The Gorge is probably our favorite property. It is land above and below the cliff lines of a deep gorge with a large creek running through the bottom. There are rock houses, large waterfalls and even a natural bridge on the property.
It also appears that the timber hasn't been cut in a long time. Probably only once in the 20's or 30's. Some of the timber could be old growth and this makes it look like a national park. It is also the last piece of private property on the creek as all of the property upstream and downstream is government owned for miles. We think we may be able to kayak from the property to a state lake downstream. The stream is also stocked with brown and rainbow trout.
I am taking this picture from inside a cave looking out at James and Ray. The rocks in the foreground are lit up because my flash went off.
The forest here is on a different scale than most that we visit. The only way to capture the scale of the trees is to insert something of known size. This is me with my son on my shoulders. I am close to six feet tall. I am standing in front of a red oak tree. And,
this little guy is now about 170 lbs and heading off to college. Next time we take this picture I will be on top.
This is the large creek that runs through the bottom of the gorge. We think that this is large enough that we can kayak this downstream to a state lake. One drawback, however, is that there are no places to cross without getting wet. This is a cold water creek that supports stocked trout. This creek runs for over a mile through the property.
This is just one section of a large cascading waterfall. This is one of my favorite spots. This falls area is beautiful - but loud. In the spring the falls can be heard from above the cliffline. This is an area that cannot be adequately captured on film.
I think that the waterfalls here are spectacular because this property is near the edge of the karst region of Kentucky. Here the rock is a little harder so it takes a large volume of water to carve out a canyon. Even relatively large creeks are unable to carve a canyon so tributaries to a canyon-creating-sized creek must fall into the canyon - creating large waterfalls.
The old deed calls for 35+/- acres. Our mapping software measured it to be 52 acres. We ordered a survey and it surveyed over 57 acres. About 45 acres are in the gorge running from the top of the cliff on one side to the top of the cliff on the other side for over a mile. Another 10-15 acres are heavily wooded and on the top of the cliff at the end of an old gravel county road. County water and electric is just a few hundred feet up this old county road from the property line. We are planning on building a cabin on top near the head of a nice foot path to the bottom of the gorge. Even though it is just 57 acres, this property is so three dimensional that we have yet to see all of it. Maybe there will be some additional pictures yet to come. This is a truly spectacular property.
Here is another waterfall on the property. This is one example of at least three others that we have found of this size.
To the right is a photo taken above a natural rock bridge. Ray is on top and James is below. This is another feature difficult to capture in a photograph as the natural bridge is about fifty feet long and 25 feet high.