Drove around the one square mile of downtown Beattyville for at least an hour in pouring rain trying to find the campsite. Totally STUMBLED on the campsite when turning around in the parking lot of an RV business (I think it was a barber shop). Proceeded to set up the tent in the rain and the trip went on an upward trajectory from there.
First hike: double arch trail. Gorgeous hike!! Felt like we were in the Amazon rainforest or somewhere equally far and exciting- definitely didn’t feel like we were in Kentucky. Gorgeous hike and really awesome views at the top.
Second hike: copperas falls. This is where we couldn’t find the trail head in the beginning bc we didn’t have service. Went to a canoe launch point which was super weird and there were one or two “canoes” chained to a tree. I say “canoes” because it was really just a shaved and hollowed our half of a tree trunk. I guess that passes as a canoe in Kentucky. Once we found the hike it was gorgeous and very rainforest-y again. It reminded me of the hike I did in NZ with the kayaking club for the overnight camping trip. It wasn’t a long hike but we were already sweaty and musky from the earlier hike and at one point it felt like we weren’t getting any closer to a waterfall. When we finally found it I can probably say I’d never been so happy to find a murky and muddled puddle of water. I threw my bag and blanket down, stripped down to swimsuit, and ran straight under the waterfall. The freezing cold water knocked the breath out of my lungs, which felt amazing and invigorating after having every square inch of skin stick to itself and everything in its vicinity. It was also a much needed shower on a shower-less camping trip in the middle of June in Kentucky. It was amazing and we got back to our campsite exhausted and happy.
Standup paddle boarding in a limestone cave in the morning was badass. I was very proud that I hadn’t fallen in by the end. We then went to Hillbilly’s BBQ kind of as a joke but turned out to be the best burger and friend pickles I’ve ever had. On our way home we naturally stopped by the original KFC but we only went to the drive thru since it was closed because of COVID.