Charles Bowers takes long, quick strides down a worn, dirt path and stops in front of a tall thicket of bushes. He lifts a hand to signal that he’s spied something.

He’s leading me on a tour of camps made by homeless people in wooded corners of Fayette County, Kentucky, and there, slightly up the hill, is a patch of blue. A tent.

He keeps his voice low to avoid startling those inside.

“That’s what you are looking for right there. It ain’t as thick as I would like, but you still can’t see it,” he says, pointing out what he would look for in a campsite in his homeless days, just a few months ago.

In Rural Areas, Homeless People Are Harder To Find — And To Help

Photos: Courtesy of the Catholic Action Center, Mary Meehan/WEKU