Event Review – Red River Gorge Adventure 7-2016

Red River Gorge Adventure

July 1, 2016 to July 4th, 2016

 

Park Official Map

Midlife Hiking Club Track Files with Waypoints

Bison Way Trail –

Indian Spur Trail –

Midlife Hiking Club Tracks & Trails

Indian Staircase

Bison Way Trail

Midlife Hiking Club Hike Details

Trails Hiked: Bison Way Trail, Indian Staircase Spur Trail, Angel Windows Trail, Whistling Arch Trail, Princess Arch Trail, Chimney Tops Trail

WAYPOINTS

Bison Way Trailhead: N37° 50.212′ W83° 36.567′
Indian Staircase Spur Trailhead: N37° 50.655′ W83° 36.853′
Chimney Tops Trailhead: N37° 49.489′ W83° 37.089′
Angel Windows Trailhead: N37° 47.949′ W83° 35.461′
Whistling Arch Trailhead: N37° 48.459′ W83° 35.405′
Princess Arch Trailhead: N37° 49.516′ W83° 37.066′

Midlife Hiking Club Event Review

Snake Stepper and BugWhisperer decided to spend the Fourth of July in the woods and this time at Red River Gorge. This trip was a long time coming and her and I were looking forward to it.

We left mid afternoon on a Friday and drove the 3.5 hours to Red River Adventure, which hosted our first night at a front woods campsite. We did not make it in time to get our permits from the park ranger for the next day, so we decided to get up early and head out for the backpacking portion of the trip in the morning.

Red River Adventure was a nice little front-woods camping area right on the river. They also rent canoe’s and kayak’s to spend some time floating as well. We setup our hammocks and spent the night by the fire, just enjoying some awesome weather and the serenity of the river. A little noisy with other campers nearby but still a good evening.

We woke around 6 am and packed up our packs to prepare for the backpack in. Headed out of the campground we were stopped by a gate that closes all campers in the area until 8 am. This was a minor setback and eventually someone let us out to continue our journey.

We quickly made our way to the ranger station/visitor center and obtained our permits  for backpacking and camping within Red River Gorge. The rangers do not mess around at this park. DO NOT CAMP unless you have your permits. They patrol just about

every section of this park and issue tickets with up to $75.00 dollar fines. I overheard a hiker desperately trying to get out of the fine and the ranger did not waiver. There are signs posted everywhere about illegal camping. You’ve been warned!

I reviewed our backpacking plan with the ranger and he indicated that the sections of trail, that we were going to trek on, had been disseminated by a storm a week ago. Most of the trail was not repaired, including a dropped suspension bridge across the river. He indicated that the hike is still doable but will present many challenges along the way.
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A decision I will regret later; Snake Stepper and I took the risky option of making our way using the same plan as before. As we made our way to Bison Way Trailhead we noticed that the parking area was full and we located an alternate location up the road a bit. This is normally a bad sign for finding back-country locations to camp at, but again we continued.

Folks, lets recap the day so far… Locked in the campsite first thing in the morning, forest and trails damaged on our main route and the parking lot is full. With all signs pointing to a troubled trip, you’d think I would take heed and make another plan. Nah, suck it up and go

for it.

We headed back to the trail-head after parking the car and made our way up Bison Way Trail towards the Sheltowee Trace Junction. The first part of this hike was really uneventful, but the weather was awesome and the trail was easily followed for a bit.

If you read the trail reviews for these trails you will remember I wrote about the run-offs and cut-through’s in many location on the trails. Pay very close attention that you do not accidentally take one of these routes. Follow the trail markers and stay on target. Snake Stepper and I ended up traversing an incredible mountainside on a cut-through because we watched other hikers and not the markers. By incredible I mean difficult, so watch out for your trail markers!

Yay first Bison Way Trail Campsite is not occupied and looks fantastic for dropping packs, setting up and finishing our trek to Indian Staircase. We drop the gear and discover a sign at the site that says NO CAMPING! Okay, not the end of the world, surely there will be others.

We continue up Bison Way Trail and intersect and travel down Sheltowee Trace Trail towards our first destination. It was gonna be a little more difficult with full packs, but we progressed forward.

We made it to the Indian Staircase Trailhead marked by an I.S. carved into the trail marker. Don’t miss it, the trail is hidden on your right! We traveled up this spur trail and made it to the bottom of the staircase. Truly an amazing rock feature, that we were excited to climb.

As we made our way to the beginning of the staircase climb, we tested Liberty and she was not able to make the hike. Lisa stayed back with her while I made my way half way up the rock scramble. I made a decision not to go all the way, because of the risks involved and I was alone. There is an exit trail on the top, so keep that in mind if you decide to make the trip. I still enjoyed some spectacular views from my vantage point.

We continue down the Trace for a couple miles and began to see that all sites were occupied

and the trail damage started to surface. Enough was enough and we made a decision to leave via backtracking and head back to Red River Adventure for another front woods camp night. On the way to the campground we stopped at every single parking area to look for something primitive but has no success.

Red River Adventure greeted us with open arms and we enjoyed another evening at this peaceful location. We planned on driving to all the side trails in the morning and at least get some hiking and views in before leaving for the weekend.

Another early morning and we packed everything up and made our way to some of the side trails in the park. Chimney Tops, Whistling Arch, Princess Arch, and Angel Windows. These are awesome stops in the park and worth the little nature walk hikes to get to them.

All in all this trip was a good learning experience for us, since we’d never been to this location. Our return trip will be planned based on the knowledge we gained and I expect to get a lot more accomplished.

I love this park and would recommend it to all backpackers. Truly amazing features throughout and good challenges for the average hiker. Please stay tuned for our next trip out there!