Kentucky Ridge State Forest

Looking to exhaust all the trails in Bell County, I drove to Kentucky Ridge State Forest. The forest covers Pine Mountain State Park and along the Little Clear Creek Valley. It covers 15K acres and I enjoyed driving down some of the old forest roads. I was hoping to stumble upon a good place to hike, but most of the paths I found were road beds headed to points unknown.

Old abandoned roads snaked off to the right and left of the forest road. I can't tell you for sure where I was, because the maps provided by Kentucky Division of Forestry do not have them labeled. But as the trees were beginning to grow thick around the road, I saw a path to the left. The sun struck the moss and illuminated a neon green glow that I could barely make out from my vantage point. On the hill, I found an old cemetery with a moss carpet thicker than shag surrounding all the stones.

There were many old stones of interest, but this marker was by far the most unique. The marker is a classic headstone for a married couple: each partner's name on one side, and the wedding date in a heart in the middle. However, it had been cut right down the middle and one half placed on the husband's grave and the other half on the wife's grave. What makes this interesting is that the wife was buried many years later and her grave is on a row behind the husband's. The plot to the right of him appears to still be empty. Not sure if this is the sign of an epic divorce or some other circumstance but I had fun musing over the possibilities.

Heading out of Kentucky Ridge State Forest, I stopped at the overlooks of Pineville. After taking few shots, I returned to my car and realized leaking fluid at a very rapid pace. Thanks to gmaps, I was able to locate the nearest auto repair place and drive there as quickly as possible. The little shop barely had room to park, as the lot was filled with cars in various states of disassembly, some on blocks. Two of the employees came out to check on my car. They both took a gander under front end and told me I was big trouble. I was pretty shaken watching the female get near the leaking fluid with a lit cigarette. I was sure we were all about to be blown sky high. She hollered abruptly, and jumped up dusting herself off. "Damn, I burned my hair!!" (I later learned that transmission fluid and oil are not flammable, which was a relief.) They claimed because my car was newer, it would be there for a week while they ordered the part from the manufacturer, so I better find a ride outta Pineville. That was all anyone needed to say to get me panicking, since home was ~140 miles away.

After more than an hour of searching hopelessly for options, calmer heads prevailed. I was able to snag a ride on the back of a trailer to Lexington for car repair. Friendly locals even helped us push my undriveable car up onto the trailer. Then I had to pull a Dukes of Hazzard move to climb through the driver side window, pack up my stuff, and exit out the back hatch of the car after opening it from the inside. Not a cheap trip, to be sure! But certainly not boring for a moment.

Pineville Overlook from the top of Pine Mountain, Eastern Kentucky.