Pine Mountain State Park, Kentucky

Continuing with our recent trip to Kentucky,   we spent the night at the beautiful lodge at Pine Mountain State Park (not far from Cumberland Gap).   If you have missed any of my posts from this area,  you can go to my sidebar,  scroll down to Labels,  and click on Cumberland Gap Area.  


Today,  I will share with you a few pictures taken from Pine Mountain ---plus a hike we took nearby that area.   Above is a picture of the foggy valley below Pine Mountain --taken from our room,  early in the morning.  Below are more.

This picture was taken from the lodge restaurant where we had dinner  the evening we got there..  Even though the photo was taken through the glass window,   you can see many of the mountain ranges.  Isn't that a beautiful view?   (And--our dinner was delicious also.)

Here is the same view from the restaurant taken the next morning while we enjoyed our breakfast.  I loved this picture simply because I love seeing the fog BELOW us --in the valley... Awesome,  isn't it? (Sorry about the reflections or smudges on the window.)

These next three pictures are taken at the overlook at the NARROWS.   We read about this hike/overlook in the Pine Mountain information packet. It looked like a great hike ---so we decided to try it.  HA----ended up being one of the WORST trails we have EVER been on... We should have turned around ----but we kept thinking that it would get better.  


First of all,  the trail was overgrown ---so it soon became obvious that nobody had maintained this area in awhile.  The trail was VERY steep ---and as if that in itself wasn't bad enough,  that steep trail consisted of very loose rocks  --which made it hard to stand up.... It truly was dangerous ---but we kept on plugging---UP UP UP...  


I finally had to stop since I was very scared (wondering how in the world I was going to get back down that steep trail--with my bad knee)...  George hiked on to the top (which was only a little farther from where I had found a rock and waited...  I was still glad that I hadn't gone any farther!!!


The picture above  taken by George showed the lake below and the State Park Golf Course.   Below are more photos from the Narrows Overlook.

One thing which appealed to us about the Narrows is that this was the 2nd gateway through the mountains  (first one was Cumberland Gap) for the followers of Daniel Boone.   Above is another picture from the overlook ---showing the 'gap' in the mountains where the pioneers were able to come through.

Finally,  here is the sign at the Narrows Overlook.   The Narrows is the locale where the Cumberland River breaches Pine Mountain and the site where pioneers traveling on the Wilderness Road crossed the river on their way to the Bluegrass.


We really wanted to see this 2nd 'gap' ---but do not recommend it to anyone since the trail is in such horrible shape.  George and I have hiked many, many trails and this one was definitely one of the worst.  The Burns Family would be very disappointed to see the condition of this trail in 2010.   Such a shame!

Once we got back to the car (YES---we both made it!!!)  we passed this neat little waterfall  dam --- so we named it the Narrows Dam.   Pretty,  isn't it???  We think this is part of the Cumberland River. 


Hope you enjoyed our photos from the Pine Mountain area... Even though we don't recommend the Narrows trail,  we do recommend the lodge at Pine Mountain State Park. 


Hugs,

P.S  IF the sun comes out today,  we're going to head toward the Smokies to see some Fall Colors...  One thing we won't do --and that is to go to the Smokies on the weekend in October!!!! Ha Ha---too much traffic!!!