By Dennis Brown

R. David Johnson has always had an eye for finding the beauty in every day scenes most local people see regularly and take for granted.

“I had always wanted to be a photographer since I was a small child,” Johnson said. In 1998 he graduated from Lewis County High School and enrolled in college to study photography. He later pursued a business degree after others convinced him that was the thing to do.

“Everyone kept telling me that photography was a dead profession and that I would starve,” he said.

He went on to earn business degrees from Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 2000 and 2004. He is now employed by the Vanceburg Electric Plant Board where he utilized those business skills each work day.

When he isn’t on the clock in the business world, he takes camera in hand and heads out to find and capture images of Appalachia and scenes around the Ohio Valley.

“I never lost my interest in photography,” he said. “I particularly enjoy photographing scenes that show what Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley really are.”

Johnson resides in Quincy with his wife, Berneda, and their two children, six-year-old Thaddeus and four-year-old Madalynn, both students at Garrison Elementary School.

His parents are Ronald D. Johnson and Vicki Johnson of Quincy.

He is a Lewis County native and spent a short time in Columbus, Ohio, but was happy to return home in 2001.

Johnson’s scenes of Appalachia and the Ohio Valley have attracted the attention of the art community and he’s been asked to display his works at an exhibit on Appalachia at The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio.

“It’s a great honor,” Johnson said last week. “To learn that my photographs will put on display along with some of the most respected photographers across the country was a great feeling.”

Two of Johnson’s works, titled Kentucky Rail Bridge and Autumn in Adams County, were picked for the exhibit. They were chosen

Dennis Brown/Lewis County Herald

R. David Johnson has been selected as one of the photographers to have work featured in an exhibit of Appalachian art. The exhibit, at The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio, opens on September 24.

 from works submitted by photographers from 10 states for consideration.

The exhibit will open September 24 and runs through November 21. It features a selection from more than 30 juried and invited photographers across the nation.

Johnson is the only photographer from Kentucky to be featured in the exhibit. Other photographers are from Ohio, West Virginia, New York, Tennessee and Virginia.

“I’m thrilled,” Johnson said. “It’s something I’ve always envisioned and hoped for.”

By Essie Rogers

Red oak, chestnut oak, black oak, scarlet oak, white oak, poplar, pine, chestnut, hickory, red hickory, buckeye, walnut, cherry, hard and soft maple, bass wood, mountain birch, water birch.  Trees of a forest; not just any forest, the forest of Mountain Trail.

The Mountain Trail snakes lazily along the ridge between Lewis and Greenup County with offshoots and branches for easier access all along Bill Chain Road and McDowell Road.  The trail creates several loops, the largest of which connects with McDowell Road for a 20 plus mile adventure.

 There are no maps of this well used trail – just a hand sketched, not-to-scale outline on the backside of a 2004 desk calendar page.   

Bone Yard, Jug Point, Kite Point, and Lookout Tower etched onto the crude drawing, denote known locations.  Each named stop along the way has a story, a history, a fond recollection, and above all a reason for being.

It all started in the quiet, remote town of Garrison which is nestled next to the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky.  Just nine miles from the Lewis County seat of Vanceburg, Garrison is far from metropolitan. According to a 2006 survey, the Lewis County population is about one third of the average population density of the rest of the Commonwealth.   While the average Kentucky County has over 100 people per acre, Lewis County has about 30 people per acre.

Historically Lewis County is known for the production of oak hardwood.  Much of the 1,500 acre mountainous region of Lewis and surrounding counties is owned by Molpus Woodlands Group; often simply called “the company”.  Thirty years ago logging operations were abundant and the company leased timber stands to area loggers and sawyers including Jim Riffe. 

In days bygone, logs were harvested, milled, and sold mostly as rough cut lumber for building barns, fencing, and pallets.  Grade logs were put to finer use and marketed to furniture builders.  At one time Riffe’s Sawmill was busy enough to hire five loggers who harvested trees for the mill.  Today much of the lumber is played out and the forest is quiet.   The old sawmill has passed down a generation and is run by Riffe’s son who now sells mainly pallet materials and railroad crossties.

