Friday
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap lies around the Kentucky/Tennessee border inside the Cumberland Mountains, a segment of the Appalachian Plateau. This gap provided a convenient point of crossing between the eastern and western (Kaintuck) frontiers and was a central point of travel for Daniel Boone's expedition into the newfound lands of Kentucky. It was, however, nicknamed "The Warrior's Path" because it was also an established route for various native american tribes and many skirmishes happened upon the gap, not the least of which included Daniel Boone's expedition. Since the gap was a strategic point of travel, control of its paths were contentious.
Eastern Kentucky
Here we have some random pictures of the Cumberland Mountains, detailing the random ridges and mountains with erosion-cut valleys snaking between them that is typical of the Appalachian Plateau. These areas are typically quite poor, but we passed through a couple towns that seemed firmly established around nearby coal-mining operations. I was impressed at how the highways cut through mountains, or rather impressed at the sheer number of mountains we found which were quite literally amputated, with huge sections of the mountains removed, revealing the rock faces underneath. I do not know when or how those highways were created, but cutting through those mountains must've been quite a herculean effort.
(we departed Kentucky and crossed the Virginia border at Black Mountain here)-
(somewhere within Virginia, actually-)
