SANDY HOOK, Ky. -- The calendar might have turned the page into November but thankfully somebody forgot to tell an Indian summer sun.

With a weekend that was hotter than a $10 Wii and soccer season finally in the rear-view mirror, we loaded up the ever-growing cookie crunchers to see if they could still hike their age or at least act it.

While there are a ton of great places to stomp the boots in the Tri-State, we chose a path less traveled for us and for many.

Located just south of Grayson Lake, along the beautiful Little Sandy River, is the 750-acre Ed Mabry/Laurel Gorge Wildlife Management Area.

An easy highway hop on I-64 and Ky. 7, the Laurel Gorge Cultural Heritage Center and its web of hiking trails are located along Laurel Curves Road at the juncture of Ky. 7 and the Old Route 32. It's about 40 minutes from Huntington.

You can park at the center, but armed with our GPS for some geocaching, we decided to take the scenic route. The short Homestead Trail leads from Route 7 and winds down below the new bridge and to the center, where you can access about three miles of interpretative trails that lead away from the noise of the traffic above and into the beautiful Gorge.

It only took a few steps along the extensive boardwalk (2/10 of a mile is completely accessible) for the rest of the family to understand why I had picked this place to hike.

Not unlike the New River Gorge and other parts of our region, Laurel Gorge is blessed with giant thickets of rhododendron that close in on the boardwalk that leads back into the Gorge and is lined with good-sized Eastern hemlocks, tulip poplars, big leaf magnolias and towering rock walls.

Perfect for kids, the trail system has kiosks or info stations scattered about that concisely give good info on everything from tree and animal identification (like the fact that the only Eastern climbing salamander, the green salamander, hangs out here) to a wealth of info on the sheer rock cliffs pressed with everything from sandstone and white quartz pebbles to conglomerate.

Although we were lucky enough to get in on the last bits of fall color with the American beech still, almost greedily, hanging onto colored leaves, the Gorge, not unlike Lake Vesuvius and Carter Caves' Box Canyon and other rock-dominant trees, would make a wonderful winter hike.

While we walked all of the short trails, the favorite of the boys had to be the 1/2 mile Cliffline Trail that snakes around boulders and crevices below the towering sandstone cliffs that increasingly dripped with water on our way to a platform overlooking what is a waterfall in season flowing into Jason's Branch which flows into the Little Sandy River.

After walking off lunch, finding another one of the three geocaches in Laurel Gorge and combing through the creek, we made our way back to explore the Laurel Gorge Cultural Heritage Center.

The wildlife learning continues on the inside as the center, which has 28 interactive exhibits, hosts such unique and locally-made exhibits as a bird songs exhibit featuring audio recordings of bird songs matched with the wood carved bird species by the late Herman Peters.

Nestled into the cliffs, the center travels through time telling the stories of the Paleo Indians that first lived in Elliott County, through the pioneers, the moonshiners, and up to modern-day local artisans such as the Sloas Brothers, Keith Whitley and Don Rigsby, as well as local artisans such as Minnie Adkins and Jimmy Lewis.

At the substantial exhibit paying tribute to Whitley, who racked up an amazing 19 singles and five straight No. 1 songs between 1984 to 1989 when the bluegrasser hit mainstream country, you can see many of his 45s including one of his first, "Turn to Love." It was cut with Patty Loveless. You can explore everything from scrapbooks of his shows and contracts to displays of his guitars and stage clothes.

While eastern Kentucky has an abundance of well visited parks from Greenbo and Carter Caves to Grayson, Paintsville and Yatesville lake, Laurel Gorge is an equally amazing rocky space for hiking, and in season, canoeing on the amazing Little Sandy River that flows into and makes Grayson Lake.

Dave Lavender writes about travel and the outdoors for The Herald-Dispatch. Contact him at 304-526-6686 or via e-mail at lavender@herald-dispatch.com.

Toril Lavender/For The Herald-Dispatch

Located just south of Grayson Lake, along the Little Sandy River, is the 750-acre Ed Mabry/Laurel Gorge Wildlife Management Area. The area offers plenty of hiking trails.

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