Rainbow Trickle

Wayne's back was still troubling him so I had him drop me off at the trailhead for Rainbow Falls at the beginning of the week and told him to come back for me in 4 hours.  I was planning on doing some salamander searching so I needed a little extra time.

Rainbow Falls is at the beginning of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and has 2 parking lots, but by the time I was done hiking both of those had overflowed onto the road.  Wish I could say the same about the waterfall!

But first, I took a detour off the trail to the creek to flip over some rocks and rotting branches.  Beginner's luck and I found a salamander on the first try!  I didn't get the greatest shot because he scooted under a leaf a few inches from my foot so I just leaned over and pointed the camera and hoped for the best.  Luckily I at least attempted getting a shot because he was the only one I found that day....or any other day.  Look for him toward the bottom of the shot, his head and tail are sticking out of either end of the leaf!

The trail was pretty quiet at first and I had some time to look around for other things besides salamanders.  I didn't see any bears, just squirrels and chipmunks.

It's a pretty relentless climb for those 2.8 miles, and the trail is rocky and full of roots to be wary of as well.

It was barely above freezing when I left the parking lot, but about halfway up I started to heat up in the sunnier sections and had to start dropping layers.  The sassafrass leaves didn't work so well as a fan.

Eventually I caught up with a couple who helped me keep up a steady pace.  I had a deadline of when I should be at the top in order to make it back down in time and it was starting to loom close.

When we passed this little spot my new friends said if that was the 80 foot Rainbow Falls then they needed to write a letter of complaint to their congressman!

We made it to the top with only minutes to spare.  I scooted around taking pictures for awhile, then made my way toward the falls to find a spot to sit and eat my cheese sandwich.  It was cold and icy again at that elevation, luckily I still had my scarf!

That's the falls above, you can see why the post is named Rainbow Trickle.  It was a bit disappointing, but I was full of endorphins from the exercise on the way up and proud that I'd made it.  Each day the hiking got a little easier.  It took me an hour and a half to make it to the parking lot, I was only a few minutes late and Wayne was there waiting for me to tell him all about it.

Today we're leaving Corbin and getting a few hours close to home.  We'll be stopping in Clarksville, Indiana, just over the border from Louisville.  It's possible we may not even unhook, but if we do I'm driving over to the Colgate plant to get a shot of their huge clock!  Our trip is just about over, but lots more posts to come about all the great things we saw and did.