Red River
Gorge Geological Area
August 22-24, 2025
Blog Post:
In July of
2024 my friend Greg and I took a trip to Red River Gorge with the purpose of
climbing the Indian Staircase, hiking the Double Arch Loop. Both these hike
wrong turns were made and it has been driving me crazy ever since.
“read about our first trip here”
It drove me
crazy so bad that I decided to take a half day off from work this year and head
back up to Red River Gorge just so I could rectify those mistakes. I again
stayed at the Natural Bridge State Park campgrounds and used that as my base
camp. The park as two locations for the campgrounds and I was across the street
from where we stayed the last time. I think I prefer the previous location a
little bit better, but I have no complaints.
After getting
camp set up I decided to hike some of the park trails up to the Natural Bridge,
and it is a beautiful park. The Natural Bridge is huge, and has some fun
sections and a lot of amazing views. It is a steep climb up to the bridge, but
they have a “sky lift”, which is like a ski lift, for you to ride to the top if
you are so inclined. I will be spending some more time here in the future to
check out more of the park’s trail system.
Day two was
my big day. My plan was to get up early get breakfast and head off to the
Indian Staircase. After that hike I would get back to the Jeep and cruise over
to the Double Arch trailhead, have lunch and head out for my second hike of the
day. The day started out hot and muggy and ended the same way.
On my way to
the Indian Staircase I had no problems navigating this time and knew the exact
spot I screwed up last year. The first quarter mile or so is up hill but not
bad, it is a good warmup for what is to come. The climb starts out rutty and
rocky then eventually turns to the sandstone face you expect. Once you get up
the first little part you will follow a trail to the left that will take you to
the first section of handholds in the rock. After three sections of these you a
pretty much on the top of Cloud Splitter.
It was an
amazing climb, and even though I need to start exploring new sections of Red
River Gorge I feel I will be drawn back here again. On top you have beautiful
views, and the hike down has many other things to see. One could spend a whole
day or two just exploring this area, but I had a busy day, and it was on to my
next stop.
I was lucky
to find a good parking spot and the Double Arch trailhead, had lunch and
rehydrated for my second hike of the day. I wanted to do the whole loop and get
back over to Courthouse Rock and Auxier Ridge but that would not be in the
cards for me today.
This first
part of the Double Arch hike is on a gravel road that has been fenced off. There
is forest on either side, but it is the boring part of the hike. The real fun
begins when you reach the stairway that will take you down in the canyon then
back up to the arches. Once I got down the stairs, I knew the whole loop was
going to be out of the questions. My fingers and toes started to cramp, and my
hips became real sore. The hot muggy day caught up with me as I just couldn’t
hydrant fast enough.
I made it to
the arches, and it was a beautiful sight to see though I really did prefer Courthouse
Rock and Auxier Ridge sections of the hike. I did make the section of the hike
I missed and called it a win for the trip. I plan on coming back to get the
whole hike one day.
Great trip,
just not enough time to get everything I wanted done. I plan on coming up here
in the future and hopefully and can spend maybe three days hiking with two
travel days. It is not a far trip from the house. I would also like to backpack
the area and kayak the Red River. As always my friends, hike on…and stay save
out there!
Related Posts:
 |
Greg and I on our first trip to Red River Gorge where we hike both
the Indian Staircase and Double Arch Loop. We took wrong turns on both hikes,
which lead me back a year later to see the areas we missed. |
.jpg) |
Here is the unedited video of my 2025 climb up the Indian Staircase.
What a fun and thrilling adventure to reach the top of Cloud Splitter via
this route. I would not recommend this
climb for people scared of heights, young children, or dog. |
Story Pictures:
- Coming Soon
No comments:
Post a Comment