Kentucky's Grand Canyon
The Red River Gorge showcases Mother Nature's finest artwork

My love affair with the Red River Gorge began in 1973 during a five-day December camping trip with a friend experienced in the ways of the winter woods. As we hiked myriad trails by day, I learned to identify bare-branched trees and footprints of forest critters, fished using a string, safety pin and a chunk of cheese, and found ample dry firewood despite three prior days of rain.

At night our hearty campfires staved off the chill and dark. Orion headed up a splendid star show. And from across the river the baying of coon hounds hung like a doleful melody in the frosty air. Those memories warm me to this day, and I hop on the Mountain Parkway for the easy 60-mile drive east from Lexington whenever I can.

Part of Eastern Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest, “the Gorge,” as fans affectionately call this 28,000-acre Congressionally-designated geological area, is dotted with more than 100 natural arches, thousands of rock shelters and caves, and mile upon mile of cliff lines. Over some 70 million years, Mother Nature has sculpted these distinctive features – found in few other places – by an erosion process known as differential weathering, in which wind, water and temperature wear away at the rock grain by grain, forming and reforming cliffs into caves into arches. The results are an elegant, breathtaking eyeful.

Though more visible in a stark winter landscape, the formations come alive each Spring with dogwoods, redbuds, apple blossoms, mountain laurel and a splash of wildflowers. In June rhododendrons bloom and come Fall, vibrant reds, yellows and oranges set the mountains ablaze, drawing leaf peepers from all over the country.

Laced with 60 miles of hiking trails, the “Grand Canyon of Kentucky” casts its woodland spell through Menifee, Powell and Wolfe counties, where northern and southern ecosystems meet, creating a remarkable blending of vegetation and animal life. In addition to turkeys, deer, wildcats, small game and an impressive assortment of songbirds and raptors, a number of rare and endangered species, such as the Virginia big-eared bat and Indiana bat, thrive here, and all 90 known world populations of the white-haired goldenrod live in the Gorge.

Through it all meanders the Red River, the state’s first National Wild and Scenic River, whose waters are primarily responsible for the area’s exquisite terrain. Unlike the boulder-rife upper Red, whose seasonal whitewater is an adventure paddler’s dream, the gentler lower Red provides good angling and easy weekend paddling, with plenty of rentable canoes available from Red River Outdoors livery.

Built in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the 39-mile scenic Loop Drive allows landlubbers a gander at many of the National Natural Landmark’s major attractions.

Enter the Gorge through the 900-foot Nada Tunnel, a one-laner on KY 77 that was built in 1911 for a narrow-gauge railway to haul logs during the height of timber operations to a sawmill at Nada. (The first steam locomotive to enter the bore got stuck and had to be removed with dynamite.)

Soon you’ll clatter over Iron Bridge for your first view of the tranquil Red. Follow its forested banks, bearing right on KY 715, crossing the 269-mile Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail for a “golly, that’s gorgeous” stop to snap shots of Princess Arch and Chimney Top Rock.

The last buffalo killed in the Gorge was in 1820, and they’re back. Six American bison will welcome you next to Gladie Historic Site. Well, sort of. Just watch them over the fence.

“People don’t realize that buffalo are wild animals,” Gladie Site caretaker Bill Cloyd explains. “They’ll hurt me just as fast as they’ll hurt you. One day they’ll be nice, the next, not at all. You can’t outrun an animal that goes thirty to thirty-five miles an hour!”

Rich in prehistory, the Gorge once hosted Shawnee and other Native tribes, who called it “Warrior’s Fort.” During Archaeology Weekend at Gladie the last weekend in September, you can step back in time to watch a canoe carved from a hollowed-out log, hear stories and flute music, and learn about basket-making, hide-tanning and herbs.

Another popular stop on the Loop Drive is Sky Bridge, 75 feet long and 23 feet high, and a lovely example of what supervisory forestry technician Don Fig calls “geological art.” You can actually walk onto this handicapped-accessible, grand old sandstone arch for a spectacular view of unspoiled Clifty Wilderness, 12,646 rugged, protected acres of forests, cliffs, canyons and streams defining the western boundary of the geological area.

For those who have experienced its natural wonders and sheer beauty, the Gorge is a resource for exhilarating outdoor activity, fascinating social and geological history and soul-deep restoration of peace. No one knows that better than Fig, a 40-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service, whose hats include head of the Stanton Ranger District recreation and volunteer programs, Gorge historian, and organizer and leader of its crackerjack search-and-rescue team.

His favorite hat is the volunteers, who assist in trail maintenance, graffiti removal (which wears sandstone down faster than erosion) and other projects the small Forest Service staff couldn’t do alone. No machinery can be used in a designated wilderness, and all trail clearing is done with crosscut saws, axes and hand tools. It’s a combination of hard work and great socializing, explains fellow ranger Charlie Rowe, head of Trails and Wilderness. “Volunteers are special people who work from the heart,” he says. “They’re not working for a paycheck, just to do good for the land.”

Find out how to join this elite, fun group at www.gorgecrew.com

For those who would rather look at the woods than work in them, from Easter weekend through the last weekend in October the recently spiffed-up Natural Bridge Skylift takes non-hikers up a mountainside to a trail that’s an easy 600-foot walk to this well-loved arch.

“People ride the lift because they don’t want to walk to Natural Bridge,” says its owner-operator Kerry Shaw, whose father-in-law built the structure 35 years ago. “It’s a half-mile ride with a nice vertical incline and a gorgeous view.”

At the other end of the athletic spectrum, rock climbers consider Red River Gorge a virtual nirvana due to its unusual rock features, steep faces and abundance of overhangs. In fact, many U.S. and European climbers train here for competitions.

For vicarious views of climbers, visitors can pick up a guide to climbing and hiking areas at the Caboose Visitor Center in the Natural Bridge Rest Area. Some are close to the road, so you can watch those courageous climbers and take in some lovely mountain views.

While gorging on all that lovely flora, be sure to check out the unusual fauna at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, just behind the Caboose. This is no roadside tourist trap snake pit but a well-managed facility with an international reputation, where on a guided tour you can see some 100 different species on display and watch zoo founder Jim Harrison milk snakes to provide venom for research.

Snakes travel here from all over the world, and in addition to such familiar species as copperheads and timber rattlers, you’ll ogle spitting cobras, anacondas, mambas, vipers and adders. Crowd favorites include an 18-foot-long reticulated python called Big Boy and a bright yellow, amelanistic yellow Burmese python.

On the zoo’s web site, you can schedule group tours or arrange a visit to your school by its traveling educational program (five snakes and a gator!) at www.geocities.com/kentuckyreptilezoo.

Learn more about reptiles and amphibians via field trips and speakers at NBSP’s annual Herpetology Weekend in April. Come in May for Wildflower Weekend to fine tune your plant photography and discover the secret lives of ferns, mosses, edible and medicinal plants, and those glorious Gorge spring flowers. Or tap your toes each June and July at the Appalachian Mountain Style Square Dance and Clogging Festival on Hoedown Island, an outdoor dance patio where you can work off the park lodge’s to-die-for buffet.

And whether you pitch a tent in the woods, park your RV at Koomer Ridge Campground (overnight parking now requires a park-supporting fee), stay in a quiet, cozy cabin at Red River Gorgeous (513-245-0025) near the Nada Tunnel or hole up in a comfy room at NBSP’s mountainside Hemlock Lodge (800-255-PARK), you’ll make your own Gorge memories.

Katherine Tandy Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com

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