road tripping pt 2

after drinking far to much alcohol and pretending like we were in college again, i dragged myself out of bed at 10 am sunday morning for my marathon drive back to chucktown.  after dropping sloane back off in chicago, i headed south for kentucky - to a state park known as cumberland falls.  it was halfway, i had no idea what was there - but after some research while lunching at a rest stop - i discovered that i may witness something very unique, a moon bow.  the stars aligned, and because of super moon, i was hoping to view this rare event.  what is a moon bow?  i arrived at the campground around 1030 pm - set up the hammock, ate a quick mt house meal and drove down to the gorge to see what i could see.  to my horror, about 500 other people had the same idea.  there were people parked all over the road, walking with their kids on leashes, in strollers, some rocking glow sticks and lawn chairs.  i ventured into the crowd and spoke with a few others who were carrying substantial photo gear.  the verdict was the moon bow would not be seen tonight, due to incredibly dense fog.  so being the crowd lover i am, i quickly headed back to my car and across the river to an almost deserted trailhead i had read about that afternoon.  i hiked about a mile in the dark, to a civilian conservation corps shelter on top of a high bluff - where i thought i may get a nice shot of the moon, but there were too many trees.  on the hike back that evening i ran into a couple from oregon who decided they didn't want any part of the party at the other side of the river as well.  we ended up sitting in the parking lot for an hour, drinking a few beers and sharing our travels.  i was up before the sun on monday, to hike the same trail again, only this time i completed it.  the end result is a feeder stream that pours into the cumberland river via a 44 foot waterfall - complete with splash back that resembles an eagle in flight, consequently known as eagle falls.  after a long 3 hour hike, i made it back to my vehicle to drive the final 550 miles home to chucktown.  

stormy skies outside of indianapolis, in