Natural Tunnel, Duffield Virginia

We left Big Bone Lick Park on Friday, and headed to our next stop in Buckhorn Kentucky, to Buckhorn Campground.  We took Kentucky Highway 28 into the campground, and let me just say....  WE WILL NOT be taking this road again!!  Very mountainous, curvy, hilly, and no shoulders, it was white knuckle driving, and we lost cellular signal about an hour before we arrived, but we finally made it.  We picked a very nice spot on the river, and set up camp.

We settled in and starting looking over the map of the campground to see what there was to do, and to our surprise there was nothing....  They had one small trail that was used by the fisherman to get a good spot.  We were right on Beaver Dam and the water was low, so the edges were muddy.  The campground was small, maybe 30 sites, and there was quite a bit of trash strewn about, it was obvious that the campground hosts here didn't do much to keep the place looking nice.  After weighing our options we decided that we would only stay one night here, and high tail it out the next day.
We didn't even feel like having a fire here, so we just stayed in a watched a movie.  The next day we needed to take Jemma out to stretch her legs before another trip so we walked down to the Dam to check it out.

We walked the small little path along the river and let Jemma do a little swimming

Then we hauled ass outta here!! LOL

We headed to Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield Virginia, we arrived safely after going up some huge hills to get into the campground.  We booked one night mainly because Shane found something online that said if we make a reservation online we could save $10.00.  Then we find out that they charge and additional $5.00 per night, per pet, and Shane had let it slip that we had a dog and a cat with us.  After hearing about the extra charge he went and spoke with the campground host and they decided to let us slide on the cat, but we had to pay the extra for the dog.  This is the first time we have come across a place that charges extra for pets, how stupid!!  I could see if they had a special fenced in area for the pets or something but they had nothing.
So we picked out an awesome spot!!  We thought it was the best spot in the park.

It was very private and had plenty of room for all of our stuff.  Then we went online to reserve more nights here, and for the first time, we were dishonest about the pets :/ but come on!!  We planned on staying here for 5 nights, and it was already $27.00 per night for water and electric, the extra for the dog would have cost us another $25.00.  And the lady at check in had told us that they had soo many complaints about it, that they planned on getting rid of it next year, so we fibbed... a little.

This place had plenty of hiking trails for us to see, first on our agenda was to take a little drive to check out the park, it was huge.  We stopped off at a section that they had what they called a blockhouse, these were popular back in the old days

They built them like this (larger on the top) so that if someone tried to breach the house they could shoot at them while inside, they had allot of history on this style and how they lived back then, it was interesting

Then we did a small birding trail that was near here

We didn't see many birds or wildlife, but it had some nice views.
The next day, of course.... the natural tunnel.  We had to drive a little ways out of the campground to get to the trail, then it was a short walk down some nature stairs to get to it, and it was very cool!!  The railroad that runs through the Natural Tunnel is still an active one, and they had some info on the styles of trains they used back in the day

This is where the visitor center is, and they also had a chair lift that takes you down to the tunnel in case you cant make the walk, it was like $3.00 a person, but we opted to do it by foot

As we made our decent down I was starting to realize why they needed a chair lift, as it became obvious; What goes down, must come back up!!
As we neared the Tunnel the sights became amazing

They only let you get so close to the actual tunnel, and there was a small river that ran next to the tracks

There was actually two tunnels but the other side looked to be man made

We hung out here and enjoyed the views for awhile, then headed back up the stairs, PHEEEW!!
The next day we found a trail head that was right near the campground, so we decided to head out onto what they called "Gorge Ridge Trail"

And we were delighted at the views we saw on this trail

We were seeing the Natural Tunnel from the opposite side of the gorge, and it was beautiful!!  Later we found out that we were standing on what they called Lovers Leap (hence the name of our loop in the campground "Lovers Leap Loop") Supposedly a female and male Indians of different tribes fell in love, and knew that they could never be together so they decided to throw themselves off this cliff together!  After awhile of taking in the views, we were off again, and to our surprise the trail loops around to the other side, so now we are standing on top of the natural tunnel looking at where we just were

If you look at the picture above you can just barely see the chain link fence that keeps you from falling off the edge.  Words and pictures just cant describe how beautiful this was!!

The next day we decided to take the trail that leads to the other side of the Natural Tunnel, not as big of a deal as the first side, I guess no one comes down here, because they didn't have it fenced  off, and there were no signs saying to keep off the tracks, so we enjoyed the serenity of it all

After a few days of trail hiking we decided to go check out the clinch river, and see if we could find some good spots to put in and take out the kayak.  I did a little research online and found that there were many spots.  So we had a 3 hour trip in mind, and from my research they tell you where the rapids begin and end.  I wanted to stay away from the rapids, but the best spots was an 8 hour trip, so we took a drive to see if we could find a take out spot a little closer.  We found a spot that we thought we could make work, so we parked one truck there, and headed up river with the other to a small boat ramp where we were going to put in.
So We blew up the boat and we were off

 We stopped off at a little rock area to have some lunch

The river was a tad bit down so we ran into quite a few places that we really had to push to get through, it was a work out.
Then we came to our get out point, and I guess it didn't look so bad looking down it, but looking up it was a different story!!  This hill was STEEP, Shane had to give me a heft up the first part, then I was grabbing for any weeds I could to make it up the rest of it.  Not just weeds but thorny weeds at that!! My feet were muddy so I was slipping out of my flip flops, towards the end of the hill I had to take them off to even make it the rest of the way.  I had to give Jemma a toss every so many feet because she couldn't even make it up it herself.  But we finally made it, and then I realized why I could keep my flops on, I had broken one!!  I decided to never let Shane pick us out a spot any more!!  Or at least test it first.
All in all it was a good trip, with some interesting points, NOT BORING at all!!

Our last day here we did one last hike to the other side where there was a look out to the tunnel from far away.  You can probably see more of it in late fall when there are less leaves but it was still beautiful

And that's all here, tomorrow we are headed to River Camp USA in Piney Creek NC