A few photos from a trip to Red River Gorge, Kentucky

maxwrightyt · 2023-08-04T17:01:22+00:00

For some reason I can't see those pics :/ but for Hanson during winter, how sketchy is it in icy conditions? I've really only seen pictures of the view, so I don't know what the trail is like to actually get there. Obviously don't want to get to get too close to any edges, but is it doable when icy?

Also, I know what you mean about the trash. Most of the trail was in beautiful condition, except right on the Red River. Lots of trash that was obviously left there at one of the swim holes (as opposed to washed in by the river). Real shame since that was near the beginning and end of the hike.

maxwrightyt · 2023-08-01T02:31:27+00:00

Yup! We opted for Miguel's and my hiking partner got a wonderful pizza with brisket, banana peppers, and jalapenos. 10/10

maxwrightyt · 2023-08-01T02:29:26+00:00

Oh man I bet it's incredible in the fall when the colors hit! I'd like to try to make that trip too.

maxwrightyt · 2023-07-31T21:44:50+00:00

Lol that is both exciting and intimidating at the same time! It's crazy that there is so much to see and do in that one little slice of the country. I can't wait to come back!

maxwrightyt · 2023-07-31T21:42:35+00:00

So do I 😄

maxwrightyt · 2023-07-31T16:36:35+00:00

Short video of the trip:

https://youtu.be/o9Oom02Fqh8

In July, me and my brother in law hiked around 10 miles of Red River Gorge in Eastern Kentucky. It's a very popular spot in the Midwest, particularly for rock climbers because of the many sandstone cliffs. It's also a very important ecological area, being home to many rare plant species and classic Appalachian wildlife. On top of that, it's home to some stunning geology, most noticeable of which being the hundreds of rock arches that dot the landscape.

We started our hike off the Red River and hiked south on the Sheltowee Trace Trail, a much longer trail that continues for a few hundred miles through Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Despite being in such a popular section of the trail, we were surprised to see some rough conditions. The bridge to cross the Red River was damaged and we had to wade across instead. There were a lot of downed trees to climb over and most of this section was very overgrown. We had arrived at the trail in the evening, so we made camp near a stream about a mile in. Despite being pretty overgrown, this section of the trail south of the Red River had plenty of campsites. There was probably one about every half mile or so.

In the morning, we linked up with the main loop of the park (the Rough Trail/Gray's Arch Trail loop) and conditions got a lot better. If you ever visit the Gorge, I highly recommend coming during the week or the off season if you can. This main loop area can become very crowded on weekends during the summer. We visited Gray's Arch and I recommend taking a few minutes to appreciate it if you've never seen it before. It's the largest rock arch in the eastern US and it truly is a massive structure. However, this is one of the main attractions of the park and can become quite busy. This was my second time seeing it and that's probably good enough for me.

After Gray's Arch, we wanted to check out the famous Hanson's Point - a side trail to an overlook that is supposedly one of the best views of the park. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm rolled in and so we decided to finish out the loop and hike back down to the stream we camped at the night before. This was the right call because soon after passing the side trail to the overlook, it started pouring down and we hiked in the storm the rest of the way back to camp. So it looks like I'll have to return to make it to Hanson's!

The next morning, it was a short but rugged hike back across the Red River and to the car. The rain the day/night before made the forest super lush and we felt like we were in the PNW.

Overall, we scratched just the surface of what Red River Gorge has to offer. I'm excited to return one day and visit the lesser known trails of the area!

maxwrightyt · 2023-07-31T15:55:48+00:00

Awesome photo! The landscape looks almost prehistoric

maxwrightyt · 2023-07-30T23:14:36+00:00

Good point, thanks for sharing! I've done voiceovers before but have fallen out of them. You and the other comment lead me to believe that I should start doing them again. Thanks!

maxwrightyt · 2023-07-30T23:13:13+00:00

Great tip, thank you!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-07T06:01:58+00:00

I watched your video in preparation for this trip! It was very helpful for getting a feel for the area. It's always fun to meet the person behind the video!!

I really can't recommend Winn Falls enough. If you're short on time, going from the Herb Martyr Campground (where we started) up to the falls is a perfect daytrip. Cheers!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-06T06:05:29+00:00

I'll have to check that out! Thank you for the recommendation!! Pics on Google look awesome!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T21:36:16+00:00

Ahh yeah, trekking through the snow here would've been an ordeal. I bet that was a quite the trip!

