Here they found a buffalo trace, one of the many beaten out by the herds in their passage to the salt springs, and they followed it into what is now Floyd County in eastern Kentucky.

But this was not the prairie land described by Findlay; it was rough and hilly and so overgrown with laurel as to be almost impenetrable.

They therefore wended their way back towards the river, doubtless erected the usual hunter's camp of skins or blankets and branches, and spent the winter in hunting and trapping.

Spring found them returning to their homes on the Yadkin with a fair winter's haul.
Such urgent desire as Boone's, however, was not to be defeated.

The next year brought him his great opportunity.