, agricultural seeds and their remains.

When someone builds a fire on top of ancient Indian drawings -- which has occurred -- "it's like ripping a page out a history book," Bunzendahl said.

I understand the park's frustration. My last trip to the gorge six months ago was amazing. The have some of the most beautiful scenery in Kentucky. Some of it I was able to capture in my photo album.

During that trip, we hiked a number of the trails throughout the park. But on our final trail, we came into first hand experience of the damage campers can level on the park. We found a campsite near the trail with trash strewn everywhere. They had beer cans and toilet paper stretched for over 100 yards of the trail. It was absolutely disgusting.

Currently, the parks department is looking into ways to curtail the destruction caused by visitors to the park. Some include banning camping on certain trails and making it more difficult to bring large groups in for rock climbing. These seem like sensible steps to keeping the gorge a beautiful place. Hopefully, they will succeed.

But, this brings me to a bit of a rant. What are people thinking when they tear up a natural wonder like the gorge? Oh, I had my fun! Screw everyone else.

The sad thing is this practice is not unique to the parks. I live in a bit of a rural setting, and I am frequently going out in my yard and picking up trash that people have thrown out of their cars as they drive by my home.

I am trying to understand this. I go through McDonald's drive thru and order dinner. I finish it on the way home and say to myself. I have a bag of trash. Wow it would be a lot of work for me to pick it up and take it inside my house and deposit into a trash can. Hmm, I have an idea! I'll throw it out the window! Yeah, it will magically disappear!

Unbelievable! How pathetic, lazy, and inconsiderate do you have to be to think this way. Personally, I wish I could take the bags of trash they throw out of the car and fill there bedroom with it.

Posted by elendil at 2:29 AM in Travel
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Thursday, 21 October 2004

Hiking at the Breaks State Park

Every fall my wife and I take a two day hiking trip to eastern Kentucky. Wealways spend the first day at the Breaks State Park on the KentuckyVirginia border. (Yes they do touch) The Breaks features a 1600foot deep gorge know as the "Grand Canyon of the South".

The park has camping, a lodge, picnic areas, and of course trails. Thepark's trails consist of an array of short (1-2 mile) trails. Fortunatelythey intertwine so trails can be combined to make a longer hike. Jen and Iuse the following hike and highly recommend it to others who are lookingto hike the Breaks.

We start the hike behind Shelter #2. This is the beginning of the LoopTrail. We take this trail until it intersects with the Tower Tunnel Trailand the Prospectors Trail. At this point we detour 200 yards down theTower Tunnel Trail to get our first panoramic view of the canyon. Themajor features are a towering rock and a train tunnel bearing into the mountain below. Afterwards, we retrace our steps back to the Prospectors Trail and take it. The Prospectors Trail follows underneath the cliffs of the canyon wall and have some nice rock formations. We follow the trail until it intersects with the River Trail. The River Trail slowly winds down the side of the canyon until you reach the river's edge. This is an amazingly peaceful place to stop and rest as the water rushes past.

At this point we continue on the River Trail until it dead ends into the Grassy Trail. The Grassy Trail follows the Grassy creek.During this part of the trip you can see a number of water falls providedby the creek. Soon this trail runs into Laurel Branch Trail. Laurel Branch trail follows the branch back up to the top of the canyon. All 1600 feet. This is not an easy climb. Near the top, we departed from Laurel Branch to take the Geographical Trail. This takes you past some really cool rockformations until it ends at the State Line Overlook. The State Line Overlook provides a view of the both the gorge and the Virginia-Kentucky border. From there, we take the Overlook Trail which follows the top of the canyon back to Shelter #2. This final trail provides more incredible views of the canyon.

The amazing views, the rock formations, the waterfalls,and the sheer beautyof the forest around the trail as you travel down and out of the canyon make this the best hike in Kentucky. If you can make the hike in the fallwhen the leaves are turning, the trail becomes even more magnificent.

