Natural Bridge State Park, KY–part 1

I am currently writing this while in Northern Wisconsin at Copper Falls State Park.  I have electricity, but no water and no internet, TV or phone reception/access. So maybe I’ll catch up on my blogs and post them as soon as I get access. 

After leaving Tennessee, I headed for Natural Bridge State Park.  I wanted to hike some in the park, but also in the nearby Red River Gorge.   I was at the park for 1 week and took so many pictures, that I am going to have 2 parts to this blog.

Natural Bridge State Park has a big Natural Bridge/Arch up a mountain.  You can take a chair lift up and/or down the mountain, but they had so many trails that interested me I did not take the lift.  Natural Bridge is big and because of the trees it was hard to get a good picture.  Below is one from the bottom of the bridge and one from an overlook about 1/4 mile from the bridge

To get on top of the Bridge you had to walk thru a crack in the rock.  I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it.  I did, but it was tight.  The picture below is of a couple of college kids, so you can get an idea at the size.

 

On top of the bridge -

I walked down the Rock Garden trail and it was great – lots of rocks and plants.  The picture below is of some mini caves, but every time I look at it I see a face taken from the side.  The mini cave are the eyes.

It sometimes amazed me on the amount of work that has been done to some trails.  This particular trail had a bunch of steps that had been cut out of the rock.  I would guess 75 steps or so.

There is at least 25 steps down in the picture above and yes a picture of me – well, my shadow!  In the connecting trail down, I passed this walking tree.  At least that’s what I call it because it looks like it has legs. 

If you have read my blog in the past you can guess what typically causes this.  It probably grew on a nurse log.  A long time ago a large tree fell and this tree took root on top of the log.  Then the felled tree eventually decayed leaving the leg like tree. 

The Red River Gorge is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest.  A while back I learned a trick that is very helpful WHEN I remember to do it.

Take a picture of the trailhead or a sign that describes what I am doing or seeing.  That way I have a better chance of remembering things!!  In this case, I hiked the Auxier Ridge Trail to Courthouse Rock and then back.  I was told that this area had a wildfire a year or 2 ago. 

The burned part of the trail was only in the beginning.  It was interesting to see things starting to grow back. 

While this area is known for their arches and bridges, which you probably know by now I enjoy, this particular hike was more a scenic ridge hike.  It did have something, but I’m not sure if it is considered an arch or just a hole in the rock.

A fun stretch of trail! I love having views on both sides of the trail!!!

These great looking huge orange toadstools or mushrooms caught my attention--

One of the roads that leads into the Red River Gorge area goes through Nada Tunnel.  This is a one lane tunnel that is 900 feet long.  I took a picture of the informative sign just to remember the name of the tunnel, but it has a couple of interesting stories and facts about the tunnel.

Lesson for the day – don’t thaw your dynamite too close to the fire!!

It’s a long, narrow, dark tunnel!!

Stay tuned for part 2!

Jamestown, TN and Big South Fork (part two)

I was in this area while it was hot, thank goodness I am staying at a place with electricity!  The air conditioner is working overtime.   I would try to hike in the mornings so when it was at it’s hottest, I was not outside.

Big South Fork is large park.  I had to drive more than an hour to get to a couple of places I wanted to go to.  But it was worth it.  One of those places was Yahoo falls.  This is another fall where the water runs over a rock overhang and the trail goes behind the falls.

 

What appears to be a ray of light is actually the waterfall, not much water this time of year.

 

It’s kind of hard to tell how large these rocks are, but you can see the trail goes under the rock overhang in the picture above.

Another trail I hiked was to Split Bow Arch.  The trail I was on approached this one from the back side and had several stair cases to get you down through the arch.  It was a fun place, but hard to get good pictures.

 

 

I also visited Colditz Cove Natural Area.  I almost did not go to this area, but on my last day in the area I decided to try it and I’m glad I did.

The trail -

The falls and rock shelter -

For a bit the trail coming out of the overhang was a bit short.  I’m 5’10 and I’m guessing the overhang was about 5 feet where the trail was.  After I got out of the overhang, I noticed that I could have scrambled over the rocks and gotten to a better area – live and learn!!

One day I went to Cumberland Falls and did a bit of walking. 

Cumberland Falls is known for having a Moonbow on nights with a full moon.  I was not there at night, but got a picture with a rainbow when the sun decided to pop out from behind the clouds.

On another day, I went to Fall Creek Falls State Park.  I didn’t hike much because it was too hot.  Hopefully I’ll make it back some day when it’s cooler. 

I really like this area and will probably come back some day.  I did look at the campground in Big South Fork and it looks good.  Many fairly level spots and electricity at some of them. 

Next I head to Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. 

Jamestown, TN and Big South Fork (part 1)

I thought about staying at the campground in Big South Fork National Park,  but since I was going to stay 2 weeks, I decided to stay at Maple Hill RV campground.  

One of my main reasons for coming to this area was the Big South Fork National River and Recreational Area.  I hiked the Slave Falls loop hike one day.  The falls were not great, but the hike was!  Below is the first of many rock houses (I would have called this one a small cave).  This is Indian Rock House.

 

I enjoy looking at the different colors and patterns in the rocks.

Hiking around huge rocks, over arches, under over hangs – I love it!!!!

The area is known for it’s many arches.  The one above is Needle Arch.

As I mentioned, Slave Falls wasn’t that great.  But the trail was well worth the hike!!  This is one of several falls where the water falls over a rock overhang and a trail leads behind the falls.

Not far from Slave Falls, is Twin Arches.  The trail to these arches is listed as moderate to difficult. I believe the reason is due to the access down.  In some write-ups I read the trail has steep stairs; in other write-ups, they were called ladders – I don’t know what they are, but they were steep.  They did keep people off the fragile sandstone.

The North Arch is 62 feet high with a 51 foot clearance.  The trees kind of hide this one.

The South Arch is 103 feet high with a 70 foot clearance.

Close to Big South Fork is Pickett State Park.  I went there several days for hiking or just a picnic by the river. One of my favorite hikes was a loop that consisted of Natural Bridge and Hazard Cave.

While looking at Natural Bridge, some other hikers crossed the arch/bridge -

On hot days, Hazard Cave is a great place to cool off.  I’m guessing it was at least 10 degrees cooler.  At first I thought the first picture was the cave, but as I continued I realized the actual cave was a bit further down--

Even though it was hot, I enjoyed the trail. 

I am always intrigued when I see a tree and how they grow around rocks. 

After hiking, I sat at one of the picnic tables and enjoyed my lunch by the river.

I really enjoyed this area and have too many pictures for one blog, so I will publish this one and post part 2  of Jamestown, TN in a day or 2.