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Day 12 south of KY-1209/Arvil to KY-52/Beattyville 21.2 mi.

 
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chester
in the stride
in the stride


Joined: 18 Jan 2012
Posts: 56
Location: Slade, Kentucky

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 7:38 pm    Post subject: Day 12 south of KY-1209/Arvil to KY-52/Beattyville 21.2 mi. Reply with quote

Day 12 Just south of KY-1209 (Arvil) to KY-52 (Beattyville) (21.2 miles with one ford)

I woke up early and packed up after two servings of hot oatmeal. I had a long way to go today and I was excited and nervous all at once. Nervous because I now realized that this was the stretch with all the dogs that Thomas had warned me about. Excited because if, (IF) I made it to KY-52 I knew my husband would be watching on the Spot Tracker and take pity on me and drive 20 miles from our cabin to pick me up for the evening, saving me from a cold night on the trail.

I first hiked through the one horse town of Arvil. I never did see the Post Office the guidebook spoke about but I did see plenty of dogs before the trail stepped down into the woods. This was a newer section of the Sheltowee that bypassed Hale Ridge Road (and many more dogs). I was happy to hike it for this part of the trail was pristine and for backpackers only. It was a slight bushwhack, but I welcomed that after days of dodging ATV ditches. It was on this section I found something I had hoped to find on the trail at some point…a turtle shell. The irony of finding a turtle shell on the Sheltowee appealed to me. I had to keep it as my Sheltowee souvenir.

After some miles, the pristine trail ended into an abandoned farm with a gravel road slowly succumbing to grass. I knew this was the end of my pretty hike and it was about to get serious. For this was the start of the very long road walk…over 13 miles.

It started off easy enough but about ½ a mile into it, the road turned into thick gravel that was tough on my ankles. This only lasted for about a mile and turned into a one-lane country back road and the start of the dog wars.

The rest of the day was a blur of dogs greeting me and what I thought was a two-headed cat. Upon closer inspection, it was two cats; one crouching low to the ground and the other on top of her. Never to old to get an ol’ lesson on the birds and bees.

The city of Heidelberg had friendly people offering up food or drinks to me. I took a gal up on a Mountain Dew who told me to think of it as a gift from the Lord. That gift was full of caffeine and after days of only drinking water, I soon had a buzz and was hiking along KY-399 at a pace so fast the dogs couldn’t even keep up with me (not really).

Six more miles down the road, my energy was wearing thin and I decided to stop in at the Conveniently County Mart and Deli to scarf down a Moon Pie, large bag of BBQ chips, Ale 8 and a turkey sandwich with all the trimmings.

I only had five more miles to go until I reached Lago Linda’s, my plan B for the night if my husband didn’t take pity on me. I passed many more dogs and a very friendly horse that tried to follow me. Finally, as I came around a bend, a familiar silver car was coming towards me. My ride home.
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