12 May 2017, Friday
We wake early this morning. It is so humid that the inside of our tent is foggy. Other than the humidity though, we stayed dry through last night’s rain. We breakfast on our homemade “just add water” mix of oat bran raisin muffin. It turns out brown and delicious. O and I decorate our servings with fig butter. G has hers straight.
As it is raining pretty steadily this seems a perfect day to return to the Gladie Education Center which is run by the National Forest Service. We arrive around 11 am after driving back up Route 715 through the soggy green forest. The sodden tree branches hang lower today, some striking the roof of the van as we drive beneath. The Gladie Center has no books to sell, much to O’s disappointment, but there are plenty of informative exhibits about this area of Kentucky. It turns out the Cumberland Plateau was uplifted in a kind of arc about 225 million years ago. This uplifted area was called the Cincinatti Arch. The center of the arch eroded leaving Kentucky Bluegrass country in the middle section, a vast valley with escarpments on either side. The eastern escarpment has been eroded by wind and water into the Red River Gorge with its beautiful arches and cliff faces.
We also learn that Kentucky and the Red River Gorge are at the latitudinal center of the United States, a sort of boundary between north and south. The deep gorges provide appropriate habitat for both northern and southern species of plant and animal. We find a bit of musical history here as well. Lili Mae Ledford was born and raised here and learned to fiddle and play banjo steeped in the musical traditions of the area. She was the leader of the Coon Creek Girls and even played for the King and Queen of England at the White House at the invitation of Eleanor Roosevelt.
After examining the exhibits, O plays “stump the ranger.” He asks all sorts of questions about the geology of the area. The ranger explains that the iron-infused sandstone which strengthens the rock and allows arch formation is called limonite. We also find out the name of our little orange salamander, an eft, and our blue-bellied lizard, an eastern fence lizard.
By now it is after 2 pm. We have a snack in Vincent. The rain has let up so we set our sights on visiting Sky Bridge Arch and Whistling Arch before returning to camp. Sky Bridge is a graceful smooth sandstone expanse, one of the oldest arches in the area. Whistling Arch is a thick, sturdy arch, one of the youngest in the gorge.
We finally return to camp. It is still humid, but distinctly cooler, and the rain is letting up. We prepare our supper at the sheltered picnic pavilion next to our campsite and watch the arrival of the weekend campers.