Thursday, August 11, 2016 -- Daniel Boone National Forest

Another night going to sleep with the sounds of a chorus of night insects and tree frogs.  We left the Cumberland Falls campground and drove a half hour through some poor rural areas northwest to the Natural Arch area in the southern section of the National Forest.  The Daniel Boone National Forest (formerly the Cumberland National Forest) runs from southern Kentucky border northeast almost to the northern Ohio border.

Natural Arch from the Lookout

We stopped and walked to a pretty overlook of the arch and then I hiked down and out to the base of the arch and then completely around it - a very pretty walk, but the uphill return in high humidity was not so much fun.

A colorfully diseased Maple leaf on the path

The Arch as I got close to the base

The side of the arch

After passing under the arch, the view from the far side

The patch around the back of the arch

Interesting pure white fungus

About 3/4 way around the back of the arch

Pretty groundcover alongside the trail

The humidity has been in the 90% range for the last few days and although not as hot as Charleston, still quite uncomfortable in the middle of the afternoon.  Luckily we have found campsites with electric so we can relax in the AC during the worst part of the heat.

After the Natural Arch hike, we drove east just north of the small city of Corbin where Colonel Sanders started his signature fried chicken in 1941.  He also had a motel and cafe that served breakfast, lunch and dinner before he decided to franchise his famous chicken recipe that was the start of an empire.

The Colonel's office

While looking at the mini museum they had, a local started telling us his grandmother was the tax collector and the Colonel asked for a reduction in property taxes, but she said she couldn't do that.  Didn't stop him from asking the next year and the year after that and every year he lived there, but her answer was always the same.  He ran for Senator, but lost the race, and according to this local, it was partially because of his reputation for foul language and was not Godly enough.

The original kitchen

After lunch we headed northwest to another part of the Daniel Boone National Forest called Laurel River Lake where we got a great campsite adjoining the marina.  Beautiful crystal clear water and popular boating lake with 200 miles of coastline.

Laurel River Lake