Over MLK weekend (yes, in January: I’m playing catch-up), we took off to Pine Mountain State Resort Park, just a couple of hours south of here. We’ve decided that, on the whole, slippery winter hiking is preferable to insufferably hot summer hiking. So we thought we’d go hiking when Kentucky was settling into a snowstorm!
We stayed in a cabin that was built during the Depression. The thick logs nicely kept out the cold on single-digit nights–as long as we kept the single-pane windows shuttered.
The kids have only recently gotten into board games, so they were excited about the combination of outdoor adventures and inside games. It probably didn’t hurt that I made regular rounds of hot chocolate and tea to keep everyone toasty. The kids also made use of their new sleeping bags, so everything felt like an adventure.
For our first outing, the park roads were closed, so we hiked up to the Pinnacle Overlook at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The kids really enjoyed seeing multiple states from up there. 
On our second day of the trip, the kids worried we’d lost our minds as we took them into Blanton Forest. Note to self: for winter hikes, more shoe traction is needed. We didn’t have all the right gear for getting soaked in winter, but this was also our favorite hike: big forest, old trees, and terrain of a size that could make us feel very far from the rest of the world. It was beautiful!
Erin
Alan Schmierer