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Exploring Eastern Kentucky by Thomas R. Fletcher
"You can come here and do just about anything you want--within reason," guide Garry Chaney says, as we puff our way up a steep trail in the Red River Gorge Geological Area. That explains part of the region’s growing popularity. There is a feeling of freedom in the vast outdoors of Eastern Kentucky, covered in large part by the Daniel Boone National Forest, of which the Red River Gorge Geological Area is part. The climb was tough, following the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail for a ways then scrambling the final distance using both hands and feet, up the rock face of the "Indian Staircase." The view was worth the exertion. Here we could see the deep gorge and astounding rock formations characteristic of the Red River Gorge Geological Area, a National Natural Landmark.
Formed from the eroded Cumberland Plateau the Red River Gorge Geological Area was congressionally designated a National Natural Landmark in 1975. According to brochures, the area contains anywhere from 100 to 175 natural stone arches (depending upon which brochure you read), more than any US location other than Arches National Park in Utah. The beauty of the gorge, its high sandstone cliffs and arches is also its danger. Each year visitors are injured or killed from a fall-–often due to carelessness or alcohol use. Within the 28,000-acre geological area is the 12, 646-acre Clifty Wilderness, congressionally designated in 1985. At the bottom of the gorge is the gorge’s creative force, the Red River. Relatively small in size, the Red River was Kentucky’s first National Wild and Scenic River. Though it can get a little low in the summer, the river is great for exploring by canoe or kayak. Area outfitters provide complete packages, including guides, equipment, and shuttles.
Kentucky State Parks offer a very reasonable family vacation value. In addition to Natural Bridge, I also visited Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park. This park is a true escape deep in the heart of the steep mountains (you have to want to get there). Buckhorn Lake was created as part of a US Army Corps of Engineers project on the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River that became operational in 1961. The Kentucky Department of Parks leases the land from the Corps of Engineers for recreational purposes. The lake offers excellent fishing opportunities and boat rentals are available. The park offers a lodge, a restaurant, tennis courts, miniature golf course, volley ball, basketball, a marina, and hiking trails. Located between Whitesburg and Hazard in Letcher County, Lilly Cornett Woods is a special place. "Probably the only surviving virgin tract of any size in the Cumberland Mountains," said Robert Watts, woods manager, as we hiked through a natural cathedral of towering trees unlike anything I’ve seen in the east. The 554-acre site contains 252 acres of old growth and more than 60 tree species. The plot is managed by Eastern Kentucky University and is a National Natural Landmark. The height and girth of the trees are amazing to behold. Near the crest of the hill, where the largest and oldest trees are, my mesmerized upward gaze was suddenly slammed back to the ground.
The beautiful rugged mountains belie the austere lifestyle often borne by
area residents. The mountains have historically been barriers–keeping others
out, trapping those within. A taste of the harsh lifestyle can be witnessed in
the town of Benham’s Kentucky Coal Mining Museum and Portal 31. The
museum offers insight into the lives of those coal miners and their families,
showing how they lived, and the dangers faced by those digging deep into the
dark recesses under the Appalachians to extract the coal beneath. The museum is
housed in what was the old company store (company owned store where miners and
their families had to do their shopping–there was no other place), and
contains four floors of exhibit space. The third floor of the museum is
dedicated to Kentucky’s most famous coal miner’s daughter, Loretta Lynn. The
museum is managed by the Southeast Education Foundation. The most poignant
exhibit I saw was one of notes written by miners trapped in a mine accident,
deep in the dark abyss of the earth, facing certain death, notes scribbled on
whatever scrap of paper was available. "Dear wife and children: My time has come to die. I trust in Jesus. Teach the children to believe in Jesus...May God bless you all...until we meet to part no more. PS My boys, never work in the mines." While in Benham, check out the Benham School House Inn. Built as a school for coal camp children in 1926, the building was renovated and opened as a 32-room inn in the 1990's. Stock photography by Thomas R. Fletcher at Alamy If You Go:
Text and Photos Copyright Thomas R. Fletcher / PROSE AND PHOTOS
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Eastern Kentucky–low, perhaps, on the vacation-destination radar of
traveling America–awaits discovery. The steep hills have served to insulate
and isolate, creating a special landscape and culture. Dotted with State Resort
Parks, the Red River Gorge, and Daniel Boone National Forest–there’s plenty
to attract the outdoor enthusiast: hiking, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, rock
climbing, backpacking and camping. Walk through a section of forest with trees
600 years old, see the mixed mesophytic forest as Daniel Boone and other early
American explorers would have seen (Lilly Cornett Woods–a unique remnant of
The
town of Slade, Kentucky has become a center for outdoor adventure, with Natural
Bridge State Resort Park, The Red River Gorge Geological, and the Daniel Boone
National Forest, offering a plethora of options. Named for a natural stone arch
78 feet long and 65 feet high, Natural Bridge Resort State Park has much to
offer: a lodge, cabins, two campgrounds, the Hemlock Dining Room--a
175-seat restaurant, swimming pool and other activities to keep one active. The
natural bridge is well worth the 30 minute hike from the lodge to see it. Formed
over eons as the softer, underlying sandstone eroded away, the arch is a larger
version of many that can be found in the adjacent Red 