For years Riffe worked all week at the sawmill and on the weekends he rode his mule around the roads of Lewis County, all the while yearning for a place to ride that was as peaceful as the beloved woods whose bounty provided for his family. 

In 1987 Riffe’s brother Elden, a Sergeant Major in the US Army, was stationed in West Virginia.  Although he traveled all week; he often returned home to Kentucky on the weekends and spent time relaxing and riding with Jim.   It was during one of those weekend getaways that the Riffe brothers and friends Monroe Dummitt  of Garrison and Matthew (Mousie) Howerton of Greenup County conjured a plan to create access to wooded trails.

With Jim Riffe atop his trusted mule and the others on horseback; the quartet scouted a mountaintop trail along the ridge of the Molpus forest.  Often Jim Riffe or Dummitt would lead the small team one direction, only to backtrack, regroup and work harder to identify the best route. 

“It took us a week or so of riding and backtracking to scout out the Mountain Trail,” explains Jim Riffe.   

Once the route was identified, the hard work began.  Members of the former Lewis County Rough Riders Club, spearheaded by Jim Riff, worked diligently over the course of several months to cut and prepare the trail.  Loggers from Riffe’s Sawmill also helped with the intense labor.  One weekend Jeff Madden, also of Garrison, brought a crew that included Floyd Bolander (of Garrison – since deceased) and Bud Vanhoose (of Garrison – since deceased).  Jim Riffe smiles, chuckles, and says, “Those boys worked off a Saturday night spree clearing the trail.”

Most weekends Elden Riffe traveled to Lewis County, borrowed a horse, and helped with the massive undertaking.  “I was travelling for the Army and living in motels five nights a week.  On weekends I could relax, ride, eat lunch, and cut a little brush.  It was good to get relief and enjoy myself.  We’d cut a while and talk a while,” Elden Riffe recalls.  “I was kind of just a helper.  I would have got lost by myself for sure.”

Periodically, as the brothers and company cut the trail, they discovered unique identifiers.  They found an old jug in one spot, hung it on a tree, and thereafter called the location Jug Point.  Likewise, further along the mountain trail, a kite was found attached to a tree and that became known as Kite Point.  A particularly scenic view was dubbed Lookout Tower. 

The ominous sounding Bone Yard was named in similar fashion.  There is a location along the mountaintop that has been used as a burial ground of sorts for local farmers and animal owners.  All kinds of bones litter the bone yard and it seems each year more carcasses are hauled up the hill and added to the heap.

The names became common to all users of the trail, thanks to Bolander who crafted wood signs for each of the named locations after the completion of the route.  Those signs are long since gone and the points on the map, like Bottle Holler (named for the water bottle that was hung from a tree as a trail marker) are now known only by the local, long time riders.

When chided for his peculiar name choices by younger brother Elden, Jim Riffe simply remarks, “It’s what was there, so that’s all we knew to say.”

After the mountain trail was finished, the Rough Riders could ride from the Ohio River in Lewis County to Greenup County and then on to Olive Hill (in Carter County) where they attended an annual pig roast.  The completed Mountain Trail attracted riders from Greenup and Carter County and from the bordering state of Ohio.

Much of the land along the base of the mountain has been sold and is now privately owned.  Sometimes private owners block trail access and prefer not to have trail riders on their property.  Jim Riffe knows where most of the property lines are located and at least once has relied on his exceptional knowledge to avoid conflict with a landowner.  “If the private land gives you trouble you can drop down the other side and get out of trouble,” he points out.

Once on a long ride to the Olive Hill pig roast, the Rough Riders were threatened to “stay off” some private property.  Jim responded by telling the landowner where the group would travel to stay on plots owned by the company, thus avoiding misfortune. 

