John J. Audubon State Park

A stretch of warm dry weather in early November we decided to take a couple of days to drive to parts of Western Kentucky that we hadn’t seen. After our normal omelette breakfast, we drove toward Eagle Slough Natural Area, mostly on I-64. This area is near a part of Kentucky that is across the Ohio River into Indiana. This is because the Kentucky state line is defined as the low water mark on the Ohio River as of 1792. The New Madrid Earthquake of 1812 caused changes in the river’s course making an area approximately one mile wide by four miles long on the north side of the river part of Kentucky. An elevated path through the area followed an abandoned railroad bed overlooking wetlands and leading to a small open lake. We were surprised to see bald cypress growing native in this area. We were used to seeing cypress swamps in the Everglades but not in Indiana and Kentucky. The trail has a number of interpretive signs and a few boardwalks in need of repair. We saw one gentleman on a bicycle going out the path to enjoy his morning coffee. We chatted briefly and he recommended Sloughs Wildlife Management Area for a hike. A nice observation deck at the end of the mile-long trail overlooks the small lake. We saw numerous Canada geese and some smaller waterfowl but didn’t spend much time there. We found a few small geocaches along the trail then returned to the car to drive to Sloughs WMA.

Great Blue Heron at Eagle Slough

Because we started our walk around 10 am (Central Time), the air was still a little cool so we were wearing jackets and hats. By the time we returned to the car, it was nearly noon and the air was much warmer so we took off our jackets and hats along with the binoculars and cameras for the short drive to Audubon Wetlands across the river near Henderson Kentucky. As we turned from the Eagle Slough access road onto Rt. 41 south, we heard something bounce off the roof of the car, hit the trunk and land on the road. Because the divided highway was very busy, we had to drive a couple of miles into Kentucky before we could do a U-turn to come back and retrieve the item. It turned out that Mary’s Samsung A51 was on the highway after being run over by many cars and large trucks. There was little remaining of the cell phone to pick up, although we gathered up what we could.

We drove back across the Ohio River to the wetlands. The Island Loop Trail begins with a 750-foot boardwalk across the wetlands, followed a mile long dirt trail through the woodlands.  We saw several Great Blue Herons and turtles from the boardwalk. The forested path was surrounded by lots of pawpaw groves and led by a lake and slough.  We walked the loop then made the short drive to the main part of the John James Audubon State Park.

The main trail at Audubon State Park

Upon arriving at the park, we ate the packed lunch of a turkey sandwich and apple in the parking lot at the park visitor center. Like many of the state parks in the area, buildings here were constructed by the WPA and appeared to be well built and in good repair despite being over 80 years old. It appeared to us that the craftsmanship was better than some of the parks built by CCC camps that we had visited before. We were a bit surprised that the visitor center had almost a Tudor look with an unusually steep roof. 

We learned that the swamps in the area were drained in the 1930s by a Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) group from West Virginia. The CCC team also built roads and constructed the lakes in the area that is now Audubon State Park. The WPA built the major structures in the park. There are a lot of interconnected trails in the 700 acre Audubon State Park of all levels of rigor. We hiked out Warbler Road and were amazed by the number of pawpaw trees in groves along the trail. We took the Scenic Overlook Trail and the Wilderness Lake Trail, chatting with several other visitors as we walked. On our return to the parking area, we took the short King Benson Trail where we saw a large black rat snake sunning on the path.

Turtles basking at John J. Audubon State Park

While there, we learned that John J. Audubon lived in Henderson, Kentucky from 1810 to 1819 when Henderson was a small town on the Western frontier. Although we didn’t take time to visit the park’s museum, we learned that it houses one of the world’s largest collections of Audubon’s art as well as artifacts from his nine year stay in the area.

We drove further west to Sloughs WMA, but it appeared to be a few small observation towers overlooking wildlife food plots. 

We drove about an hour east to Owensboro, Kentucky, where we would spend the night and the day on Tuesday. Like Georgetown, Owensboro is a fast growing small city in Kentucky. The city has capitalized on their Ohio River frontage, frontier history and proximity to population centers to become a mecca for festivals, hosting about 30 each year. I had been to Owensboro in the mid 1980s while a UK graduate student, but I really didn’t remember anything about the city. Our first stop was to Best Buy and Target to shop for a replacement cell phone for Mary. She decided on a Samsung A52 to replace her damaged A51. Although it was more than she hoped to pay, she was happy with the phone’s features. Once at the motel, we recovered the SIM card and memory chip from the old A51 and put them in the new A52. To her surprise, once she logged in to Google, all of her apps and settings returned to the new phone.

The Super 8 in Owensboro was very nice, having been remodeled recently. The room was spacious and had new flooring, furniture and bathroom fixtures. Because we have points with Wyndham Hotel Group, we were able to stay without charge. The lobby had fresh Dunkin Donuts for free through the day including the seasonal pumpkin spice donuts.

Sliced mutton dinner at Old Hickory Bar-B-Que

Friends have been telling us about how good the mutton barbecue is from Western Kentucky. One of the restaurants in Owensboro getting top reviews was Old Hickory Bar-B-Que. After looking at the menu and consulting the waitress, Mary had smoked turkey, barbecued beans and coleslaw, while I ordered the sliced mutton shoulder barbecue with coleslaw and a cup of burgoo. Burgoo is a traditional stew that was made on the frontier using a variety of wild game with available seasonal vegetables. This burgoo appeared to be made from mutton, beef and pork with a few beans and potatoes. It was quite good and reminded us a bit of chili. Both of us enjoyed our meals greatly and were glad that we came. 

We returned to the Owensboro Super 8 and turned in after a long day of hiking. Since our bodies were on Eastern Time we were happy to go to bed a little early.