Kentucky Backwoods 2

Traffic Jam on Ugly Creek Road

Ugly Creek Road is far from the sketchiest byway I’ve navigated in my travels, but it does offer enough soft spots, washouts and creek fords to merit close attention and switching Peggy (my 3/4 ton Ram pickup) into 4 wheel drive.

The key to the geology of Mammoth Cave is that there are two layers of rock beneath these Kentucky hills: a wide belt of limestone capped by a layer of sandstone & shale. The cap rock acts like the lid on a Tupperware bowl, protecting the limestone beneath. Where this cap rock has been compromised in spots, water can make it’s way down to dissolve the limestone layer, forming voids. Since most of the cap rock remains intact, it acts as a roof to protect the limestone from too much erosion, so you end up with caves instead of canyons.

Over millennium this process has created a landscape of alternating hills and sinkholes in this part of Kentucky so from the air the land looks like a lumpy blanket. Ugly Creek show the evidence of this Karst geology in the deep sand that lines the creek bed – the remains of the cap rock sandstone that has broken down. During my exploration on Ugly Creek Road I did not encounter another vehicle or encounter a single human being. Just as I was thinking I had the entire county to myself, this happened:

When the way forward is blocked, you can either wait for the obstacle to clear or turn around and go back. Since retreat would involve a forty point turn on the narrow road and the obstacle showed no sign of moving soon, I needed a creative solution to the problem.

After negotiations failed, I decided to opt for direct action and relocated der Schildkröte to the bushes so I could pass.

This feller and his kinfolk continue to make visitations to me along my journey. I may have to make a Spirit Animal post in the future.