The only problem with the trail is that it is rocky in places so you willneed good boots for the hike. Other than that the trail is well marked andcleared of any major debris.

If you like to hike, then this is a trail that you shouldn't miss. Eventhough the hike is at times strenuous, I have to rate this as a five startrail. I don't know if I could find a better trail to hike.

Posted by elendil at 3:01 AM in Travel
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Wednesday, 13 October 2004

Adventure Hiking Trail

Jen and I went backpacking last weekend on the Adventure Hiking Trail in Wyandotte Forrest in Harisson County Indiana. The trail itself is 27 miles in length which was impossible for us to complete on our simple overnight trek. We entered the trail a mile from "Post C" and headed west for about four more miles. There we set up camp just off the trail on one of the ridges and enjoyed a peaceful night in the woods (with the exception of a couple of planes flying into and out of Louisville) The following morning we packed up and backtracked back to our truck.

The trail itself was well marked as it meandered up and down the hills ofSouthern Indiana. Every so often the trail crossed one of the many horse trails in the area which led us to encounter a number of horseback tours. The weather was perfect for early October and the trees were just beginningto turn providing a multitude of fall colors for our viewing. Although the trails go along a number of ridges, we encountered no panoramic scenes.

I only encountered two problems with the trail. The first complaint is about the trail conditions. In a couple of places we had to walk around downed trees and through bramble patches where the trail was not completelycleared. This complaint is minor compared to the fact that they had no easily available maps of the trail. This was annoying because we had no ideawhere we were or where we were going. We were able to guess our way into alovely weekend, but it could have been more enjoyable if we had a map to tell us our position on the trail.

All in all it is a good trail for backpacking and I would give it 3 stars . I would like to go back when I have more time and complete thewhole 26 miles trail.

Posted by elendil at 12:28 AM in Travel
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Tuesday, 5 October 2004

The Magic of Campfires

This last weekend, my wife and I attended the fifth annual Fire in the Fieldparty. Fire is an party held at a friends farm down in Larue county Kentucky. Every year a group of friends gather at thefarm to enjoy a number of festivities. In the day hours the guys shoot guns while the ladies carve pumpkins. Once the guns are put away, we start the cookout and drinking. At dusk the drinking continues as we light a monstrous bonfire that sets the sky ablaze and the warms the blood (Or was the warmth from the alcohol? I would be willing to bet a bit of both). The whole event is a wonderful spectacle that I look forward to every year. Even with a full day of fun activities, it is the bonfire which makes the event special for me.

I don't know what it is about campfires, but they are my favorite part ofthe camping experience. Maybe it is the distance from the hustle and bustle of everyday life? It could be the shelter the fire's light provides from the loneliness and vulnerability of the dark. Or maybe it is the companionship of sitting around the fire chatting about anything and everything with friends? Or it could be the serenity provided by the fire's hypnotic dance? Or does the pleasure come from remembering child hood experiences of camping? I would be willing to bet it is a combination of these reasons. Regardless, the campfire provides a magical moment of peace for me that is found in few other places.

Posted by elendil at 1:02 AM in Travel
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Thursday, 23 September 2004

Mitch McConnell Loop Trail

The McConnell Loop trail is located within Jefferson Forest near LouisvilleKentucky. The trail is 5.4 miles in length and takes about 3 hours to hike.It is a hilly trail that goes up and down along a number of ridges insouthern Jefferson county. Fortunately, none of the hills are especiallysteep or overly long making it a moderately difficult but vigorous trail.

The underbrush of the forest is not dense allowing views of the surrounding nature. The views down into the forest from the top of the ridges are the highlights of the hike. Even though the trail follows a number of ridges the trees deny panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

The only downside of the trail is the intermixing of horse trail with largeportions of the Loop trail. This means you have to dodge horse pies and mud pits during extended portions of the trail.

Overall it is a good hike and one I would give a rating of 2.5 stars.
Posted by elendil at 1:11 PM in Travel
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