A NOTE TO OUR READERS:
"Gateway to Fall" is from the October 2002 issue of Southern Living. Because prices, dates, and other specifics are subject to change, please check all information to make sure it's still current before making your travel plans.

I had a dilemma. I love the mountains, but I'm afraid of heights. Though I enjoy fall color, I hate crowds. When I whined about this problem to a well-traveled co-worker, she had one suggestion. "Go to Cumberland Gap in southeastern Kentucky," she said. "There are no crowds, the leaves are gorgeous, and you'll get over the height problem when you see Hensley Settlement."

Well, I didn't know what this Hensley place was, but the rest sounded perfect. So I set out to find Cumberland Gap.

Rangers on High
About a three-hour drive south of Lexington, Kentucky, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park welcomed me with minimal traffic and brilliant foliage. I first checked in at the Visitor Center, where I learned something of the history of the area from a terrific movie, Daniel Boone and the Westward Movement. It related how the barrier of the Cumberland Mountains stymied expansion in the 1700s. First animals, then American Indians and explorers such as Dr. Thomas Walker (a physician and surveyor) discovered a passage--or gap--in the mountains. Once through this gap, pioneers and other travelers were free to move to western lands unhindered.

The park itself covers a little more than 20,000 acres in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The helpful rangers told me that it can be seen from many angles--from underground as well as from on high.

I yearned to browse among the beautiful crafts for sale at the Visitor Center--part of the Southern Highland Craft Guild--but the scenery was calling me. I discovered that rangers lead treks to different spots in the park. There are also 55 miles of hiking trails, which range from easy jaunts to more strenuous overnight hikes.