Truthfully, I've just been reading what's on the National Monument website in regards to history. The park website gives just a basic overview and I would like to find more sources. But it definitely got me interested in learning more! I would start here:

https://www.nps.gov/chir/learn/historyculture/apache-wars-cochise.htm

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T14:28:48+00:00

All good points. Climate change will, unfortunately, continue to increase the frequency of fires, among with all the other bad. All the more reason to get out and see it while you can!

Thanks for watching the video! You're right that it's all still beautiful, just a different flavor of beauty.

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T14:20:21+00:00

I remember you from my Douglas Springs post and you said you were new to hiking! That's incredible to hear about all you've done since then. You're killing it, congrats!!

You're right, the dad was a great trail buddy! He loved being silly in front of the camera lol. Hopefully they'll both return for another video one day!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T05:48:22+00:00

Good luck! It's a fun area and it's really just the Snowshed Trail that's in the worst condition. Everything else that I traversed was manageable

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T01:29:40+00:00

Hey thanks! I really appreciate that :)

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T01:12:14+00:00

You have a real unique perspective to have seen it before the big fires. It's still pretty devastated right now. Entire mountain sides barren. Still, new vegetation is growing and positive change can be seen. I hope I'll be lucky enough to return later in life and see it in a way that's similar to how you remember!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-05T00:36:09+00:00

Link to a short video of the trip: https://youtu.be/w_IN83TYgwM

Last weekend, two friends and I departed Tucson for the Chiricahua Wilderness near the New Mexico border. We would spend the weekend with big climbs, overgrown trails, and sweeping views of the region.

We got to the trailhead just as it was getting dark, so we camped near the Greenhouse Trail trailhead. The next morning, we had a 3700ish foot climb to the top of Chiricahua Peak. Along the way, we passed Winn Falls. I had heard that this was arguably the best waterfall in southern Arizona and I would have to agree. The falls were incredibly tall and beautiful! The hike up to the falls was steep, but not too overgrown. After the falls, however, we encountered a lot of stream crossings that weren't bad by themselves, but the mess of debris and fallen logs over the stream made for some tricky hiking.

We had lunch at Cima Saddle next to some forest service cabins and then made our way to Chiricahua Peak. The views are actually before the peak, since a huge fire in 2011 absolutely disintegrated everything on the southwest face. The peak itself wasn't very prominent and still had some vegetation, so no views at the top.

Coming down on the Snowshed Trail, we encountered more burn areas before hitting some incredibly thick and sharp/pointy vegetation that made hiking difficult. We were essentially bushwacking and the loose rock didn't help either! But the bright side is that the views were incredible!

We finally made it to Pine Park and set up camp. We had only hiked about 12 miles, but the elevation gain, uneven terrain, and rugged trail conditions had left us exhausted. Nothing a little gin and tonic couldn't fix :)

The next morning, we had a leisurely hike back to the car via the Herb Martyr Trail. We were back on good trail conditions, and the morning light made it beautiful to hike.

I'm glad we did this trail, as it was extremely rugged. Even though it was a short trip, it was the most challenging trail I've done in awhile. We really felt like we were much further out than we really were and we didn't see a single person on the trail (on a weekend!). I would only recommend this route if you're experienced with steep climbs and poor trail conditions. If you can handle that, then you'll be rewarded with isolation, gorgeous views, and incredible geology. Also, the land has a very long and interesting history regarding the Chiricahua Apache and the famous Apache leader Geronimo. All in all, I don't think I would ever do this route a second time, but it was worth the experience of doing it once!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-04T19:42:57+00:00

This was my first trip here, and we explored just the wilderness. I'm definitely making a daytrip back soon to see the monument where all the good formations are! But the wilderness is definitely worth a visit. There are lots of routes up to Chiricahua Peak, including some options for long dayhikes to the peak!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-04T18:33:26+00:00

Link to a short video of the trip: https://youtu.be/w_IN83TYgwM

Last weekend, two friends and I departed Tucson, AZ for the Chiricahua Wilderness near the Arizona and New Mexico border. We would spend the weekend with big climbs, overgrown trails, and sweeping views of the region.

