Return to Red River Gorge

For the Perseid meteor shower, a group of friends and I decided to rent a cabin in Red River Gorge for the weekend.  Just over a year ago, our same little group stayed in this same cabin.  So, it was nice to get us all back together and relive it in a sense.

Kentucky was still experiencing record high temperatures.  That combined with the fact that my left foot was still hurting like crazy meant that we pretty much stuck around the cabin area and did not do any hiking this time.  I would find out just a few days later that I actually still had glass in my foot.

I didn’t want to spend the whole weekend cooped up, so after a Saturday lunch at Miguel’s Pizza, Jon and I decided to head over to Natural Bridge State Park.  Since my foot was still in pain, we paid the $9 each (!) to take the sky lift up to the top of the bridge.  It was worth the $9.   The website for the sky lift states its an 11 minute ride up and an 11 minute return trip.  I’d say that is close to being accurate.

Skylift to the Top

The scenery to the top was beautiful.  I have a tendency to become a bit nauseous when it comes to heights.  The last ascent had my stomach turning a bit.  Steep!

At the top, we hiked just a short distance over to the top of the park’s namesake.  This was my second time visiting the park and the views were just as amazing to me as the first trip.

After spending some time there, we hiked over to the other overlook point.  This point can actually be seen in the second to last picture posted.   I love this area because it is always so windy!  It makes me feel even more rumbly in my chest when I peek out over the edge!

It was then time to make our way back to the parking lot.  We got back on the sky lift and started the 11 minute trip down.

We made our way back to the cabin to prepare and enjoy a delicious dinner with our friends and settle in for the night.  I love going to Red River Gorge.  Its so peaceful and laid back that the weekend seems to go on forever.  I can’t wait until we get the chance to go back again.

Our Group at the Cabin

Happy New Year!

I’m looking forward to the new year. The past year consisted of a lot of ups and downs for me.  It was definitely a year that saw a lot of changes in my life.  I’m a stronger person for it.  I’m happy to say that 2009 ended on a positive note.  I have never felt so excited about life and what it holds for me.

To celebrate the start of a new year, some friends and I rented a cabin in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky.  We left Louisville late Thursday afternoon and stayed at the cabin until Sunday.  This was my second time visiting Red River Gorge.  The first trip was back in May.

The cabin this time was a bit bigger as we had seven adults and four dogs in our group.  To our surprise, the cabin was a lot more posh.  Stainless steel kitchen appliances, beautiful floor to ceiling windows, a pool table, and even a Christmas tree!

On Friday, New Years Day, Jon and I headed out to Natural Bridge State Park for a bit of hiking.  Being my first trip to the park, it was exciting for me to see the natural bridge in person.  However, not exciting was the fact that it freezing cold outside.  I had worn gloves, thermals with a another layer of clothes over them, and a jacket but was still cold.  My fingertips constantly felt numb from the cold.  It was definitely worth the small hike though.  We took the short Original Trail on our way up to the Natural  Bridge.

For our descent back down the mountain towards the parking lot, we chose to take the Devil’s Gulch trail which then meets back up with the Original Trail.  Probably not the wisest decision.  Devil’s Gulch consists of stairs and A LOT of them.  Stone stairs.  Wooden stairs.  Both types were iced over.  It made for an interesting hike.  I’m not the best on ice, but I only fell once.  I consider this a success.

On Saturday, Jon, Johanna, Beth and I took a drive around Red River Gorge taking in all of the sites that do not require much hiking.  Mostly scenic overlooks.

Johanna, Me, and Beth at one of many scenic overlooks. Windy! Immediately after this shot, we ran back to the truck.

Jon and I at yet another scenic overlook. One of my favorite pictures ever. Thanks to Johanna for taking it!

We came back to the cabin and watched the snow fall for the remainder of the day.  Part of me wanted for us to get snowed in and not be able to head back to Louisville the next day.  The smart part of me knew that would be bad as we would have had to pay for an extra night at the cabin.  Still, I wasn’t ready to leave.  It was a great extended weekend trip!  I’m already looking forward to returning to the area at some point this summer.  There are several trails in the Gorge that I would love to try out next time.

Red River Gorge

I spent the weekend of May 15th-17th at Red River Gorge with a group of friends, new and old.  Needless to say, with this being my first trip to Red River Gorge, I was pretty stoked.  Most of Red River Gorge is actually located within the Daniel Boone National Forest in east-central Kentucky.

We had initially planned this as a tent camping excursion but decided in the days leading up that we had enough people going to be able to rent a cabin.  This would turn out to be an excellent decision as it rained for much of Saturday.   We stayed in the Mountain Lake Chalet that was nestled a few miles down a private gravel road.  Two bedrooms, two baths, huge kitchen, and a hot tub.  This cabin was fully loaded which was much more than I had expected.

Since it was a short weekend trip and the fact that we were in a large group, a lot of our sight-seeing was done by car.  We drove to several different areas of the park and then got out to explore.  We hiked to an area that housed a decent sized swimming hole and suspension bridge.

Stopped at the famed Miguel’s Pizza for lunch on Saturday.  This place lives up to all the hype.  You can order pizza by the slice, if you prefer.  Just be prepared to spend a few minutes mulling over the topping choices.  Pretty much any topping you can think of, even some you wouldn’t even imagine, are available for consumption.

All in all it was a great weekend spent with a good group of friends.  I can’t wait to get back to Red River Gorge to do some more in depth exploring.  The plan is try to get back there before the end of the year.