Category: Hiking

Sweet Lick Knob

3/8/2015

We hiked to the top of Sweet Lick on Saturday. Had to go through some rough briers to get to the top. They were growing thick, taking up the space of trees that were burned up in a fire that was on the mountain in the recent past. At the top we found the old geological marker marking the high spot. Also noted that the rare "buffalo grass" had survived. The top was rather bare but on the western side a few large oaks had survived and there seemed to have been no human traffic on the mountain in a long while. Only thing noted were deer trails and antler rubs.

#81--Sweet Lick Knob--the famous mountain that Irvine, Kentucky,is built around
#75--Sweet Lick Knob as seen from the bridge that crosses over from River Drive to Old Pike
#3--Starting the climb up to the top of Sweet Lick Knob
#12--Chesteen and Lance nearing the top of Sweet Lick Knob's eastern face

Red River Gorge, Kentucy, No Sweat & Howard

2/21/2015

The trail that we hiked is called The William O. Douglas Trail. William O. Douglas was a Yale Law School graduate Supreme Court Justice that came down to Kentucky to this very spot 40 years ago. A gang of eager politicians were all going to dam up the gorge, etc. and totally destroy what was there in the name of progress. After William O. Douglas hiked out the upper Gorge he was so impressed with its incredible beauty that he went straight back and told all the other Justices that there was no way in hell was he going to allow anyone to dam up the 15 mile stretch of Red River Gorge. Because of his love of nature and his wisdom and vision, the Gorge survived and is today's Kentucky's showplace for real wilderness, for the primevil. A place you can still go to to know what it was like when the first white men came into the state.

No Sweat & Lance: California Cave. Photos by Howard Farris

2/21/2015

California Cave is one of the most extensive cave systems in Estill County, Kentucky. It is a very tough cave to locate; situated in a limestone outcropping along a very steep cliff in Alexander Hollow. I first began exploring the cave when I was around 9 years old, going solo into a remote area deep within the cave called "SOAPSTONE PIT." SS is a grand hallway where you can take out time to relax and marvel at nature's secrets. This series of photos is of me and my grandson, Lance; Lance at the time was 5 years old and I took him all the way back to SS; I highly suspect that he will forever own the honor of the youngest person ever to go that far back into that dangerous area; I watched over him like a hawk. I was 55 years old at the time. I am now 63 years of age and will be 64 on August 24. Lance is now one of the very best swimmers in Kentucky, and one of the top swimmers in the nation for a 13 yr. old; he swims on 4 teams and is a very fine person and a dedicated athlete. He happens to be quite a reptile person and has some 20 aquariums scattered throughout our home housing primarily different kinds of snakes.
California Cave is the most special cave of all the caves I have ever explored. I've discovered several passages in it that I named after myself. And in my first novel, THESE PRECIOUS DAYS, the first chapter takes place inside this cave.
The cave derives its name from the strange narrow entrance-way that it owns which happens to be in the shape of California; if you attempt to go into this passage you must turn your body sideways and squeeze your body in as you also lean downwards for some 30 feet or so. From there it is a wild cave with all kinds of tight squeezes and rough crawling.