BISO

Middlesburo, KY

Finished up Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area today, drove on to Middlesboro, KY.


View Larger Map

Couldn't collect in the morning... ended up raining a bit last night I guess. Took a hike for a couple of hours. Nice to get a bit of exercise for once, but not nice to pick a tick off of me. He was on his way up my leg when I found him.

Finished up the rest of the park in about 2.5 hours, didn't really have much problems besides a packed campground. Big South is a nice park... lots of trees, nice looking river, and a lot of trails. I'm guessing it's a nice alternative to the Smokies if you live in the area.

Here's a couple of pics I took on the hike today... didn't get one of the tick, he was out the window too quick.

MACA and BISO

Quick note... the National Park Service (NPS), refers to their parks by Alpha code. This is usually the first 4 letters of their name if it's one word.. e.g. Yosemite = YOSE; Acadia = ACAD. If it's two or more words, it's usually the first two letters of the first two words.. Joshua Tree = JOTR; Lake Mead = LAME... there's some fun ones though... GWMP = George Washington Memorial Parkway. I'll probably be referring to parks by their alpha... because I can...

One more thing... if you ever want to go to a park's website just put in www.nps.gov and then "/" plus their alpha code. So Mammoth Cave is www.nps.gov/maca.


Just finished up Mammoth Cave today... took forever. We can't work when the roads are wet and it loves to rain in central Kentucky in the Spring. On the bright side of it, the rain allowed me to take some tours of the cave. Longest cave system in the world and the second NPS owned cave I've been to, Wind Cave in SD being the other. Pics in caves are lame though, that's the best one I could find.





The most interesting fact I remember from the tours is that Mammoth Cave started as a tourist attraction in 1812. It wasn't apart of the National Park System until the 1930s. So it's not exactly in the same condition as it was back then, but I guess what is the same?
Above ground MACA, is actually really beautiful. The park is filled with deer and turkeys... lots of turkeys. Big trees over the road, nice roads (most of them), and ferries. Yeah there's 2 ferries in the park. Ship ya back and forth across the Green River (created the cave a couple of years ago and pictured above). Got to ride it a bunch(first trip below), kinda fun... operators were... interesting.

Once we finished up we drove onto BISO (Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area). Located about 60 to 100 miles NW of Knoxville TN on the South Fork of the Cumberland River.
Collected around a campground and I got told by 2 park employees to "not run over any kids." Thanks for the advice, I'll hold onto that one.

BISO is located in Appalachia... needless to say I'm not staying at a Hilton tonight. I paid $13 for a meal that would have cost $25 elsewhere. Preston's Steakhouse I guess is the best place in town, because it turned out to be the Prom dinner locale. Wish I could've taken my prom date to Preston's... could've saved some loot.

Alright finishing up BISO tomorrow and onto CUGA (Cumberland Gap National Historical Park).

Mom said so....

My mom and many others always ask me about where I've been lately or what's the favorite place I've been... and I have trouble racking my brain when they do. I know when I'm at a unique or beautiful place I'm thinking, "wow, this is great that I'm seeing this." But I'm realizing that in my old age, my memories are mixing together.

Moms has said more than once that I "should really keep a journal" so this is my attempt at it. Now she can decide on a where my favorite park should be.

I've tried a blog before, but it didn't turn out too good (I swore too much). Actually I did it for the wrong reason, to entertain. But this time it's purely personal. I need to record my travels, and using a camera just isn't doing it.

I started this job almost 2 years ago now and my first trip was to Lava Beds National Monument. (I'll explain what "this job" actually is throughout my posts) Since then I've been to around 50 National Parks/Monuments/Recreation Areas/Parkways. I've gotten our truck stuck on a mountainside in Sequoia National Park and I almost hit a car on the National Mall. Driven through a couple of ice storms and have seen more Joshua trees than all of you combined. I've probably personally driven 25,000 miles in the truck, never once falling asleep at the wheel.

So I'm gonna try to update this on a daily basis when I'm on the road. I'm outta Denver about 2 weeks a month (girlfriend loves it). Entries may be long or they may be short; they may be interesting or they may be totally boring; but like I said this is personal.