March 19, 2025, An Interesting And Informative Day In Prestonsburg, Kentucky

On March 19, 2025, my wife Candice and I took a trip to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, to complete a variety of intended actions including a minor amount of shopping, eating out for lunch, and a hike for me at Jenny Wiley State Park where I often hike when we are in Floyd County. Our first stop was at Wal Mart to do a minor amount of shopping, and then off to Jenny Wiley State Park where one of my favorite hiking trails starts near the lodge and has about 4 miles of linked trails around the mountain, over and along the ridge, and a connecting trail which can take you off the mountain to the site of the former Jenny Wiley Amphitheater which still exists as a building but is, sadly, no longer in use due to the demise of the Jenny Wiley Summer Music Theater which functioned there for several decades. When we got to the park, I left Candice reading in the van as I often do and headed out to hike toward the trailhead near the lodge. As I approached the trailhead, I could see yellow construction barrier tape across the start of the trail with a printed message taped to a post. The message stated that this portion of the trail was closed due to a mudslide, and that the remaining portions of the trail could be accessed at the amphitheater spur. I started back in that direction, stopped for a few minutes to read the names and text on a monument to the children and bus driver who died in the 1958 Floyd County School Bus Wreck, and then headed on toward the amphitheater which is situated near the convention center which is used for a variety of purposes including state employee training sessions, weddings, banquets, and other public events. I have even once seen a rained out performance of the Roger Miller written musical "Big River" in the convention center. As I approached the convention center parking lot, I realized that several vehicles including a group of travel trailers, several cars from various othet states, and one or two vehicles actually marked with signs for the American Red Cross were in the parking lot. I realized the convention center must be in use as the stationary site for the Red Cross Disaster Response to the recent flooding in Eastern Kentucky which had devestated larger portions of Eastern Kentucky and Floyd County in particular. I also remembered that the Jenny Wiley State Park Lodge was once again in use as emergency housing for flood victims as it has been used on at least one other occasion under the incredibly effective and compassionate leadership of Governor Andy Beshear. I had to walk past the rear entrance of the convention center to get to the trail and when I turned that corner I saw two people sitting at a table outside the rear entrance. I suspected they were Red Cross volunteers and stopped to verify that and thank them for their work. We introduced ourselves and my hike turned into a long conversation with these two people and a third who showed up a bit later. They were from three different locations in the country, all long term Red Cross workers, one with ten years of service, one with sixteen years of service, and the third with an amazing forty-one years of work with the American Red Cross and on their third deployment to Eastern Kentucky in disasters. Our conversation quickly turned political and they opened up to me about their fears for the future of FEMA and the likelihood that TRAITOR Trump will destroy that agency and further worsen the disaster response to upcoming hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and other disasters. I expressed my own identical opinions and they reassured me that the Red Cross will always continue to provide disaster services since it is a private non-profit agency. But we all agreed that the future response from the federal government to disasters in the next four years, if TRAITOR Trump is not removed from the White House, will be slipshod at best with any federal funding likely to come to the states in block grants which will be pillaged on two or three levels before any of it actually reaches victims themselves. One of these Red Cross workers had actually been part of the response to the most recent Puerto Rican hurricane disaster when TRAITOR Trump was living in White House the first time and sent almost nothing to the people of Puerto Rico for a variety of reasons including his racism, ignorance, TREASON, and total lack of compassion and empathy. It was very refreshing to have this conversation with people who have traveled the world doing good works for the betterment of the human race, who understand the dire straits our country has been in since January 20 2025, and who can speak as openly as I do about the danger which is presented to the country by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate. I never finished my hike due to the length of that conversation but I have put in about a half hour between my parking location at the parking lot of the old golf course, the lodge, the closed trailhead, and the convention center. I also got a second half hour afterward at the Big Sandy Community and Technical College walking track and campus. As I walked across the campus, I encountered the sign at the top of this blog post, realized immediately that it would be considered a violation of TRAITOR Trump's malicious executive order against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and decided to document these signs for my readers before the Right Wing Radical Repugnican head of the state community college system in Kentucky can force these signs to be removed from the campus, and order that racism, sexism, and mysogny be practiced in the community college system across the commonwealth. Below is the seond sign which was available on the BSCTC campus and all the other community colleges in Kentucky.

Hiking The Jenny Wiley Trail, Saturday, August 24, 2019

On Saturday, August 24, 2019, my wife Candice and I traveled to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, to Jenny Wiley State Park to have lunch at the state park lodge and for me to put in an hour hiking on the Jenny Wiley Trail which is just across an arm of Dewey Lake opposite the lodge, amphitheater, and marina.  Candice had the lunch buffet and I ordered a barbecued chicken breast off the menu since I did not like the looks of the beef and pork on the buffet.  Both were in hotel pans on the warmer and immersed in a watery sauce.  I had one bite of each off Candice's plate and the pork was actually fairly good.  The beef was way too bland and just did not meet my standards especially in light of the fact that I rarely eat either meat these days.  My chicken breast was a typical frozen and partially precooked breast which had been briefly grilled and then covered in what tasted a lot like Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.  But it was moist, tender, fairly tasty since I actually like Sweet Baby Ray's Original Sauce.  We arrived late in the lunch hour after 1pm and found only three other tables occupied in the large restaurant.  Four or five staff members spent much of the time in conversation at the check out counter and seemed to have nothing to do.  But the female hostess and waitress who served us were both friendly, talkative, and attentive.  

