MONDAY, JUNE 4th

Is it two times the charm??? Ehhhhhh ...

For those who remember me complaining about our arrival two years ago at Kentucky's Natural Bridge State Park ... Well here we are ... Yes ... Again. The last time we came the site that we had reserved we found ... outside the gate on the edge of the road and partially in a ditch and with only electric hook-up. Since that was a holiday weekend with the campground booked solid we left immediately. It just was not a safe place for us to camp with people exiting the campground having to drive around us. 

So we find ourselves here again. But with a much better site. One on the end of a culdesack, in an actual site, on a creek and with water & electric hook-ups. We landed here Sunday evening. There are some wonderful things in the area that just can't be passed up and this was the perfect opportunity to try again and to get this off the bucket list. 

Our best site in the campground comes  complete with the sound of Whittleton Creek, whip-poor-wills and a hiking trail head that leads to one of the largest natural stone arches ... Whittleton Arch. Most of the day was spent hiking. We did two big hikes today one to Natural Arch and the other to Whittleton. The plan at Natural Arch was to take the sky lift up and hike down so we could save time in order to get both hikes in. As our luck goes the lift was broke and they were waiting on FedEx to deliver the part to fix it. So we decided to drive farther up the mountain to catch a shorter hiking trail at the Lodge. Once we reached the arch we realized how amazing this natural stone arch is. Then every step became even more spectacular. Especially when we discovered we could climb the arch and walk across the top. Breathtaking! We decided to take a different route down ... Battleship Rock Trail which included Devil's Gulch. When I saw the trail drop into the gulch there I nearly turned back. Catching my breath I pushed forward and conquered the fear of having to descend down this steep trail. The effort was well worth it and one of my favorite hikes to date. 

As soon as we finished Natural Arch we made a quick stop at the Airstream then hiked straight to Whittleton Arch ... We were loosing daylight. This trail follows the grade of a logging railroad built in 1898 that ran from Natural Bridge to Chimney Top. Both hikes were great and I hope to make it back here again to  be able to hit some of the other trails in the area. There are over 100 natural stone arches in the area that were sculpted by 70 million years of wind and water. 

So much For the 'quick post' that took over 24 hours to send. That's what happens when your off grid!

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Safe Travels~

ALICE WYMER

(Aye chihuahua!)