Posted: 12:00am on Nov 19, 2011; Modified: 1:17pm on Nov 21, 2011
2011-11-21T18:17:38Z By Greg Kocher Herald-Leader
Trees in various stages of their fall transitions were reflected in the glassy surface of Island Pond at Central Kentucky Wildlife Refuge, in southwestern Boyle County, on October 29. GREG KOCHER | STAFF — Greg Kocher | Staff
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Editor’s note: A Central Kentucky reporter, Greg Kocher spent the past nine months documenting the seasons at Central Kentucky Wildlife Refuge. Here’s what he found — in words and photos.
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Central Kentucky Wildlife Refuge is open year-round from dawn to dusk.
It is 13 miles southwest of Danville in Boyle County. From the U.S. 127 Bypass in Danville, take Ky. 34 west (Lebanon Road) to Parksville. Then turn left onto Ky. 1822. Turn right onto Ky. 37 (Forkland Road), and turn left onto Carpenter Creek Road. Watch for the refuge’s parking lot on the left.
The refuge allows foot traffic only — no bicycles, all-terrain vehicles or horses are allowed. Visitors are asked not to remove any plant, animal or rock specimens from the refuge. Pets are permitted on leash only. No hunting, fishing, camping or boating are allowed.
Visitors should wear good walking shoes, and slacks and long-sleeved shirts to help protect against briars, ticks and poison ivy. Visitors should bring water to stay hydrated, and should stay on trails to avoid getting lost.
For information, go to ckwr.org.
FORKLAND — As I crouched to photograph a cluster of large orange mushrooms, I heard a low hum and a faint, but insistent, squeaking to my right.
Turning toward the sound, I saw a male ruby-throated hummingbird hovering like a tiny helicopter. His red chin sparkled in the mid-July sun, and he appeared to be as curious about me as I was in the golden trumpet mushrooms. He continued to hover for a few seconds, then flew away.
The moment was reminiscent of an episode recorded years ago by the Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton, who lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Nelson County. As he was reading outside one day, a wren perched on his shoulder and hopped onto the corner of the book in his hands. Merton mused that we can only truly know a living thing when we see it as it is in the wild, rather than dissected on a laboratory table.
A few of these moments have happened at Central Kentucky Wildlife Refuge, a 500-acre preserve 13 miles southwest of Danville. Within its borders, one gets a good sense of the topography and diverse wildlife one can see in the Knobs, a 230-mile-long arc of hills that border the inner Bluegrass region.
Picture, if you will, a big U-shaped smile across Kentucky. the smile is the arc formed by the Knobs, so-called because of their conical hills. the big grin begins and nearly ends at the Ohio River, running from Lewis County in the east to Jefferson County in the west. At the bottom left-hand corner of the smile is Boyle County and the Central Kentucky Wildlife Refuge.
The sanctuary, operated by a non-profit organization since 1965, has 10 trails that take a hiker through forest, past ponds, and into clearings, so that the view is always changing as a hiker walks up and down the hills of hickory, oak, pine, paw paw and poplar trees. Heightening this sense of ceaseless change is the passage of the seasons, each with its own sights and sounds.
On Feb. 9, for example, the refuge was covered in snow. the drive on Ky. 1822 over Parksville Knob was like driving through a tunnel as the tree canopy bowed low under the weight of wet snow. the only sounds to be heard that day were the occasional cawing of crows, the whinnying call of a downy woodpecker, and the crunch of snow beneath Timberland boots.
In August, the bird songs had quieted somewhat, to be replaced by the color of wildflowers and mushrooms. the fields were full of purple coneflowers, their petals drooping from bristled centers. meanwhile, thanks to this year’s abundant rain, the forest floor offered up all kinds of mushrooms.
“To the attentive eye,” essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.”
These serendipitous moments make a walk in the woods rewarding. And they’re there to relish for anyone who will take the time and who has the patience to seek them.
Reach Greg Kocher at (859) 231-3305.