Red River Gorge with Nan

Journal
Red River Gorge, Kentucky
April 1-3, 2010
Gary, Nan W.


A first date is supposed to be a short introduction. We broke the rules. Since Nan lives in Tennessee and I live in Michigan, we had to make the hours spent driving worth it. And the red River Gorge makes a good midway point.

My daughter and her boyfriend were to drive to Florida on Thursday evening, so I shared the ride partway. We arrived at Miguel's near the Red at 10 at night, grabbed a pizza, and headed for the rendezvous at Gray's Arch. Nan was waiting with a hug in the dark. I unloaded my gear and the others drove off.

Nan had found a small tentsite not far off the trail, so under a fabulous star show we re-found it. Since there was no rain in the forecast and it was too early for bugs, I laid my tent down as a groundcloth, and we settled into our sleeping bags under the stars.

Dawn broke with birdsong and scant high clouds tinted pink, and we greeted each other and the world. It took almost no time to strike camp and return to the car, where we made use of a pair of picnic tables to cook breakfast and sort gear for our hike. We followed the Sheltowee Trace trail from Gray's Arch along Pinch 'em Tight Ridge, down to Chimney Top Creek. We enjoyed the views from the ridge, checked out the season's first wildflowers (bluets, trailing arbutus, hepatica, trout lilly, trillium, violets in four colors, bloodroot, others, and many which we didn't know) and stopped along the creek. Being Good Friday and fabulous weather, there were many people out, both dayhikers and backpackers.

We crossed the Red River on the swaying suspension bridge, and followed the Sheltowee north. At the head of one of the valleys we found a nice rock shelter for a cool lunch stop and more water.

A short ways farther brought us to the trail up Cloud Splitter peak. This trail begins climbing through a rhododendron forest then gets progressively steeper as bedrock is exposed. The crux of the climb is aided by the roots of a tree and a crack, and a length of rope to help the ascent. I started to continue up beyond this point, but Nan lead me around to the right, and into a giant split in the bedrock, varying from 2-3 feet wide and 20-30 feet high. I thought 'Wow!' but it got better. At the far end is a tree with steps notched into it, by which one climbs up and into a narrower part of the split, then down again, where the base opens out into a cavern, but the top, 40 feet above, closes down to a few inches. In another 50 feet we come out to a ledge in the cliff face. It's an amazing place to be, and a challenge to get to. The only way out is to reverse our steps.

Continuing north, the trail winds and climbs to Indian Arch, then descends along cliff bases and around the head of another creek. We pass the turnoff to Indian Staircase. There's a spur trail that connects this area to the Gladie Center with it's parking lots, so there are more people and the trail is more heavily worn.

We dropped down to a campsite on a beach by Gladie Creek, and before the sun dropped any more and the temperature fell, took a quick dip to rinse off the salt. Dinner was curried rice with vegs, and we chatted away the evening. High thin clouds have been moving in all afternoon, so when the stars finally came out, there were few of them. Nothing like last night. It was a long and exciting day of hiking, with lots of elevation change, and we were tired by the time we laid down in the tent and fell asleep.

There's a good layer of dew on both sides of the tent and on the ground in the morning, and it is chilly. So we strike camp and return to the trail. The day warms to a nice hiking temperature by the time we begin the ascent up Indian Staircase. We meet a father and daughter part way up. She's about 10, carrying a pack, and very bubbly enthusiastic about the hike. The view from the staircase is great, across to Indian Arch and down the valley toward Gladie. There are traces of trail from here along the cliff edge, then down into a very large rock house and along a ledge to a second overhang. In the ceiling of this shelter is a nearly perfect spherical cavity about ten feet across, and the echos inside are entrancing. It's a good place for lunch. The father and daughter arrive, and we vicariously enjoy their excitement when they find the echo chamber before they continue down the trail. A very brief rain keeps us at this magical lunch break, then off again. The trail perches precariously along this very high ledge, then eventually gains the ridgetop, and leads us back to the Sheltowee near Indian Arch. From here we find the unofficial trail to Adena Arch. It's a long and very narrow ridge, and the arch is small with interesting picture sandstone formations. The ridge continues, then the trail drops and becomes indistinct with many small side trails until we cannot continue. We try a few side trails, and finally discover the way down, a steep gully in the cliff.

Unfortunately this trail leaves us almost a mile East of the bridge over the river and the way back. We find nice off-trail hiking along the riverside until the floodplain gets pinched out and we climb up to the road and walk the pavement to the trail crossing, and back across the swaying bridge. Again we are near a parking lot and there are many others on the trail. But after the first serious climb we have the trail to ourselves again. There's a large rock beside the trail which, after a scramble, provides us a lunch spot. There's a few creek crossings, then we climb back up to Pinch 'em Tight ridge, and make it back to the car as the shadows are getting quite long.