The trails at the Rockcastle River Demonstration Site are beautiful, filled with diverse wildlife, and a great combination of just a little challenge with a gentle walk in the park effort.

June has been filled with hiking activities - first we hiked the rejuvenated Blue Warbler Trail with Jess Cary, who is creating topographical maps of all the trails at the site.  I saw a new-to-me overlook - it still makes me wonder that this is our county, and people would travel hours, if not days, to see such a site.  We noted the need for some safety signs - it is a sharp drop.  I also noted, silently, the beautiful and very large patch of wild blackberries at the top of the trail, thinking to return in a month for a good harvest.  My five-year old son stood still staring wonderingly around him and shouted, "Mama, all of this - it's all blackberries!"  I grinned ruefully as everyone in our group mentally noted the blackberries - "Well, we have more than enough at our house, I guess," I said.
(Tuckered out and taking a nap at the 
Mary E. Fritsch Nature Center after a 
two-hour hike - on my back!)
On the solstice we hosted the Rockcastle County Natural Wonder Series (look for them on Facebook) Kick-Off.  Each month the group (which wants the public to join!) hosts a hike and informational workshops at beautiful and interesting natural places in Rockcastle County.  We took a hike, learning about wild edible and the diversity of the Appalachian Cover Forest.  Representatives from Kentucky Native Plants, Heartwood, and other programs were educating folks about the ways to enjoy and preserve our local ecology.   

The trail will start at the Yurt - now painted yellow.  A roof and floor repair are in the works.  Inside the yurt, traditional Native American stories and laws of the stars will be explained in displays.  As you leave the yurt (which represents the Sun,) you will hike a distance to a sculpture of Mercury.  You can read the sign post for information about Mercury and consult your activity guide for some simple demonstrations.  Leaving Mercury, you'll travel the relative distance to Venus, then Earth, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and beyond!

    The month of June has some great summer-related special days and an important historical environmental regulation milestone.  June is Great Outdoors Month, National Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Month, American Rivers Month, Aquarium Month, National Rose Month, National Zoo Month, National Soul Food Month, National Candy Month, Black Music Month, Home Safety Month, and Perennial Gardening Month.

    June 1st is National Go Barefoot Day.  Undoubtably, frontiersman Daniel Boone walked barefoot when he first saw the forests and valleys of present-day Kentucky in 1769 (Boone Day, celebrated on June 7).  Nothing connects one to the earth like the literal experience of walking barefoot outside; get in touch with the sun-warmed soil and feel the landscape that you live in (Global Wind Day, June 15).  That you can do this safely is somewhat due to Clean Air Day (June 4) and World Environment Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly on June 5th, 1972, the day the U.N. Conference on the Human Environment began.  Since then, it is hosted every year on June 5th by a different city with a different theme.  2014's theme is 'Small Islands and Climate Change', and the official slogan is 'Raise Your Voice, Not The Sea Level'.

    The first Saturday of every June is reserved for thought flexibility - Change Your Mind Day, and National Trails Day, no doubt a good day to ramble on your local trails.  Don't fret if you happen to be far from the mountains, because June 8 is World Oceans Day, to raise awareness of the challenges we face to protect the world's oceans,  source of food, oxygen and medicine, and home to innumerable grand water creatures.  You'll have plenty of time to bicycle in the second week in June (Bike Week), because of the upcoming Summer Solstice on June 21 - the longest day of the year.

    You might use these extra hours to contemplate the mystery and wonderfulness of your dear Rad-Dad on Fathers' Day, 3rd Sunday in June.  If you need help with this, consider reading Plato, who documented the dialogs of the Philosopher Socrates (born June 5, 468 BCE).  While you contemplate, be sure and keep your hands busy in honor of Worldwide Knit in Public Day (2nd Saturday in June) and National Handshake Day (Last Thursday in June).  In any case, bring him along for an outdoor feast on June 18 -International Picnic Day, using produce produced from National Gardening Exercise Day (June 6) and Weed your Garden Day (June 13); and make sure he follows the dictates of Eat Your Vegetables Day (June 17).

    A few important birthdays in June: Socrates (see above), Frank Lloyd Wright (born June 8, 1867), and the indominable Helen Keller Day (born June 27, 1880).  If we could learn to see like she did, the world might be an even more beautiful place for all to live!