Red River Gorge

 Summer started for me on Friday and I am SOOOOO excited!  I can hardly hold it in!  Now that school is out, all our fun trips seem so much closer.  We started our summer with a trip down to Kentucky.  Many people have told us about Red River Gorge so we decided to go check it out!  It is in Daniel Boone National Forest. 

Proof that we were clean at one point.

 

 

 We drove down and began checking things out immediately.  Since it was Memorial Day weekend and we thought it would be super busy, we decided to go ahead and reserve a campsite.  We also did that so we could get onto the trails right away and not have to worry about coming in early to find a spot.  Next time I think we will just do the primitive camping the whole time. 

We got a map and picked a place to go.  The first trail we went on led us to Grays Arch.  Red River Gorge has the most natural arches on this side of the Mississippi.  It was my first time seeing a natural arch in person.  Travis has been down to Southern Utah and seen lots.  We went on several other hikes just around the park.  After hiking, we went to Miguel's pizza.  Miguel's is basically a hangout for all the rock climbers.  They even camp out behind the restaurant.  The pizza was delicious!  It may have been because we were starving from hiking all day.  We kept with our pizza reviews and rated this pizza.  We both gave it 4.5 stars.  I loved the thin, brick oven cooked crust.  Travis loved the big chunks of bacon.  It really was good!  While we were there, we talked to a few different people to find out the good rock climbing spots.  We headed to our campsite to set up tent and rest for the night.

 The whole Gorge was this green and beautiful!

 That is Gray's Arch in the background

One of the many cliffs with water falling but not quite a waterfall.

 Travis was so good helping me through the rough parts! :)

 Sometimes we felt like we were in Jurassic Park!

 

Travis can't resist climbing on things

We got up early the next day to hit the climbs before it got too hot.  We drove south of the Gorge for our trip.  It was on private land.  We met the owner and she told us that everything was free.  She and her family have used their own money to lay gravel path, put up signs and keep the area trimmed and clean.  She was a sweet little lady.  Her friend told us some good climbs for what we wanted.  We definitely were impressed with the area and how nice everyone was.  We did several different climbs before heading back.

We were exhausted so we took a little break by driving around to other parts of the gorge.  We stopped at a few different spots.  One spot was Natural Bridge.  It was a huge arch with a flat top.  We were able to see a gorgeous view from the top.  That night, we didn't reserve a camp so we drove around to find a spot.  We ended up having a huge site all to ourselves.  After eating and setting everything up, we rode our bikes around.  

Natural Bridge (view from top)

Devil's Lookout (above)

Our amazing, free campsite that we had to ourselves!

The last morning, we hiked to Rock Bridge Arch.  This was my favorite hike because the end led to a waterfall and arch.  It was soooo gorgeous!  It was so lush and green!  We found a spot at the top on our way back that had a great view and slight breeze.  It was nice to just rest and talk for a while.  We headed back after the hike to make it to our friends house for a Memorial Day cookout.

Arch behind me

 

Travis on the arch

  

By the Waterfall

 

I was surprised that Travis didn't try to walk on the fallen tree!

  

Beautiful Trail!

 

If you like camping, I would definitely recommend going!  Everyone was so nice and helpful.  It was very laid back.  There are tons of trails and arches and natural beauties to see!  They also have a lot of free campsites.  Besides gas and food we took down, we spent a total of $35.  That was for the campsite the first night (next time we will do free camping both nights), pizza at Miguel's, and a donation for the rock climbing.  Everything else was free!  IT was a great trip!