After the lunch, we parked in the shade near the Jenny Wiley Amphitheater where Candice could read a book and wait for me to return.  There seemed to be absolutely nothing happening at the amphitheater and that is a shame because for many years it was one of the better entertainment venues in Eastern Kentucky.  But it seems to have lost much of its success in recent years and has moved most of its productions to Pikeville, Kentucky.  I have seen many pleasurable and well done productions there over the last fifty years.  It is a shame that it is no longer what it used to be. 

Official Map Jenny Wiley State Resort Park by KY State Parks

I have included the official map of the state park above since it can be helpful if you go there to visit, hike, fish, camp, eat, boat, or see a play.  I have also included the reverse side of that map below which gives the official descriptions of the 6 hiking trails within the park along with the rules for users.  The map describes the Jenny Wiley Trail as being 4.5 miles and "Strenuous" and "not recommended for solo hikers".  I must admit here that I broke two key rules for hikers anywhere during my hike.  First, I totally disregarded the disclaimer that the trail is "not recommended for solo hikers",  and after having hiked on it for an hour, I have no idea why it is labeled that way.  The first few hundred yards of the trail are a fairly steep uphill hike on what we natives of the area call a "point" which is a projection of land which rises out of the landscape.  But once you are past that few hundred yards, I found the trail to be only mildly challenging and capable of being hiked by any reasonably healthy and fit human.  Second, the trail begins near a rental cottage near the lake and has an aged, decrepit set of wooden steps up the first twenty feet or so from a paved driveway to the actual beginning of the trail proper.  There was an old caution tape tied to but torn down from the entrance to the steps with a dirty sign saying that "This section of the Jenny Wiley Trail is temporarily closed". I realize that going past that tape and sign is a cardinal mistake for most people and I did it anyway.  But I know the mountains of Eastern Kentucky better than most.  I am in fit condition and hike regularly.  I still do not recommend taking such actions and would not have done so in an area in which I had never spent time. I interpreted the sign to be referring to the decrepit condition of the steps and not the entire trail.  The steps are in bad need of replacement and for a few hundred dollars of lumber, screws, and labor, the Commonwealth of Kentucky could solve the problem for several years.  Actually, I must say that the trail does not appear to be well maintained in general and I eventually encountered an area near the ridge with several blown down trees which block the trail to a considerable degree and, since Candice was waiting for me alone, that is where I turned around after a little more than half an hour.  I also saw at least two fairly dangerous "widow maker" trees which were dead, partially fallen, and hung up in other living trees.  If the trail were well maintained, it would be a fairly nice hike of probably an hour and half for an experienced and fit hiker.  As it is, it is somewhat more time consuming and might take the same hiker two hours or a bit more if the remainder of the trail also has similar down timber blocking it.  

For me the most interesting part of the trail is that I saw a small cemetery beside the trail in that initial climb up the point which has only two clearly marked graves, one of which is marked with a Confederate States Of America tombstone.  Both carry the same last name.  The little cemetery is totally hidden in the timber and if a marked hiking trail were not there it would probably be long forgotten by now.  Speaking of marked trail, the trail is fairly well marked ever hundred yards or so with blue paint blazes on trees.  It is also well used and nearly as visible to the trained eye as a cow path might be.  I also noticed a lot of young poplar trees on or near the trail ranging from about two years old to having recently sprouted.  They varied from about two or three inches to maybe eight inches in general and seem to indicate that the area was more open in the past few years since poplars are generally regenerative growth.  They also indicate that, on this particular trail, the Kentucky State Parks Department is not doing its job. 

Another More Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner With Family, Saturday, November 25, 2017

Today, Saturday, November 25, 2017, we drove to Prestonsburg, KY, again for a second, more traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with family, most of whom had been at our earlier state park lodge buffet Thanksgiving Dinner.  A couple of faces were different but the attendance was about the same, roughly a dozen.  The meal was at my cousin Judy Terry McGuire's house in Prestonsburg where we seem to get together about once a year.  Judy's husband, Eddie McGuire is an excellent cook and raises a large garden each year, cans and freezes a lot of vegetables, and does an excellent job with a lot of homegrown food.  Most other attendees bring some sort of side dish and it turns into a large, traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, coleslaw, cakes, pies, etc.  This year, with the temperature at midday around the high fifties, anybody who wanted to could spend some time outside while others watched football and talked inside.  

As I had said in my earlier post about the buffet dinner on Thursday at Jenny Wiley State Park Lodge, I would rather have a traditional family meal with family in a home setting even if I was eating bologna sandwiches.  Actually, I haven't had funeral bologna for while and that might be an interesting twist for a family holiday meal sometime.   How about a menu of funeral bologna, peanut butter, brick cheddar, and other sandwiches with the only rule being that any item brought to the dinner would need to have been available in a small country store in Knott County Kentucky about 1958.  You could maybe add a few roasted or boiled chestnuts, paw paws if you could manage to save a few until late November, an allowance for grocery mix candy, chocolate drops, and sugar stick candy for dessert.  That could generate a lot of old memories and a lot of long winded stories.  I might try that sometime...Kentucky Border Bologna and crackers.  But you can no longer find saltine crackers with all four squares still together for sandwich making instead of the current method of selling them in single squares in a cellophane tube.  Maybe add a few Koolickles.   For those of you who don't know about Koolickles, they are dill pickles soaked for several days in a large jug of your favorite flavor of Kool Aid.  I think this idea could be turned into a good meal for those who remember the old times.