Mia and I are headed to Bee Rock this weekend for a relaxing weekend of camping and hiking.  We’ve been to Bee Rock once before, but only for a day hike.  The campground looked nice enough, and is right on the banks of the Rockcastle River.  I’m hoping that with the nights turning cooler, the majority of the boaters, cooler-draggers, and munchkin-toters will have turned in for the season.  So maybe, just maybe, we’ll find some peace and quiet.

On our previous visit we hiked a loop that runs around Bee Rock and the campground.  This time we’ll be hiking a longer loop on the opposite side of the river.  The trail runs parallel to the Rockcastle, then turns away from the river to meet up briefly with the Sheltowee Trace, then follows Cane Creek back towards the campground.  Total, the hike should be about 6.5 miles and relatively moderate in difficulty.

We found a new camp recipe to try this weekend, a slight departure from the usual foil packs.  The idea is the same: meat and veggies wrapped in foil and cooked in the camp fire.  The twist is the specific ingredients.  Instead of beef, potatoes, and carrots we’ll be using ham steaks, pineapple, and sweet potatoes.

The campground is located in the Daniel Boone National Forest, and here’s what the Forest Services has to say about Bee Rock itself:

The cliff known as Bee Rock was once hollow. Old folk tales relate that there were so many honey bees in the area that they blotted out the sun. Their invasion of local beehives became so great that local beekeepers dynamited the cliff and destroyed Bee Rock. According to the legend, there was so much honey that it flowed down the cliff and into the Rockcastle River.

Hopefully I’ll be un-lazy enough to snap some photos and post a few when we get back.