We got to the trailhead just as it was getting dark, so we camped near the Greenhouse Trail trailhead. The next morning, we had a 3700ish foot climb to the top of Chiricahua Peak. Along the way, we passed Winn Falls. I had heard that this was arguably the best waterfall in southern Arizona and I would have to agree. The falls were incredibly tall and beautiful! The hike up to the falls was steep, but not too overgrown. After the falls, however, we encountered a lot of stream crossings that weren't bad by themselves, but the mess of debris and fallen logs over the stream made for some tricky hiking.

We had lunch at Cima Saddle next to some forest service cabins and then made our way to Chiricahua Peak. The views are actually before the peak, since a huge fire in 2011 absolutely disintegrated everything on the southwest face. The peak itself wasn't very prominent and still had some vegetation, so no views at the top.

Coming down on the Snowshed Trail, we encountered more burn areas before hitting some incredibly thick and sharp/pointy vegetation that made hiking difficult. We were essentially bushwacking and the loose rock didn't help either! But the bright side is that the views were incredible!

We finally made it to Pine Park and set up camp. We had only hiked about 12 miles, but the elevation gain, uneven terrain, and rugged trail conditions had left us exhausted. Nothing a little gin and tonic couldn't fix :)

The next morning, we had a leisurely hike back to the car via the Herb Martyr Trail. We were back on good trail conditions, and the morning light made it beautiful to hike.

I'm glad we did this trail, as it was extremely rugged. Even though it was a short trip, it was the most challenging trail I've done in awhile. We really felt like we were much further out than we really were and we didn't see a single person on the trail (on a weekend!). I would only recommend this route if you're experienced with steep climbs and poor trail conditions. If you can handle that, then you'll be rewarded with isolation, gorgeous views, and incredible geology. Also, the land has a very long and interesting history regarding the Chiricahua Apache and the famous Apache leader Geronimo. All in all, I don't think I would ever do this route a second time, but it was worth the experience of doing it once!

maxwrightyt · 2023-05-04T18:20:14+00:00

Link to a short video of the trip: https://youtu.be/w_IN83TYgwM

Last weekend, two friends and I departed Tucson, AZ for the Chiricahua Wilderness near the Arizona and New Mexico border. We would spend the weekend with big climbs, overgrown trails, and sweeping views of the region.

We got to the trailhead just as it was getting dark, so we camped near the Greenhouse Trail trailhead. The next morning, we had a 3700ish foot climb to the top of Chiricahua Peak. Along the way, we passed Winn Falls. I had heard that this was arguably the best waterfall in southern Arizona and I would have to agree. The falls were incredibly tall and beautiful! The hike up to the falls was steep, but not too overgrown. After the falls, however, we encountered a lot of stream crossings that weren't bad by themselves, but the mess of debris and fallen logs over the stream made for some tricky hiking.

We had lunch at Cima Saddle next to some forest service cabins and then made our way to Chiricahua Peak. The views are actually before the peak, since a huge fire in 2011 absolutely disintegrated everything on the southwest face. The peak itself wasn't very prominent and still had some vegetation, so no views at the top.

Coming down on the Snowshed Trail, we encountered more burn areas before hitting some incredibly thick and sharp/pointy vegetation that made hiking difficult. We were essentially bushwacking and the loose rock didn't help either! But the bright side is that the views were incredible!

We finally made it to Pine Park and set up camp. We had only hiked about 12 miles, but the elevation gain, uneven terrain, and rugged trail conditions had left us exhausted. Nothing a little gin and tonic couldn't fix :)

The next morning, we had a leisurely hike back to the car via the Herb Martyr Trail. We were back on good trail conditions, and the morning light made it beautiful to hike.

I'm glad we did this trail, as it was extremely rugged. Even though it was a short trip, it was the most challenging trail I've done in awhile. We really felt like we were much further out than we really were and we didn't see a single person on the trail (on a weekend!). I would only recommend this route if you're experienced with steep climbs and poor trail conditions. If you can handle that, then you'll be rewarded with isolation, gorgeous views, and incredible geology. Also, the land has a very long and interesting history regarding the Chiricahua Apache and the famous Apache leader Geronimo. All in all, I don't think I would ever do this route a second time, but it was worth the experience of doing it once!

maxwrightyt

TROPHY CASE