October 2018, Day 5, Unique to Kentucky and Zambia

Day 5 Tuesday, October 16, 2018

     Today was all about Daniel Boone National Forest.  There are plenty of natural bridges, arches, waterfalls and canyons in this part of Kentucky.  Today I chose two arches and three waterfalls.  If I had the time, I could squeeze in a fourth. All three were in the same general area of the national forest.

      With absolutely no reason to hang out in Harlan, I left well before dawn, picking up Hwy 119E west.  With the heavy cloud cover, dawn wasn’t so much an event, but a slow fade up from darkness. 

     A few more miles on 25E to Hwy 90 and into Daniel Boone National Forest.  My first stop was Cumberland Falls State Park.  The falls here have something unique to no other known place on the planet.  Victoria Falls in Zambia used too have one, until an earthquake shuffled things around a bit.

     On a cold winter night, when the moon is full and the sky clear, you can sometimes see an arc of white light over the mist at the base of thee falls.  If the conditions are truly perfect, the moon’s light refracts multiple colors.  They refer to it as a moonbow.  Don’t believe me, click here.  Or watch this video here.

     It’s an easy walk from the parking lot to a series of overlooks of Cumberland Falls. 

     The trail continues a few miles further to more waterfalls.  But, due to a partial collapse of a retaining wall, the trail is barricaded.  The map posted on the kiosk outside the visitor center showed a trail on the other side of the river to an overlook and eventually Eagle Falls.  I asked about it inside the visitors center.

     I ditched the car at the parking area and started walking.  It’s about three miles out and back and about a quarter of that are some sort of stone stairs.  All in all, not a bad hike.  The trail wasn’t as muddy as I expected.  But, everything just felt damp.  But yeah, worth the effort.

     The trail ends at Eagle Falls.  I tried playing with the waterfall's reflection in the pools of water...

     A unofficial trail led down to the river for a different view of Cumberland Falls...

     The trail map mentioned an overlook of Cumberland Falls.  I didn’t notice it heading out.  But, on the way back...

     Hwy 90 eventually took me to Hwy 27 South.  In the town of Parker’s Lake sits the well marked Natural Arch.  It’s just a few miles off the  road.  From the parking area, it’s a fairly easy mile loop trail to the base of the arch.

     Finding the second arch was a little more interesting.  The guidebook mentioned Hwy 700 in Whitley.  I found 700 and drove to the end, about five miles.  No arch.  Somehow I had missed 700 changing direction.  I followed it until I saw this sign. 

     They weren’t kidding.

      Backtracking, I realized I had been looking for a sign to Yahoo Arch.  It’s actually at the trailhead for Yahoo Falls.  For the falls, there’s a loop trail that starts with some overlooks and winds up at the base.  The arch trail is another .8 miles beyond the back of the loop.  The falls from above.

      The trail back to the arch was well maintained with minimum stairs and things to step over and I made pretty good time. 

      On the hike out to this second trail, I passed three or four unmarked trails heading off to who knows where.  And the continuation of the loop trail wasn’t marked.  It was mid afternoon and I really didn’t want to risk getting turned around in the forest.  Instead, I backtracked almost to the parking lot.  That’s where the other trail down starts.  It’s the one marked “stairs.” 
     Yahoo Falls from below...

       At 113 feet, this is Kentucky's highest waterfall.  

      After leaving the falls, I picked up Hwy 92 west towards Monticello.  It’s a relaxing rural highway through farm country.   The lines and colors in the fields intrigued me.  I found a convenient place to pull off and grabbed my camera.

      Two miles later it was Hwy 90 all the way to Albany, Kentucky 

      My home for the night was the Royal Inn.  There are two very different versions of how Albany got it’s name.  One, it was named after Albany, NY.  The other is much more colorful.  The town was founded by Benjamin, “Benny” Dowell.  Local legend claims the name comes from the 1837 vote to make this the county seat of Clinton County.  The slogan was, “A for Benny.”  And it stuck. 

      As for the Royal Inn, well, there aren’t that many choices in this part of Kentucky.  I’ve rolled the bones a few times on these small town motels.  Sometimes they’re well maintained, other times they’re just simply cheap.  This one was the latter. 

     I rolled into the parking lot and there was a sign on the door with a number to call.  With no cell service, I had to borrow a phone from the very nice young woman at the Family Dollar next door.  The owner was “in court” and had to send someone else.  After check in, it was time to find something to eat.  Since I try to avoid the chain places, I found myself at the buffet at Karen’s Lunch Box.  With loads of options, I definitely got my money’s worth.

    Like the previous night, I was just grateful to be in before the evening’s rain began.

Coming Up,
A Change of Plans