Mother's Day Weekend at the Gorge

“Let me start off by saying that all of you who wussed out because of the weather really missed out!!!!! The weather was, for the most part, fantastic!!!


And this was an unusual TT trip in that the women outnumbered the men--there were 3 TT women and 1 TT man.

Due to work concerns, I got a much later start than I had planned. So we pulled into the Martins Fork TH parking lot at 1 a.m., far too late to hike in and make camp with two kids. We slept in the car and hiked in on Saturday morning. Sass and Stomper can report in about Friday.

Saturday dawned a beautiful day. The weather was mild, the skies were blue, with an occasional cloudy wisp above. We decided to check out the Natural Bridge over at the state park and ride the sky lift up. It's a fun ride for the kids and so peaceful to get a birds eye view of the slope. At the top we explored the bridge and then hiked to the bottom.

By now we were all hungry so of course we headed to Miquel's for pizza. If you've never been, you are missing out. It is where climbers, hikers, and bikers come together to enjoy your personalized pizza. Who wants sweet potatoes and mangoes on their pie?

Sass and I went back to camp after lunch with the littlest kids, Little Bee and Hobbes. Stomper and her older boys and Tucker went to explore more of the Gorge for the afternoon.

Back at the parking lot, Sass and I met Silent J and his wife Angel and their son Ian. We all hiked in together. The three women went morel hunting while the kids played like engineers in the creek building dams and bridges.

Later in the afternoon the intrepid crew with Stomper came back from their adventures and sharing their stories of how they had been so high that they were watching the birds soaring below them.

After enjoying the usual TT comraderie around the fire, eventually everyone turned in. At some point during the night it begand to rain and didn't stop until we woke up. While our tents and tarps were wet in the morning, there was no rain to make our packing up difficult. So the weather cooperated quite nicely.

Once again, it was a really, really enjoyable and pleasant weekend. I and Calvin and Hobbes have already talked about next year's Mothers Day trip. Hope y'all can join us!!!!!!!”

“Pics? :D

Sounds like fun. too bad I had to work.”

“Damn, I spent Thursday through Sunday in mostly rain backpacking with mostly guys in Hoosier National Forest just to the north. I should have joined this trip instead.”

“I wuz thinking of you guys and wishing that bonehead had not crushed my car. I am now driving a Cheby Maliboo! rental. Beats walking...”

“Sorry you couldn't make it sticks, Chili, Nigal and Jerbear!! It was great weather, all-in-all.

Here's Friday:

Little B and I left home around 8am and immediately got snagged up in construction traffic twice. As soon as we got out of Michigan it was smooth sailing until we got near Lexington. There the highway was completely shut down for a three tanker accident. Detoured some back roads where Little B got to see some roosters but no pigs, rats!
Finally arrived at the Slade Shell around 2:30 and got our permit. We found the trailhead after some sight seeing and took note that there were no familiar vehicles in the lot.
Little B donned her new pack for the first official hiking trip with it and of course, immediately complained that it was too heavy ad her "knees were swelling up". We then set the no complaining rule, lol.
We found the campsite after a short but lovely hike in. All was a bit soggy but there was no rain and the sun was shining.

Little B set herself to explore and pick up twigs for fire starting and I set up our tent and our 8x10 sil tarp, just in case the heavens decided to open up on us.

Then we decided to go back to the car for some nice comfy lawn chairs. Walking into the trail head lot Stomper and her two guys were just pulling in. We introduced our kids to each other and made the trip back in. They all set up and Stompers boys Hopper and Copper set to getting together as much firewood as they could.

We had a good fire going and dinner eaten before the rain began again, lightly falling. We donned raincoats and resumed our places by the fire. Stomper broke out s'more fixins.

Little B and I were worn out after all that driving and hit the sack around 9:30. It continued to rain until around 1am.

The next morning dawned clear and brightened up to be a gorgeous sunny day by the time everyone rolled out of camp for our outing.

It was a wonderful trip. It was great to see a bit more of the RRG and to meet some more TTers. The kids got along great and the parents were wonderful company.

