Rain, Arches and Caves 9/27/2015

Friday we woke to pouring rain, packed up in pouring rain, and drove for a bit before it abated. When we stopped for groceries in Maryville, about 20 minutes away, the rain had let up for a while, only to begin again when we arrived at bandy Creek Campground at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. It poured as we set up. What a blessing to be able too take refuge in our dry, warm, comfortable rig, once we were all "plugged in"! This campground is a beauty. Our site is huge and private, and has water and electric.

There is a dump station in the park, so we can get rid of black and grey water when we leave. Because we have a federal Golden Eagle pass, camping here is 1/2 price: $11.00 a night. Such a deal.

This federal land is a network of hills, hollows, rocky ridges and river valleys, and the Big South Fork River itself flows through a deep gorge. It's really not close to any metropolitan area, and while it's hard to tell based on this time of year (it's probably busier in spring and summer), it's not heavily visited.

Our trip into the campground was interesting. It seems that snaky roads are the norm in this part of the country. Ray did a stellar job maneuvering our beast and tow car around hair pin curves on a road that is barely wide enough to fit 2 cars comfortably across its width. The snaky part was at least 2-3 miles long. We took the road at 10-20 mph, the maximum safe speed. The ride out will be "entertaining" as well.

Yesterday (Saturday), we ventured out to check out the area. We headed up to an area on the west side of the park, about 20 miles from the campground. Once we got off the "main road", we followed a one-lane dirt road down about 4 miles, to arrive at a lovely spot where we hiked to Twin Arches, double-sandstone arches.

One of the Twin Arches

These are the largest natural bridges in KY and TN. Having visited Arches National Park, we just didn't consider the existence of arches back east. These arches are impressive, and made more lovely by their wooded setting.

On our return to the car after this hike, we ate lunch, then drove to the trailhead for the Slave Falls Loop trail. This is an easy 4 mile walk that took us to another arch and a trickling falls by some neat rock formations. These rock "caves" sheltered runaway slaves, as legend tells it. The weather was lovely--low 70s, if a

Needle Arch

bit on the humid side. One cool thing about both the hikes we did today was the complete quiet on the trails. Noone was here!

As we drove the local roads, we noted the large number of horse farms, lodgings, campgrounds, ranches, and the like in this area. People staying at this campground can leave their horse(s) in the nearby stable for riding in the area.

Tomorrow we will check out the river gorge.