Backwoods Kentucky

This part of Kentucky felt like an entirely different part of the world from Lexington. It was also everything I imagined from Kentucky. I stayed in a small town called Irvine. It was right next to the Daniel Boone National forest and had a cheap, but decent looking hotel. Just driving around there led me to determine that Family Dollar stores are the redneck Starbucks. The small set of 3 nearby towns had at least 5 of these places. Every bookstore had the word "bible" at the front of its name. The only non white people I saw was the Indian family running the hotel. I do not want to live here.

The day I arrived I figured I would just wander through the large national forest nearby until I found some hiking trails. All I found were trashing houses and mountains that were killing my car. That day was a complete failure

Day 2 was slightly better. I did some research the night before and found some spots to check out. It still took some driving around so find something that wasn't set for boating or fishing. The trail I found seemed a little loud when I stepped out. I quickly found out this trail goes past a resort with a pool full of screaming kids. I decided to take the less traveled trail from here. It started with some stairs. Then more stairs. Then more stairs. Then more stairs. Every set I kept hoping it would be the last, that it would level out. After a good half hour of stairs I was exhausted and gave up on apparently climbing a mountain. Getting back down my legs felt wobbly and I was a little worried I would tumble down the mountain. Here are pictures.

Day 3 in the forest was after I checked out of the hotel and was on my way to Knoxville. I had given up on decent hiking and just decided to take a nice drive through. After enjoying some really nice mountain roads I wish I could take pictures of, I found a sign for a national recreation area. It consisted of a gravel road. I took that as a good sign. I figured that this wouldn't lead to a resort. 10 minutes later, without seeing another car on this gravel road I had an even better feeling about this. I took the wrong way at a crossroads and ended up at a flooded bridge. Backtracking led me to some parking with only about 4 other cars. I could hear some ATVs driving around, but they weren't nearly as bad as screaming children. I found a nice, level path circling a valley. This is what I was hoping for when I saw a giant national forest on the map.