Thanks again for organizing a great trip Ruby!”

“...the kids played like engineers in the creek building dams and bridges.

i can't wait to experience this kind of stuff!!!...i already envision this kind of stuff and hunting for critters with my soon to be born son max...5 more weeks!!!!...i'm so excited

sounds like a great trip...next year i hope to join some kids trips...things always seem to be a lot more fun w/ kids and adults tend to "loosen up" more when kids are around, well some of them anyway”

“Ruby called Nigal a wuss, hehehehe.

Glad yall had fun and that the weather cooperated.

Kids trips are the best.”

“Dayhiker, who said I didn’t go because of weather? Might be my dad had to have an emergency angioplasty done Friday.”

“Hope all went well with that Nige.”

“Oh no, it was the weather. I’m just saying what if. LOL!

I wasn’t going to deal with the wet muddy dog and I didn’t have anyone I could dump her off on for the weekend on such short notice.”

“I knew you were wussin'.

It hailed so badly at my folks house 30 miles from where Emma and I were camped that it covered the group. No bad weather at all on our trip. Weird how that works.”

“On my way out of town I stopped at the Shell to gas up. They also sold a RRG guidebook.


Well, darn it!!!!!!!! If only I had had that book before. Next year's trip is going to be even better. I feel like I have the insider's scoop now on all the trails and camp sites. From what I have read so far, I very enthusiastically recommend this book. It's called, simply enough, Red River Gorge Trail Guide Guide to the Official Trails of the Red River Gorge, Natural Bridge State Resort Park, and Clifty Wilderness Area, by Jerrell Goodpaster for $19.95. You can buy it at www.lostbranch.com.




We sure did miss you, Sticks and Nigal and Jerbear and Chili and whomever else was an "almost."”

“I'm kind of excited. This guy has also written a trail guide to Mammoth Cave and is soon releasing a Guide to the Unofficial Trails of RRG. I really like his writing style and the format he uses to describe the trails.”

“Nigal is a wuss...
Nigal is a wuss...
Nigal is a wuss...
;-)”

“Oh suck it SS. Twice in how many years? :P”

“hey you bailed on one that i was signed up for too!!!















(said in a quite voice) ok, so i bailed too”

“Nigal not only showed up on a trip I attended but he brought beer and scotch!”

“Nigal is a wuss....
Ruby said so.
So there!”

“well I never said he wasn't a wuss.”

“That was the second trip Thifty. This is one of the reasons why I don't actually sign up on trips anymore so I can remain flexible and not have to put up with the guilt tripping and wuss calling if something comes up.”

“Did anyone take any pictures?”

“N - I hear ya. I had to bail on a trip I organized. It wasn't fun. It has made me seriously doubt if I should ever plan any public trips again. I'm still on the fence on that one.”

“LOL, i hear ya...the last trip i went on i originally signed up as a maybe and was bullied into changing it LOL

wasn't that the same location as this one too?”

““N - I hear ya. I had to bail on a trip I organized. It wasn't fun. It has made me seriously doubt if I should ever plan any public trips again. I'm still on the fence on that one.”

Those are the worst. I was in such a bad mood and depressed all weekend for not going because I am in dire need of a weekend away and I felt bad for missing the people going. I also felt bad because I knew I was going to take shlt for not going and regretted even posting to the trip thread. I should just say nothing and then show up for trips I wanna do.”

“I took pictures but they're not digital. I'll need a couple of days to develop before I can post them.”

“Nigal, I don't really think you're a wuss. I love ya too much!!!!!!!!! I still look and lust at the book you gave me all the time.


If it makes you feel better, had I not been the trip planner and already invited a bunch of people on the trip, the forecast would have kept me home. I had great misgivings on Thursday.”

“nigal, you hike more than most on this board, i hardly think anyone could think you're a wuss

by the way, when ya going back to nigal ;)”

“Thanks Ruby. I am desperately trying to keep the wife interested in backpacking and it seems like every time we go something bad happens or the weather sucks. She would not make the call because she wouldn’t want to be the one to say let’s stay home so I made it for her.”