Well, I am a couple weeks late posting this, but better late than never!
Lately my job has required that I make some trips from Baton Rouge to different territories around the country. Over the last 6 weeks I've made two trips, one to Lynchburg, VA and most recently to Kentucky. I've been taking advantage of these trips and extending them for one day/night so I can explore some trails that I'd likely not have the opportunity to see. The first trip was great and I documented the report here. I am optimistic that I'll be able to make a few more trips like this for my work. We will see.
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to talk about Red River Gorge. Before I start, I'd like to thank all the Hammockforums.net members who gave me advice and guidance on this trip. Without these guys, specifically Broken Halo, scoffman, and Sintax77 I would have been aimlessly wandering around the area.
I departed Lexington and took the Bert Combs Mountain Parkway to Slade, Kentucky. In Slade I picked up my overnight pass and grabbed a quick lunch at the Subway. Departing the Subway I followed Campton Road to Tunnel Ridge Road, which brings you to the trailhead. I drove a little past the Grey's Arch trailhead to see the sites and I was glad I did.
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The Tunnel Ridge Road provides many views of beautiful vistas of the gorge and gave me a better understanding for the hike I was about to undertake.
After parking I started my hike by heading towards Grey's Arch. Being summer time I was not really able to see that well through the foliage, but there was one point on the trail where I was first able to see it.
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Grey's Arch is amazing. I must say I was truly surprised at how large it was. It is hard to take a picture that can actually capture its size. What I ended up doing was using a Google photosphere. I've published it to Google Maps and you can check it out here. Let me know if you like this photosphere. I think it is pretty cool. Here are some more pictures of Grey's Arch.
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After Grey's Arch I continued down the Rough Trail. Some the sites on this trail that I really enjoyed were the Jasmine Rocks IMG_3708.jpg and Corrosion Cave (sorry, no picture, but obvious while you are traversing it).
Shortly after Corrosion Cave you come to Foot Wash Falls. This was a great place to stop and relax, enjoy the sites, and refill on water. Speaking of water, the water in the gorge was delicious!
After the Foot Wash Falls you come to the intersection of the Rough Trail and the Sheltowee Trail. On this trail the you climb to the Signature Rock. From here you get some great views.
And here is why it is called Signature Rock (I swear I did not write my name here)
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Continuing on the Sheltowee Trail I came to spot where I would ultimately spend the night. While hiking a thunder storm started threating and I decided to camp near the water and Pygmalion Rock. The site was beautiful and I quickly set up camp to beat the rain. By the way I used my new $20 Yukon tarp and it worked like a charm. Here's where I camped.
The next morning I woke up early and packed up. My phone was dead as I forgot to pack the cord to charge it with my spare battery and therefore I was unable to take any pictures of my return hike. I followed the Koomer Ridge Trail to the Buck trail to the Pitch-em-tight Trail which ultimately brought me back to my rental car. Just as the first half of this trip had beautiful views, the second half was great also. In addition to great views I also had an experience that I will never forget. On a ridge of the Buck Trail, about .25 miles from the intersection with the Pitch-em-tight Trail I had to deviate from the trail to get around a fallen tree. While stepping back onto the trail out of the corner of my eye I spotted something moving where my left foot was about to drop. I quickly jumped forward in mid-stride. After landing from this impromptu jump I turned around to find a 3.5 foot timber rattlesnake sunning itself on the ridge. I swear my heart almost burst through my chest. As I mentioned earlier, my phone was dead, but here is what the snake looked like.
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After getting back to my car I did a quick charge of my phone and decided to go and hike a small section the the Koomer Ridge trail to see the Hidden Arch. It was a short hike, but the Hidden Arch was cool to see. Here's a few pictures.
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Overall, I highly recommend Red River Gorge. If you are anywhere close to this place you need to make some time in your schedule to check it out. Here's a Google Photo Story of my trip.
https://plus.google.com/100005125347...4300e?authkey=
Warm Regards,
RedStix
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