Big South Fork

Judy and I just got back from a great trip to one of our National Parks. This was the first National Park we have been to and it sure was a great start. We have been wanting to go here for some time, but the distance and the elevation (both contribute to gas mileage) was just to great. Turns out it wasn't too bad. About $100 worth of diesel did the trick. Got about 11.5 mpg which isn't too bad considering.



We stayed at Bandy Creek Campground which is very beautiful and so well maintained. There are a lot of bears in the area but the rangers are very strict about food storage so the bears are still afraid of people and do not present a problem. We didn't see any! We camped during the week so we didn't have any neighbors. We had a great wooded site away from the other campers. This is a great area for horseback riding and there were quite a few riders in the campground.



We hiked several of the trails during our stay. The second day we hiked the Grand Gap Loop. We knew it was a little long, but what the hey, we had all day! We made just one little mistake. We saw where the loop was 6.8 miles, but we ignored the part where it was 3.3 miles just to get to the loop! So we did a 10.1 mile hike. We were exhausted when we got back. Boy that shower sure felt good.



It was a great hike. We saw many wildflowers, over 40 varieties, some of which I had never seen. I will be posting some of these over the next few days. This is a beautiful Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) on a Thimbleweed (Anemone Virginiana L.)



The scenery was just gorgeous. Mostly we were on high bluffs overlooking the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. The weather was perfect, nice and cool in the forest with many interesting rock out croppings and formations. Then you would come to the several overlooks where you could see for miles.







Out in the middle of no where, we came across this single grave. At one time this whole area was heavily mined for iron. This was probably one of the miners children.



We only got at see a very small part of this 125,000 acre park that spreads across two states, TN and KY. Thanks to the park rangers that helped us during this trip. Special thanks to Ranger Howard Duncan who really helped put me on some terrific wildflowers.



Happy Trails!