Rockcastle Narrows

4/20 - 4/21/17
2017 bag nights: 7
animals: 3 snakes, turtle, butterflies
Hiking song: Homegrown Tomatoes by Guy Clark

I dropped the kids off at school and headed south on I-75. I got to the Sheltowee Trace Trailhead on KY192 about 10. Within a 1/4 mile, I saw a cat walking down the trail. The minute he noticed me, he picked up the pace and I never saw him again. Kind of weird seeing a cat on the trail.

The trail goes downhill and the little trickles and creeks get bigger. There are lots of 3-6 foot waterfalls and some campsites along the creek.

Then the creek drops down into a gorge and the trail stays up high. There is a 50ish foot waterfall across the valley.

After a couple miles, we get to Van Hook Falls.

A beaver has been working

The Rockcastle River where it meets the top of Lake Cumberland. There was an obvious boater campsite with tons of garbage here. Beautiful location ruined by idiots.

Interesting rock inscription

Awesome campsite near the Rockcastle Narrows.

It was easy to climb out onto the rocks and watch the water and clouds. The day was warm enough that I thought about jumping in the river, but it was too cold, instead I splashed a bunch of water on my head. 

The next day I had an easy hike back to the car. The rain held off until I was about a mile from the car. Clean dry clothes and an easy drive home. Then accompanied the family to Keeneland for a beautiful day at the races.

Random flowers and wildlife. There were lots of wild irises.

Also lots of "fire pinks"

Fleabane?

This snake scared the shit out of me. It was not interested in getting moved off the trail with a stick, it kept striking at the stick. Eventually, it shot off the trail about 40 feet in a couple seconds.

Saw another one (smaller) the next day. Also refused to get off the trail, kept striking at the stick.

I like this kind of wildlife more :)

Raven Run

3/24/17

A nice day hike at Raven Run in Lexington KY, hiked about 6 miles and enjoyed playing with the camera. The wildflowers are just starting to appear, looks like the next couple weeks are going to be great. Looking through these photos makes me realize how awesome it is that Lexington has something like Raven Run.

First the waterfalls

Same waterfall, just closer

Then the wildflowers (the identifications are very uncertain)

Blue Phlox

A Trillium

no idea what this is, a tree of some sort that was just budding. I just liked the patterns in the leaves.

Rue Anemone

Bloodroot?

No idea

False Rue Anemone

Swift Camp Creek

2/9/17
The gravel roads are still closed in the gorge. I decided that I would park at the gate on Rock Bridge Rd and just walk the 3 miles to the normal trailhead and then loop back on the Turtle Back Arch trail to the road then my car. It would be about 11 miles, but ~5 miles would be the road, so an easy hike. I figured I would be guaranteed to have the place to myself.

Got out of the car at 9:30 after dropping kids at school/daycare. The thermometer said 30 degrees, it was overcast and damp. I'm glad I went back in the house to get a hat and gloves.

It was a pleasant road walk. After less than an hour, I was at the Rock Bridge Trailhead.

View from the overlook about half way down the Rock Bridge Trail, cold and grey, it started snowing about a half hour later.

I spent a little time photographing Creation Falls.

And then headed down the Swift Camp Creek Trail. Swift Camp Creek was really running, lots of silt from the last couple days of rain. It looked like the creek was 6-8 inches higher in the very recent past. When the weather warms up, I'm coming back to do a little creek walking.

Then off to check out Pooch Falls. I knew there was a waterfall here, but I had never bothered to climb down the cliff to actually see it from below. A while back, someone posted a picture on kywilderness.com of the falls and I knew that I wanted to check it out the next time I was in the area. It is a very cool waterfall.

Then up the hill to find Turtle Back Arch. I had last been here a couple years ago and remembered the basic location. After a little bit of poking around, I found the arch. It ended up being higher up the cliff face than I remembered.

View from the top of the arch

It took a little bit of doing, but I made it to the top of the ridge and found a very obvious trail. It was very easy to follow once I was on top of the ridge. The sun had sort of appeared, so it was a very nice hike back to the road and then to my car.

Interesting tree, maybe a "Cherokee Tree"

A great 6 hours in the gorge. Once again, I did not see anyone.