Gray Skies in Grayson

Morning has broken

The prognosis is not good. It’s the middle of the night and I get on my computer, which has come in handy on this tour. It’s allowed me to upload pictures and blogs on the go. Tonight it’s logged onto my Facebook newsfeed. Reports out of Bowling Green and Lexington don’t look promising. Tornado Warning, Warren County. Tornado Warning, Lexington. Tornado Watch, Slade. I’m surrounded by hemlocks towering several feet above me on cliff lines and surely one of them will be in my car when I leave the room in a few hours. I watch as the green patch moves closer to my dot on the radar map, red following close behind. It’s the red patch on the radar that scares me. But red dissolves and green is kind, allowing for only some wind and thunder to pass over the Natural Bridge State Resort Park for the wee hours of the AM. I slumber back to sleep.

Trickle at Grayson Lake

I awake to find a cloud hung in the mountain outside my window, trying to get away but held in by the scenery. I can relate. It was time for me to leave the gorge and all its bridges, but the mountain had me held in its grasp. Alas, I stop by the front desk and get directions for my next stop on the tour and head for Mt. Sterling. From there onto I-64 east towards Grayson Lake State Park. For the next few days, a triangle of parks, as Carter Caves, Grayson, and Greenbo are all relatively close together, but with far different appeal from each other.

Grayson was once a favorite camping spot of Indian tribes traveling through the area. Now, centuries later, I travel through on a three-mile trail that leads to an attractive series of waterfalls. Hemlock and Beech grow in tandem here, an unusual combination. And more

Lick Falls

of the mountain environment I’ve grown to love the past several days. I think of the early settlers and the life they must have had before convenience set in and brought things to a faster pace. I look at the green of the leaves flavored by the pinks and whites of surrounding bloom. I listen to water trickle over rocks covered in moss. I hear birds chirp and leaves rustle under squirrel foot. And pause to enjoy more of my Kentucky home in a way everyone should.

Grayson is known more for the exceptional golf course on site, and I did find a ball in the woods as I hiked. So a great locale if you golf and hike and have a desire to camp near a lake. Glad I got to include this park in the tour.

To Greenbo tomorrow and morel hunting! Stay tuned.

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