As mentioned in part 1, the Red River Gorge is known for it’s arches. One morning I did several short hikes to a few of these arches.
The first arch I hiked to was Sky Bridge Arch. The trail leads over the arch before you actually see the arch.
People have etched initials, dates and other things all over the top of this arch. They had posted several signs about the fines for this, but it doesn’t seem to have helped.
The arch was very long. The above picture is on one end of the arch. Kind of a mini arch within an arch. The plant below seems to have found an interesting place to grow.
Across from this trail is the trail that leads to Chimney Rock. The person in the picture below is standing on Chimney Rock enjoying the great view.
Angel Windows is another trail I hiked that morning. This trail ends in 2 small arches. These opening in these arches/windows are 5 – 6 feet high.
I saw this wildflower several places along this trail.
The Princess Arch trail was a nice trail that led over the arch. But to get down to see the arch required a bit of work. Once down at the bottom I saw a large bear (third picture).
Ok, probably not the bear you expected. I don't like seeing writings, drawings or etchings on natural things, but I liked the bear (just not where he was). The black dots on the bear are handprints, so you can see this is a big bear (at least I think it’s a bear!).
I went on another trail to Whistle Arch. It ended up being a rather small arch or what I would call a hole in the rocks. The picture below is taken looking through the arch.
Another day I hiked a couple more trails. One of these was Rock Bridge Trail. A sign explained that this was the only true Bridge since it has water under it. I thought it was called a Bridge if it was formed by erosion caused by water and an arch if it was formed by erosion other than water. In other words, the name came from how it was formed and not it’s current state. I guess I need to look that up.
I had to get my feet a bit muddy for the above picture, but I think it was worth it!
A bonus – A small waterfall just up from the bridge.
One day I decided to explore by car. I wanted to check out some of the Campgrounds in Daniel Boone National Forest.
When I got to Zilpo Campground I found out that part of the campground was closed due to flooding, but I did get to see some of it. It looks like it would be a nice area to relax a few days. They have a beach, but due to the flood it was closed. Some people just don’t pay attention to signs. (It’s hard to see but there are a few people standing/sitting and a couple getting out of the water)
On the way to the above, this old house and farm equipment caught my attention.
From here, I headed up to Wisconsin. I’ll blog about that next.
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