Last Day at Diamond Caverns RV Park....

Park City, KY      High:  57    Low:  32

(Time to get a move on, Sparky! says Eldo....It's too dang cold around here!)  We head for Nashville, TN, for three days tomorrow. For our last day here, Eldy watched football...And Sparky headed out to finish the Mammoth Cave Railroad Hike and Bike Trail all the way from the campground to the entrance of Mammoth Cave National Park.

The first leg was up and down the big hills for about the first mile...then onto some more level ground. Sparky got distracted with all the beautiful leaves and the little details....like the water droplets on this leaf and no other ones nearby.....Sparky was too busy looking at the ground so she didn't spot any deer on this ride....

Sparky had to stop and take a photo of the red carpet...The leaves were really this red in this section of the forest!

Sparky kept going...no threat of rain today but lots of clouds...the trail split in two directions, Sparky didn't know which way to go. She took the left fork and ended up at a VERY old cemetery. Coming back out of the cemetery, you retrace your steps back to the fork, and the trail goes down VERY steeply. The trail map tells you to get off your bike and WALK it, and Sparky could see why. There are a couple of sections on this 9 mile trail where the trail guide says, "Get off and walk it!" A wise choice....With the loose gravel, you wouldn't walk to get out of control going down a steep descent!


It's very difficult to capture a photo of a steep hill and get an idea of how bad it is, but if someone were to be stupid and try to ride down it, they are taking their life in their hands...There's a deep rock pit on the right side of the curve heading down the steep hill from the cemetery.  Sparky had a hard enough time just walking the bike down the hill without the bike getting away from her...Onward, Sparky!

The trail crosses a couple of wooden bridges with views to the small valleys on one side or the other.....

As Sparky started getting closer to the park, she started seeing the deer. They hang out near the campground and are quite tame. Shame on the people that feed the deer! But it's makes for nice photos as they let you get pretty close, like within a few feet. The one above is standing right next to the bike trail.....This one below was a little farther away but you could still see his white "sox" on his front legs....

Then Sparky saw a buck and just managed to catch him walking through the woods alongside her and then he crossed the trail right in front of her! Darn camera setting---too dark and a little blurry for this shot, but at least he was seen trotting on camera.

And then two tom turkeys, at least Sparky thinks they were toms...their feathers were quite colorful, but just as Sparky went to take the photo, they flew across the road to the other side. No poultry jokes needed here....  :-)

Sparky was pooped by the time she got to the campground store in Mammoth Cave N.P. She was too whipped to do another six miles back, it would have been mostly uphill....Eldo to the rescue! He came in the car to get his Sparky, and on the way back, we saw LOTS of deer and they were all hanging around the trail Sparky had just come from! About a dozen in all....

The literature and online says the trail is a total of 9 miles, but Sparky racked up over 10 miles on the bike odometer by the time she got to the park....Even though it was a dark and dreary day, the leaf color was outstanding, and nature views were wonderful.....Don't miss this beautiful trail if you are here in the fall. Not the best trail for skinny tires, the wider ones on hybrids and mountain bikes are better...Time for a nap! Bye for now...... Tomorrow, we leave for Nashville, TN.......

But before we forget......