Trying to escape Wisconsin's winter blues Pam and her son had made a break for the beautiful Red River Gorge. They were a little surprised to find that Kentucky's state of weather affairs was worse than what they had left behind. None the less, once the Rangers had plowed a path for us to leave the campground, Pam and her son were finally able to visit.
After some meet and greet chat between the three of us, Pam and Nicole headed off to blaze a path on the still snow colvered Silvermine Arch Trail.
Though ours were the first people prints, there were a wide range of the non-human variety running in every direction. We saw deer, rabbit, squirrel, coyote and the very large print above that we assumed may belong to a large cat (or a very large stray dog). Cat seems more exciting, though.
With so many shared interests to talk about, Nicole didn't capture much with her camera this time around.
However, she learned a lot from Pam's interest in and knowledge of fungi and lichen. So there were plenty of stops along the way to put on the up-close spectacles and marvel at their small intricacies.
This one sort of looks like a hand reaching up from the depths. Pretty cool.
You may recall our previous post about the Silvermine Arch and the grotto behind it. Well, this is the spectacular scene the areas recent winter storm created from the dripping water. Those icicles are close to 20 feet long! It was absolutely beautiful.
Although winter still has its hold on most things, on the hike out, we saved this very fuzzy potential sign of spring from harm by moving him off of the trail. Perhaps he'll take wing one day not too far from now.
Returning to the van, Darlene joined the fun and we visited for a while before it was time for Pam and her son to hit the road for home. It sure was great to finally cross paths in real-time. Perhaps we'll meet again, down the road.
Meanwhile, we've got just under a month left on our camphosting stint in Kentucky and our ideas of what will come next seem to change daily. Guess we'll see where the wind blows us.