RED RIVER GORGE KENTUCKY FULL

Keep reading for bourbon virtual tour suggestions. By night, relax by a fire roasting marshmallows and sipping on the adult beverage of your choice right outside your luxury private cabin. Spend the sunlight hours outside hiking through immense forests and exploring the variety of natural stone arches and bridges. East-central Kentucky is home to the Red River Gorge National Geological Area, Natural Bridge State Park, and the Daniel Boone National Forest. In a few weeks the hiking should be wonderful because the weather should be warmer, the trees leafed out, and there will be more wildflowers along the trails.Escape to what has been described as “the best-kept family vacation secret” east of the Mississippi. Over half the days we were there it rained, and a couple of nights the temperatures dropped to freezing. A few wildflowers, including bloodroot, flax and apple trees were starting to bloom. Our weather wasn’t the best, but we had a very nice creek that flowed through the campground. They didn’t have WIFI and there was no Verizon signal. The only drawback is that you have to wear flip flops in the shower. It’s actually nice once in a while to shower in a large space where your elbows don’t hit the walls. This means we shower in the public restrooms, use paper plates to save on water and don’t cook pasta, which also requires a lot of water down the drain. We went five nights without sewer, although we could have gone a few more nights if needed. We had 50-amp service and good water pressure but no sewer. Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Red River Gorgeįrom Lexington, Kentucky to Natural Bridge it was about a 2-hour drive. Whistling ArchĪ short hike to a small arch on a ridge. There was either a heart… or butt cheeks in the rock, depending on how you choose to see it. The day we went there were a lot of other hikers, but it was still worth it. We were hoping not many people would make the drive. The arch trail is at the end of a long gravel road. There are over 100 arches in Red River Gorge.

RED RIVER GORGE KENTUCKY FULL

Sky BridgeĪ short walk with stunning views of the gorge leads to the bridge.Ī short walk further to get below the bridge to see its full span. The Natural Bridge Trail was wide and well marked. Other than Natural Bridge, there are numerous hiking trails and other sandstone formations. Eventually it became a Kentucky State Park in 1926. The park was founded in the late 1800s by the Louisville and Nashville railroad. This butterfly was on the blue painted strip of an asphalt parking lot but makes for an unusual photo. Hardly survival conditions for a butterfly, but life is truly amazing. There were very few flowers let alone their favorite, pawpaw in bloom. Temperatures were down to freezing at night and rarely up to 50 during the day. Thatcher’s and Miguel’s were very good, we never made it to La Cabana.Ī zebra swallowtail butterfly in very early spring. The main ones were Thatcher BBQ, Miguel’s Pizza, or La Cabana Mexican Restaurant. Slade is the closest town with amenities, like this outhouse. There were picturesque small churches and old homes along the way. We loved seeing all the different types of fungus on the trees, moss, and ferns. The entrance to the gorge is the Nada Tunnel, a single lane road that’s 900 feet long. It is a small limestone arch in a cave with a seasonal waterfall next to it. The gorge has the second most number of natural bridges and arches in the United States because of the sandstone geology.Īt the nearby Whittleton Campground, we took the short trail to Henson’s arch. Hikers, rock climbers, kayakers and mountain bikers are attracted to the area throughout the year. The gorge is a canyon that has numerous natural bridges and arches. Red River Gorge is in eastern Kentucky in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

Red river gorge kentucky