Vanceburg to Eskapalia

				The Valley of Salt Lick Creek

It is a point of some irony that a watercourse which was so critically important to the peoples of this 
region for uncounted millennia has lost its true name in the sands of history. So, "Salt Lick Creek" will 
have to do.

As we look at a topographic map, we see that the valley created by Salt Lick Creek leads almost directly
south into the interior of Kentucky. One must travel several miles up or down the Ohio to find a similarly
advantageous route through the hills which rim the Ohio River.

As we travel through this valley, we can see that our course is easily maintained. If we were to drift to
the east or west, we would soon find ourselves in hollows that rise into the hills and eventually end in
terrain that is only possible to traverse with great difficulty.

After we have traveled several miles, we reach the headwaters of Salt Lick Creek and the valley ends
in a narrow chain of hills that separate the valley from the vast rolling plain of the Licking River
drainage area. An examination of modern maps indicates that there are a couple of viable ways to 
traverse these hills, but reports of early white hunters tell us that the Warriors Path passed close
to a peak which still carries its ancient name: Eskalapia.

For the modern day driver, the climb out of the Salt Lick Creek valley up the flanks of Eskalapia's 
ridge-line occurs quickly and effortlessly. The hills throughout this area are forested, and the trees 
serve to obscure important features of the land, and our climb to the high ground demonstrates that truism. 
The trees really do hide the forest.

The top of the ridge-line at the intersection of Rt. 989 and Rt. 1310 is not dramatic. In fact it's a 
little underwhelming considering its importance to the early traveler. From this point on until the 
Warriors Path reaches its destination at the site of Eskippakithiki, some 70 miles distant, this will be 
the only significant change in elevation that the trail encounters.