Kentucky Hills Woods and Waters Weekend
FRANKFORT, Ky. — People who love to be outdoors to fish, hunt, backpack or stargaze should plan a trip to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park this weekend, Jan. 19 – 21, for the Kentucky Hills Woods and Waters Weekend. All sessions are free, except the keynote address by Tim Farmer, former host of Kentucky Afield television, on Jan. 20.
“We have always wanted to do an event to showcase Kentucky’s outdoor resources,” said Bret Smitley, park naturalist and program services supervisor at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. Smitley will present two seminars on Friday, Jan. 19: one on the history of Cumberland Falls developing into one of Kentucky’s most visited places at 10 a.m. EST and a second seminar discussing the geology and geography of Cumberland Falls beginning at 11 a.m.. He will also lead a tour of Cumberland Falls Jan. 19 at 3 p.m.
The next seminar at 1 p.m. on Friday will focus on the basics of stream kayak fishing and highlights several streams in Kentucky to float and fish. Lee McClellan, associate editor of Kentucky Afield magazine and author of the award winning Blue Water Trails series, will present this seminar.
Cumberland Falls State Resort Park naturalist Steve Gilbert will lead a nature walk at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon showing how to identify tree species in winter. The day’s activities will conclude with an evening of stargazing at 7 p.m. on the patio of the Dupont Lodge.
The seminars on Saturday, Jan. 20, kick off at 9 a.m. with Corey Rhoden, small game biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, detailing methods to attract wildlife to your property. Kyle Sams, deer biologist with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, will discuss deer biology and management in the following seminar at 10 a.m.
The afternoon begins with an introduction to fly fishing by Trout Unlimited’s Sandy Boughman at 1 p.m. followed by Valerie Askren highlighting places to go backpacking in Kentucky at 4 p.m. She is the author of new book, “Backpacking Kentucky.”
Tim Farmer is the keynote speaker for the Kentucky Hills Woods and Waters Weekend. His talk begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
“Most of my talk is about how I grew up and overcoming physical barriers and the struggle to learn to do things in the outdoors,” Farmer said. “It is an uplifting and inspirational story about what I’ve been through in life.”
This talk includes an all-you-can-eat wild game buffet and requires an advance ticket purchase of $39.99. For tickets, call (606)-528-4121.
The Kentucky Hills Woods and Waters Weekend concludes with two hikes on Sunday, Jan. 21. The first at 9 a.m. is to Yahoo Falls and Natural Arch and the other at 2 p.m. travels to Pinnacle Know Fire Tower. Each are roughly one mile in length.
To reach Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, take U.S. 25W from Corbin to KY 90. For more information and reservations, call (606)-528-4121 or visit http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/cumberland-falls/.
