Last time we were out I bought a book on hiking Kentucky. Where would we ever use it except when visiting Nicole and Martin so why not leave it with them? Oh yeah, because it'd get packed up with all the rest of their stuff in preparation for their move. Dang.

So after a little bit of online research I turned up something called the "Siltstone Trail" just south of Louisville. Martin hadn't heard of it. Nicole hadn't heard of it. Even Martin's dad, Dick, hadn't heard of it and he's done a ton of hiking here. Nonetheless, at 8am with a pure blue sky and 70F weather promised I was out the door and following some rather sketchy directions toward the woods.

Although I missed two streets I did manage to get to the trailhead by 8:30. I changed into my trail runners (there was no room in the suitcase for my boots) and jumped onto the trail. The first quarter mile ran along a road, but then it headed up the first hill. The climb was pretty steep, but short, only 400 feet or so. At the top you could see the "draws" on either side of the ridge and the trail headed down the other side.

The trail boasted 3,000 feet of vertical gain if you went out and back. The round trip was 13 miles. Since the highest point was only about 950 feet most the the gain was in short climbs of 400 feet or so. The trail climbed up onto ridges, hopped to the next hill, then down and back up. The biggest drops and climbs were where the trail touched pavement: at the beginning, at the two roads the trail crossed, and the road at the end.

About a mile from the trailhead I looked up and saw houses on the ridge. Hmph. However, once I got beyond that area it mostly felt like the wilderness. There were a couple of long views, but I tended away from those since you could see Louisville or smokestacks to the west.

Although there were tons of trees they were all hardwoods. It's still early spring so there were few if any leaves. Additionally, there was no underbrush at all. I could see from the ridge I was on to the next with almost no obstruction.

The only people I saw on the way out were an older couple about a quarter mile from the turnaround. I passed them with a bit of conversation and soon found myself at the end road. The trail clearly continued on the other side, but I didn't know where it went (it wasn't marked on my photocopied topo) so I paused long enough to eat my sandwich and get the iPod set up. It had taken two hours and seven minutes to get there, but I figured I could do better on the way back.

I passed the older couple just over the first big hill and continued on. I started seeing more people at about the three mile point. As I was nearing the trailhead I heard barking behind me and turned to see a monster of a dog charging down the trail only about 20 meters from me. In a moment of panic I reverted to instinct and started barking at the dog. This must have been the last thing it was expecting so it stopped to figure out what to do next.

I picked up a stick and stepped above the trail and continued yelling at the dog. It raced back and forth barking all the while, but it didn't come any nearer. Soon I was back at the car and only 15 minutes later I was back at Nicole and Martin's house to the surprise of the guys who were still getting ready for the day. I considered calling Dan (it would have been about 9:30am in Snoqualmie) to tell him I'd already hiked 13 miles, but decided it'd be better if I didn't wake him up.