Trip to Nolin State Park, and Mammoth Cave National Forest.

[wrightme43]

LOTS of Pics.

Ok left out this morning, Bike was prepped last night.
I went to Nolin first. It is a great ride with some nice downhill and uphill twisties.

[wrightme43]

Here are more from Nolin under the dam.

[wrightme43]

Here are a few more under the dam, the lighting was good, and I was playing with my camera. Its pretty good so far.

[Hellgate]

WOW!!! Beautiful, I gotta get out of Texas more...

Not bad for a Sock Puppet Moderator!

[wrightme43]

Ok leaving Nolin and taking the back way into Mammoth cave is awesome. SUPER twisties, pretty good sightlines, low traffic. I.E. not a single car except a park ranger who waved, and the one car going the other way on the free ferry. You have to maintain a resonable speed in the park. Deer, turkey, and other wildlife abound. They use rock salt/sand mix on the road, and the animals will come to the road to eat the dirt. Also there are always methed out rednecks to watch for. More on that later, but as a tease I did come closest to dieing on a motorcycle as I have ever been today.

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by wrightme43

Ok leaving Nolin and taking the back way into Mammoth cave is awesome. SUPER twisties, pretty good sightlines, low traffic. I.E. not a single car except a park ranger who waved, and the one car going the other way on the free ferry. You have to maintain a resonable speed in the park. Deer, turkey, and other wildlife abound. They use rock salt/sand mix on the road, and the animals will come to the road to eat the dirt. Also there are always methed out rednecks to watch for. More on that later, but as a tease I did come closest to dieing on a motorcycle as I have ever been today.

STOP!!! You are killing me! No traffic, clean twisty roads, nice weather!!!

[DefyInertia]

Nice...I like uphill twisties...downhill can be very challenging.

[wrightme43]

Thanks Pete. Tx is very pretty too though, and you guys have the ocean.

Ok there are gaps in the pictures, I didnt want to stop as this is one of my favorite roads to ride. It is interupted by the free ferry, but it has a great downhill twisty section, cross the ferry and a great up hill twisty section. Again caution is called for, but you can go at a nice sporting pace. The rangers only seem to be interested in idiotic behavior. If your geared up and riding attentively they just let it slide.

I stopped and had a bbq sandwich and water under a ceder tree at the camping area. Then I turned down a awesome road. It very narrow and has lots of gravel patches, and about a mile is poor quality hot top with gravel. Upside it some of the most beautiful area in the park. Its called Flint Ridge rd. Off of this road you can turn onto Dennison Ferry rd. It is about 5 miles of very narrow gravel. Dont forget to watch for Meth Heads, and turkey.

[wrightme43]

On Dennison ferry rd. You have to be very careful. It is rutted and pot holed gravel over sandstone and lime stone. The stone underneath gets polished and slick. This road is going from the uppper area of Mammoth cave down to the green river which has over time worn its way deep into the earth. Its dropping over time is what has allowed the caves and blue holes to form and be exposed.

Its breathtaking. About 15-20 mph works great to stay on top of the gravel, and be in control. No front brake, only rear, and riding motocross style seems to work the best for me.

I tried to get pictures of the blue birds. They are thick down there because they come to feed on the grubs and worms. They just never held still long enough. I felt blessed to be able to see them.

The picture of the water is a blue hole, its water just pouring out of the underground water table and rushing to the river. Its amazing to see them in person, I dont know how to make a camera catch the color. The air around them feels great. The water is so cool and its just neat.

[Hellgate]

Meth Heads and Turkeys! LOL! What a combination. What a wonderful ride.