In order to camp at the park, we needed to obtain 3 Day passes. We arrived at the Gladie Visitor Center before they opened so we walked over to a nearby homestead dating back sometime in the 19th century. The main features were two barns and a cabin.
The park is known to have an abundance of wildlife. While it would have been awesome to sight a bear or scare Kevin with a copperhead snake, this turtle was the biggest wild thing I got to see.
After getting our passes, we went on some short trails to see some sights on the upper parts of the gorge. The limestone cliffs were fantastic.
Poor Casey had to give his car a hard time going up and down the hills. The engine on a Ford Fiesta is not that powerful. To top it off, he got run off the road by a truck and bottomed out and got stuck in the mud. Fortunately a couple came along and kindly got the car out by dragging it over with a tow strap. Casey is looking into buying AAA membership.
We ran into a number of people on the trails but it wasn't nearly as crowded as I feared it would be with it being a holiday week. There was a group of college guys who climbed this rock feature to set up camp at the top. It was claimed to be the best. They can have it!
After a couple of trails we thought it would be best to setup camp and then spend the rest of the day doing things. I used my phone and looked at a satellite map of where were were and saw what looked like to be an extensive camping area. We went to that area and I spied a trail going the opposite direction from where we saw some campers. I didn't consult the group I just made a beeline for it and they followed. We found two cleared camps and I was satisfied but the trail continued on and we made our way down to a campsite that was more difficult to get to but had one helluva view:
It was decided that this was the place but now we had to get a crap ton of stuff down. Fortunately, I was asked to pick up firewood and didn't have to go up and down to the car with stuff. Still, trying to find dry burnable wood is no easy task. We ended up having to buy firewood.
Lugging all that stuff left the guys exhausted and I wasn't in the mood for any more hiking so we made the fire, and cooked burgers. Those burgers were damn delicious too!
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