Red River Gorge-ous

“set the alarm saturday morning for 4 a.m. pulled myself out of bed a mere 90 minutes later. finished packing, loaded the car and headed to the BP for gas and breakfast. had to wait til 7 for the wild bean cafe to open so they could provide me with a chocolate croissant. hit the road and arrived at true north outfitters (more about this awesome place later) about 20 til 11. got a map and my water bottles filled. stopped at the slade shell and bought over-priced film. drove to the martins fork trailhead of the rough trail (west end). it was PACKED. turned out to have been mostly dayhikers, tho. hit the trail about noon.

stopped to take in the view halfway between the trailhead and grays arch. sitting there, i made a life decision (see "will 2scoops sell out..." thread). continued climbing to grays arch.

took the spur trail which goes to the top of grays arch. rappelling down the 15-foot cliff with a full backpack, while not strenuous, is certainly awkward, as the tiny little scrape on my knee will attest.

had lunch (salmon and mayo on a tortilla: yum!) while all the momo dayhikers and their brood yelled and carried on like drunken irish banshees.

as i was repacking i dropped my tent down a cliff. thats right, my brand new hilleberg akto that i just bought from baume66 for a great price. luckily, it did not fall far and i did not have to climb down very far to get it.

rapping up in full pack proved to be much less awkward and kinda fun. i hit the rough trail again and kept on hiking til i got to the top of the next hill. when i got to the top i started searching for a great campsite back a few hundred feet from the main trail, which i had seen the last time in the red. i was somewhat sure i knew exactly where it was, but just to be sure, i checked a couple of other sidetrails that looked promising. wild goose chases both times. finally, just past the junction with rush ridge trail, i found the sidetrail exactly where i thought it was. its a winding, un-maintained but well-traveled spur trail leading to a cliff with outstanding views across and into the valley to other cliffs. just before the rocky cliffs start are two small campsites, just big enough for 1 or 2 tents each. the first site was taken, but the second one wasnt. it was closer to the cliffs, but was right on the trail, meaning anybody coming to see the cliffs was going to be traipsing thru my camp : (

which is a nice segue for what happened next. one of the area colleges was have a christian mens "wilderness retreat" at the cliffs. a group of about 12-16 young college age boys walked up the trail and stopped at the edge of my camp while 2 or 3 of the group leaders blindfolded (!) these trusting young men and led them out to the open rock. brave souls, indeed. i watched this for awhile then finished setting up camp.

around 430 they started playing songs and i took that as my cue to leave and go get water. the round trip took about an hour because i was at the top of a big hill, the water was at the bottom, and as i was going down, i followed one of the many trails that look like the main trail until they start to peter out, but which are really just spur trails. so after i realized my mistake, i was hurrying back up to the main trail, because i didnt want to miss the sunset, when i ran my face smack dab into a branch and my glasses just get flung to god knows where. so after several minutes searching i finally find them, get down to the water, filter, and get back up to camp, just as the "wilderness retreat" was retreating to where-ever they retreat to.

had dinner on the veranda (i mean cliff) and enjoyed the sounds of tree-frogs and occasional coyote and unidentified sounds. went to bed some time after 8, and not long after i had fallen asleep, the momos from the next camp over woke me up walking by my tent (remember my site is right on the trail). i knew they were in the next camp over, but i still wasnt fond of being woke up like that. for the first few seconds until you realize who it is, its a little un-nerving to be woke up like that.

did i mention my new hilleberg akto?!? of course i did. that tent has the perfect amount of room for one person. its amazing its only three pounds! i took lots of pictures of it in the morning. its PIMP i tellya, PIMP!

got up the 6ish, took some early morning pics of the tent and scenery, and headed out for the main trail. i took a different route back. i took rush ridge trail south to pinch em tight(?) to the ridge road parking lot, where i connected with the daniel boone hut trail to martins fork and back to the car. that was a little bit of a disappointment. i guess i was expecting some log cabin or something with neat stuff to look at, but all there was to see was a large rock-shelter that daniel boone may have camped at and the chinsy remains of a mine.

post-hike, i headed back to the true north outfitters. its at the corner of ky hyways 715 and 15. to get there, get off the mountain parkway at exit 40 and turn right on hyway 15. backtrack about 1/2 mile or so until you see some houses, then start looking for hyway 715 on your right. true north is on the northeast corner with the post office. it has a big gravel parking lot and signs advertising their food and hostel and wilderness school. i got a shower with towel for 4 dollars, and a wonderful breakfast for five. its owned and operated by jeff kennedy, who is a great cook. theres just one breakfast, consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, chilled fruit, coffe, and juice. they also offer guided climbing and other outdoor activities, and a hostel with bed and showers for only 12 dollars a night. from now on, i will be going there post-hike every time i go to the red.

i normally dont do trip reports because they take alot of time, but this trip was more eventful than most (in a way that didnt suck), so i wrote one.”

“Cool trip and report.
Thanks for taking the time.”

“sounds like an adventure 2scoops! glad to hear your tent is okay.”

“it woulndt have been a horrific thing if the tent had fallen all the way to the bottom, just incredibly irritating. so im glad it stopped where it did. grays arch is actually very climbable without any gear.”

“Great trip report dude we missed you this weekend.


8)”

“must have been a bitter sweet return for you, since all that happened the last time. glad to see all worked out well.”

“yea, i had all new gear (even a new car) except for still had the old pack. zipper broke on it this weekend, so next paycheck, its gettin replaced.”

“I hope you get the backpack that I told you to get.

Ospry Aeather 90.

8)

Tell me if you need a link?”

“do you have stock in their company, man?”

“I just think that is the backpack that you should get.


Just trying to help ya.

8)”

“Nice trip report. Looking forward to the pics.”

“Thanks for posting the report Scott. Sounds like you hade a great time.

Hey Mike, that may be the next pack I get. I should have it fot the "Big Z" trip.”

“Good pack dude!!!!



8)”

“That true North outfitters sounds like a bargan! $5 gets all that for breakfast?! Glad you had a good trip 2scoops.”

“its too bad we didnt know about the place when we were all there”

“Great spot ain't it!!! Nice TR.”

“Glad you enjoyed it. Your trip is one I make every once in awhile just to get a quick afternoon dayhike in. I shared your disappointment the first time I went to the D. Boone Hut. Next time you come through, email me in advance if there's anything you're going to need. I'm in the Lexington area.”

“backpacking.....always an adventure!!!”

“I will be there this weekend. Martins fork up to greys arch. Yo bear!”

“damn, bear! missed you by one weekend!

YO BEAR!”

“YO BEAR!!!”

“and glad you made it with lil or no damage to self and gear (see, I can be nice).

Also...it seems that you have some life altering choices to make, I hope that you were able to get some good insight into your choices...”

“thanks for the report!

Did you post your decision on the other thread?”

“im going to do the AT next year, possibly with bbinkley and milemonsters group, and the red is going to be where i do most of my training. im going to take the last week of november or the first week of december and hike just as many of the trails i can do in 5-7 days. does that answer your question, twig?”

“How often do you go to public bath houses?”

“thats an odd question. are you trying to hit on me?”

“Sorry no, I just never heard anyone brag about a $4.00 shower. How much do you usually pay?”

“im just trying to say nice things about the place”

“if i had my own towel and washcloth, i couldve paid just three. thats a pretty good deal. and five for breakfast was pretty good too..im just trying to drum up business for the place. i like to do that for small businesses that im impressed with.”