Hiking In Greenbo Lake State Park

 A few days ago on my birthday, one of the big ones, my wife, Candice, wanted to take me somewhere so I could hike in the woods and we could eat out which we haven't done much of in the last fifteen or eighteen months due to the Covid 19 pandemic.  The numbers in Kentucky hadn't quite fully turned the corner as they have now and we decided to take a chance since we are both fully vaccinated.  We had been to Greenbo Lake State Park once before and enjoyed that trip a great deal.  Greenbo Lake is one of the smaller man made flood control lakes in Kentucky.  The largest, Kentucky Lake has over 160,000 surface acres.  Greenbo Lake, at 225 acres, is not much more than a pond compared to the largest lakes which all have over 100,000 acres.  But it is a very pretty little lake with some really good hiking trails in the state park which contains it.  

 

Greenbo Lake State Park also has some historically important coke ovens, a restored one room school, and two unmolested small cemeteries which is unusual in the Kentucky State Park System.  I have written in other places on this blog about the relocation of graves during the construction of lakes and highways in the state.  I have hiked in numerous Kentucky state parks situated around lakes and nearly everyone I have ever hiked in has relocated cemeteries in them which usually were placed in a common government cemetery near or in the park.  I have also published a short story about the relocation of family cemeteries for the construction of a lake this past spring in Seeds 2021, the literary magazine from Northeastern Illinois State University.  My short story is entitled "Damn!" and can be found at numbered page 74 in the online journal at the previous link.  However, the page numbers in the online version do not synch with the page numbers in the table of contents.  That story is actually located at page 85 according to the internet counter.  

 But, let's get back to the hike at Greenbo Lake.  The park has three marked trails which come to a total of 32.8 miles of possible hiking without leaving marked trails and striking off into the woods with a compass or GPS.  I chose the trail which begins near the handicapped fishing pier not far from the boat launching and storage area because Candice has been in a wheelchair for over twenty years and wanted to read near the pier while I hiked for an hour.  I  rarely hike an entire trail anywhere but instead hike out for a little over a half hour and double back to wherever Candice is waiting for me and we always choose a safe location for her to stay.  This particular trail, so far as I hiked it for about 1.5 miles is within sight of the lake in the woods with a few relatively easy uphills and downhills.  I would rate that portion of this trail as easy.  I never saw another human on the trail except for one fisherman in a pontoon boat who happened to be fishing alone within sight of the trail.  He and I had a friendly conversation as he fished for a couple of minutes which was a unique experience for me while hiking to be able to talk to someone actively fishing although I have done it at Eagle Lake on the campus of my alma mater, Morehead State University.  I hiked outward for about 40 minutes and turned around which brought me out of the woods exactly on the one hour mark.  Early in the hike, I encountered the only interesting wildlife of the hike, a small black racer about two to two and a half feet long.  It froze when it saw me on the trail about ten feet above it.  I started to bend over to pick up a small peeble to toss near it to see how it reacted and it instantly turned and disappeared into the leaf mold below me even before I could grasp a pebble.  It was about 85 degrees at the time and any cold blooded animal such as a snake was in firm fettle for traveling on such a day.  I did not have a camera with me and do not have a photo of my little friend.  

After my hike, Candice and I returned to Grayson, Kentucky, to search for a place to dine inside which we hadn't done in quite some time.  After driving all over Grayson looking for an open dining room, we wound up at Huddle House which was the only one we could find with indoor seating.  We went in wearing masks, which is my suggestion to anyone in public until the pandemic is over.  The only people in the restaurant in early afternoon were the cook, the manager, and one waitress behind  the counter and one other couple eating in a booth well away from us.  So we took off our masks which is necessary if you intend to chew anyway.  The hired help was friendly and we talked freely about whatever popped up.  The manager said the day before had been his birthday and I mentioned that this particular day was mine.  A bit later an older man and a young boy who appeared to be his middle school aged grandson came in and sat down well away from us and also ate.  No one else came in the place during our meal.  We actually felt safe in the face of  Covid 19 in light of the low population, good social distancing, and our vaccination.  After eating, we drove back home and it was, according to all measurements, a day well spent.