In 1990 the group conducted a weeklong ride from the Ohio River to the Jenny Wiley State Park.  The epic adventure was organized by Bob Coleman of Smokey Valley and Mose Oppenheimer (of Olive Hill – since deceased).  A truck was arranged to haul food so that the riders all had a hot breakfast and dinner at each makeshift campsite along the way.  Some thirty enthusiastic riders started the trek and after 7 days on horseback only eight riders remained to enter the state park. 

Two Bostonians rode on borrowed horses. “These fellows had probably never ridden before,” Jim Riffe disclosed.  One man brought his dog along for company.  The poor canine developed such sore pads that they had to devise moccasins for his feet.  Those leather slippers were no match for the terrain of Eastern Kentucky.  The poor pooch finally made it to the Jenny Wiley State Park riding atop the borrowed horse with his master!

In the course of that weeklong ride, the other Bostonian had an opportunity to talk with Jim Riffe alone.  He pointed to Jim’s mount and asked “What is that you’re riding?”  True to his nature Jim was riding a mule named Old Tiny, and according to him “You always get noticed when you’re riding a mule!”

Today Coleman is developing a plan to conduct another incredible ride, this time from Tennessee to Olive Hill.

For more than a decade, Garrison held an annual sorghum festival, the third weekend of September.  One of the main attractions of the festival was a single horse log pull on Saturday.  Riffe’s Sawmill sponsored the pull, which drew horses from several surrounding counties and Ohio. 

Initially, in the years before the Sorghum Festival, the log pull started at the Mill, in order to settle a debate about whose horse was stronger. 

Throughout the lifetime of the log pull there were no scales with which to weigh the competitors, so a man who was knowledgeable about horse weights determined the classes for each horse. 

In 1988, following the log pull in what would become an annual tradition; the Rough Riders organized a wagon trail from Riffe’s Sawmill to the sorghum festival.  The same horses who pulled so hard on Saturday, filed into a line, pulling their wagons, and paraded along the road part of Mountain Trail and through town to the sorghum festival on Sunday.  Typically a couple dozen hitches and about 100 people participated in the wagon trail. 

As is the fate of many small organizations, the original Rough Riders disbanded following the termination of the Sorghum Festival in 1995.

Despite the lack of a formal trail club, about 5 years ago an offshoot was added to the Mountain Trail.  The trail extension enables easier access to the Ohio River and Bill Chain Road. 

In November 2009 under the leadership of Kirk Collier of Garrison and with assistance and a grant from the Kentucky Horse Council, a new Rough Riders Saddle Club emerged.  In addition to hosting rides and membership activities the Rough Riders once again are working on Mountain Trail.  Their goal is to maintain the trail and work toward guaranteed accessibility for future generations. 

A photographic collage of Rough Riders past and present adorns the wall of Collier’s modest stable office.  Many of the images depict rides that originated on the Mountain Trail.  Collier is poignantly aware of the need to preserve the history and ensure the future of the Mountain Trail.

“Back then the Mountain Trail was just a way to get on a trail and go anywhere without riding the road.  I understand more now the larger purpose of the trail,” reflects Elden Riffe

There is no formal written agreement between Molpus and the riders that populate the Mountain Trail - nothing to ensure access for future generations.  There is an unwritten understanding between local managers of the timber stand and area riders.  Collier is currently exploring possibilities for a long term land use agreement with the assistance of the Kentucky Recreational Trails Authority.

Jim Riffe claims that the Mountain Trail makes it easier for sawyers and foresters to ride all terrain vehicles into the woods and “paint” property line trees.  The relationship is mutually beneficial yet it is difficult to perform needed maintenance on the Mountain Trail, especially when equipment is necessary.  “”It’s really tough to bring in equipment without an easement for land use,” notes Jim Riffe.

The Riffe brothers and Rough Riders look forward to a time when a formal written agreement can be reached.  “Maybe,” Jim Riffe muses “Once we have an official easement we can open the trail to the public and then we’ll be able to get trail heads and camping.”