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Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Sheltowee Trace- Day 2

 Turtles on the pavement! We just had to take a fun picture.
hikers feet at Sheltowee Trace Turtle


Diane walked with us for a short distance. The trail crosses I-64 on a high concrete bridge on route 799. I reall would like a picture of it from below, but this will have to do.
bridge over I-64 on Sheltowee Trace


We turned on a gravel Forest Road. You knew it wouldn't be long before I did some botany, right. This one is new to me, and as you can guess from the name it's alien. Chinese bushclover, Lespedeza cuneata. Too bad, it's kind of pretty.
chinese bushclover


This is a nice find, though. Native. Blue Mistflower, Conoclineum coelestinum. It used to be a Eupatorium.
blue mistflower


It looked like the whole day was going to be on the gravel road, but some sections have been taken off onto real trail.
Sheltowee trail sign


Unfortunately, we took one that wasn't part of the trail until we realized our mistake and turned around, so we hiked 0.4 extra miles.

The best views were at power line crossings. This area is full of these pointy hills.
view of Kentucky hills


I struggled more than I'd like to admit on the last two miles. When we fishished hiking it was 91° with a feels like 103°. I just don't function well at those temps. It's still 91° at 6 pm.

But we finally made it to Eagle Lake and the trailhead that is right on the Moorehead State University Campus.
Eagle Lake Moorehead KY


Diane takes care of us. This chiken alfredo was awesome for dinner. Yes, I ate more than this. I had already wolfed some down before I remembered a picture.
chicken alfredo


Let's hike in Kentucky in the fall she said (me). It will be better than summer she said. Hopefully that will be true soon. I really can't do these temperatures.

Miles hiked in 2026: 348.7
Miles hiked on the Sheltowee Trace: 24.5

See Sheltowee Trace- Day 1

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