Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Red River Gorge Reviewed

The Red River Gorge is located in east-central Kentucky in the Danial Boone National Forest. I personally have only been there once before this past weekend and that was 17 years ago in Boy Scouts. So, this experience I was really looking forward too since I really didn't remember much from the Boy Scouts.
This was a guys weekend, it was a bachelor weekend for a buddy of mine instead of just for a party (which I highly recommend). I can't tell you how much everyone needs to just get away for just a short bit and let all things go and truly enjoy yourself. So, as you can see I had high hopes for the weekend.
 The weekend started out a little later than we thought it would with people getting off work at different times but, once we got on the road everything seem to melt away the further and further we got away from good old Cincinnati. The Red River Gorge is about two and half hours south-east of Cincinnati and it was a very nice easy going trip. I really have to give some props to Kentucky for keeping their roads very smooth and easy to drive.
Once we got to our trail which was the Whistling Arch Trial. I know it may just look like a regular old  rock arch in the middle of the woods it has been said on rare occasions when the wind blows through at just the right speed and angle a whistling sound happens. Hence this how the trial and the arch got its name.The arch is about .6 miles from the parking area which makes the trail very nice if your just looking for a nice light hike with family and friends and this trail is very dog friendly too unlike the Rough Trail ( I'll let you think about how it got its name). The time we got to the parking area it was not the best to be setting up camp but we handled that situation pretty well. Our camp site was above this arch which was about 10-15 feet up a cliff face where we lifted all our stuff up by ropes. Yes it was alot of work and if your the type of camper that needs running water, a bathroom and the basic modern essentials then this is not the camp site for you. But, if your into roughing it  then you will enjoy this camp site. People have asked me where did you go to the bathroom at? I replied dig a hole, do your thing and then cover it up. I know it sounds gross but it is the best thing to do when your away from a bathroom. The one thing we wished we would have brought with us was fire wood the site is picked pretty clean. The only thing that really upset the group about the site when we got up there was the last goup of people that were up there left all their trash which included but not limited to guys underwear and girls socks. Please respect the forest when you entered it and take out everything you took in and this means all trash. As I mention earlier it was night time when we were getting the camp set up we really didnt get a chance to see what was around us. I knew there was a 15 foot drop on one side but on the far side of the camp was much further drop that went straight down. Check out the view we had to wake up to on Saturday morning. Pretty cool huh? It was wild to watch the fog roll in through the gorge flowing like a river. This view alone made all the hard work we did the night before all worth it. As you can see at the bottom of the picture there is a small ledge that is called
"The Front Porch" now I don't think the park calls this view that but it was craved into the rock and I think it fits the view very well. The camp site is with in the rules of the park of being further than 100 feet from the ledge. You can not camp close to the ledge for common sense reasons. You really don't wanna roll over while sleeping and fall off the ledge. That would be very bad. Please remember when going camping the rules are there for a reason.



The day started off rather nice and with the fresh mountain air filling your lungs makes you realize how simple life can be when your not in the day to day rat race that most of us are in  day in and day out. After eating breakfast back at the parking lot, the park suggest that you leave all food locked up since you are in black bear country. We didn't see any but we did see claw marks on trees that we assumed where from bears. We went down to the local gas station and got a trail map to see where we all wanted to go. There was three places we choose to go those being the Natural bridge, The Red River, and the Rough Trial. The Natural Bridge was just amazing a large rock that had been craved out through wind and water. The picture on the left is the view from the bridge and the one on the right is from underneath the bridge. The next place we went was the river. We wanted to go canoeing but there was not enough water in the river to do it so we still wanted to go swimming. We followed the snaking road down to the bottom of the gorge and went to the place where they launch the canoes and there is a nice place just up river from the spot to go swimming. The water was a little chilly when your just getting in but you got used to it after just a few minutes and with the 90 degree heat that we where having that day it was very nice to get cooled off and to bring your body temperature down. There is a nice rock you can jump off of and with the water being pretty deep in this area you didn't hit the bottom from what I was told I didn't jump off but here are some splashes. the rock stood about 10-12 feet out of the water.

Then it was off to the Rough trial. All I have to say about this trial is bring water and bring more and more water and you need to be in shape just a little bit. I don't have any pictures of the rough trial it was just too rough since it was about a 45% angle down zigzagging all the way down. The sign said there was a camp site about 5 miles down the trail we made it a little bit down and the sites on this trail are amazing but once again it is a rough trail and you need to be careful.


We spent the rest of the day at the camp site just enjoying our time in the national park. So all in all I'll give The Red River Gorge a 10 on my rating scale of 1-10. It was truly an amazing experience that I highly recommend if your looking for something fun to do and that doesn't cost a ton of cash. I actually did this whole weekend including gas for under 70 bucks. So go have fun at The Gorge and remember please be smart and safe.



 

15 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun trip cant wait to go

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  2. woah looks asweome man, exciting

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  3. Cool, I like the adventurous vibe! Thanks for opening my eyes to Kentucky nature.

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  4. hmph.. you and your pretty trips to awesome sights :jealous:

    thx for the telling :3

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  5. Nice photgraphy! Looks like a cool place to go to experience some of earth's most precious moments thats for sure.

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  6. I didn't even know Kentucky had scenery like this! Looks like a really nice place.

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  7. What beautiful landscapes... if I'm ever in kentucky, I'm definitely gonna check it out! Follow +1

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  8. Absolutely gorgeous scenery... lots of hidden gems like this all around the smokies.

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  9. I gotta say, this post was brilliantly laid out.

    Take a look at my math blog.

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  10. beautiful pictures. It feels so good to escape the noisy, busy cities to immerge ourselves into the beauty of nature.

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  11. wow, the place looks awesome. i'd love to visit it :)

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  12. pretty awesome scenery. would love to b there

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