Gorging On Red River Gorge

Been gallivanting around in Red River Gorge again. For those of you just joining us that's the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. Pretty sure there's a Red River in just about every state in this country.

On my last visit I was mostly just doing recon, getting a feel for the lay of the land. This time I wanted to pick a spot and get to know it properly. There's only one campground in the gorge, Koomer Ridge, which seemed like a good place to start.

Soon as I saw the Dangerous Cliffs - Watch Your Children sign I knew I'd come to the right place. There's three trails that start out in the campground, the aptly named Cliff trail that runs along part of the perimeter of the campground, along with trails to Hidden Arch and Silvermine Arch.

All the trails offered ample opportunities to become better acquainted with the effects of gravity, but it wasn't until I walked the Cliff trail that I realized how close I was camping to all that. These 'stairs of doom' on the Silvermine Arch trail were one of the more fun opportunities, there was even a nice solid rock at the bottom to stop you if you took a tumble.

Note to self: Research trails before you head down them. Set out on the Silvermine trail knowing only the distance, was pretty sure I could make it there and back before dark. Realized it's hard to know when you're there if you don't know what there looks like. Got to what I was pretty sure was the arch but could see the trail continuing onward, wasn't sure if this was Silvermine Arch or if that was further up ahead.

Since it was already a few minutes past my abort time I snapped a few blurry photos and headed back to camp. Turned out I had made it to the arch but if I wanted usable photos I was just going to have to go back in the morning.

Guess I have another date with the stairs of doom. Headed back down there the next morning and it with definitely worth coming back for. All these photos have been from that second trip.

The arch was down in a sort of hole, almost seemed like it had its own microclimate. There was water dripping down on a shelf on the far side of the arch with a bunch of ferns and stuff growing in their little private alcove.

Had researched the trail overnight and discovered that the trail going on from the arch was an unofficial one. Once I'd had my fill of the arch I followed it a bit more to see what I could see.

Turns out unofficial is another way of saying rugged and rudimentary. Gorge-ous scenery but rough going, the steeper parts would be damn near impassible in wet conditions.

Just like the beggar's canyon back home! Speaking of back home, some rich assholes from there are trying to turn Red River Gorge into the next new tourist hellhole. We all know how good people are at ruining it for everyone, so trying to draw more to the area just seems like a disaster in the making.

Wouldn't be the first time they tried to ruin the gorge though. There's some folks trying to keep that from happening thankfully. I'd like to help them out with my photography but I haven't quite figured out the 'how' part of that.

In the meantime I'm trying to document the gorge, that way even if they succeed in turning it into the next Gatlinburg we'll at least have some photos of the Before Times.

These last few photos have been from the unofficial trail. There's quite a few of those crisscrossing the gorge, I've been trying to track down a map showing them but haven't had any luck yet. Does anyone know if there's an open source map repository?

One last one of Silvermine Arch. There's an old local legend that I grew up hearing about, of Jonathan Swift's lost silver mine and I wonder if that's not connected to the name of this arch. There's been many a ton of coal taken out of these hills but nary a bit of silver, not sure how else it'd come by that name.

One of the amazing things about the gorge is all the surprising places things somehow manage to eke out an existence. You could probably say the same thing about Appalachia more generally now that I think about it.

Checked the weather after I got back from Silvermine Arch and it was calling for rain. It appeared that I had a couple hour window before the rain hit so I decided to give Hidden Arch another visit. I'd planned my trip for the only two days that they weren't calling for rain last week and had neglected to bring rain gear. Oops.

I'd hiked the trail the last time I was here and was certain I could make it there and back in two hours without difficulty. Mother Nature had other ideas though and as I started getting close to the arch thunder started rumbling in the distance. By the time I'd snapped these of Hidden Arch it was right on top of me and when I'd gotten about fifty feet further down the trail the sky opened up.

Damn weatherman owes me a refund. My plan B had been to ride out any rain at the arch and that's pretty much what I got to do. I'd packed extra snacks for that possibility, found me a nice cliff to hide under and ate bugles and took photos for the next two hours. There's definitely worse ways to ride out a thunderstorm.

After the rain finally passed I was able to hike out nice and dry. The unexpected break was more than worth it, there's something about hiking in the forest right after a storm that is simply glorious. With nothing but the sound of water dripping from the trees and steam filling the woods with a cottony haze it was a unique sort of peaceful.

---

---

---

Took way too many photos this time so you'll probably be seeing more from Red River Gorge soon but that's enough for one go.