VIDEO: Red River Gorge Daniel Boone National Forest KY 3-day Backpacking Trip

https://youtu.be/OnIPpPGLlc8

My first ever visit to Kentucky was a 3-day backpacking adventure in the Red River Gorge Geological Area of Daniel Boone National Forest. My buddy Scott lives in the area and used his expertise to put together a fun route for us to trek and see a lot of unique sights. Known for its plethora of natural sandstone arches, I haven't seen anything quite like the Red River Gorge east of the Mississippi.

We started at the Martins Fork Trailhead and begin hiking toward Greys Arch. Along the way we ran into a complete surprise - my cousin Marina was out hiking as well and we randomly crossed paths out in the wilderness! Continuing on our way after the fortuitous meeting we marveled at massive Greys Arch towering overhead. A bit of hiking later and we set up camp before trekking out a quarter mile to enjoy the beautiful view looking out over the Gorge from Hansons Point.

Our second day started by heading back to the Hansons Point view and enjoying some tea & coffee while watching the fog clear from the depths of the Gorge. Hiking along took us to the day's highlight - Cloudsplitter. Requiring scaling a rope up a sheer rock face to get to the top, the vista was more than worth it. Continuing Scott's route we ended up at the top of Indian Staircase before finding a quiet wooded spot to camp for the night.

Day 3 finished off the final 2 miles of the trip to the Bison Way Trailhead. I had a great time on this adventure and really enjoyed the uniqueness of the Red River Gorge Geological Area.

Thanks for watching!
Layne

Nice to see Sott use innate conditioning to strengthen and condition legs. Humans have amazing abilities that the tech world eschews to make sales. Not that a pair of White's Hikers are out of the question... nice area to explore.

Nice video!

I've been heading down to RRG & Natural Bridge State Park (6-1/2 hour drive from Chicagoland) since the early 90's, and always manage to find a new adventure. Twenty years ago I was backpacking with a buddy and set up camp on a ridge just off Rough Trail. As dusk approached several people came walking by on an unofficial path, so we asked them what was in that direction and they told us great views. Next morning before sunrise we went looking for the views, and caught the first glimpse as the sun started peeking over the ridge on the opposite side of the gorge. As we drew closer the bottom of the gorge looked like a lake, covered in a thick layer of morning mist.

We learned later the bare end of the ridge with expansive views was called Hanson's Point. Finding a magical spot like that by accident was the highlight of a trip that included the marvelous Indian Staircase loop. The spectacular portions of both hikes are on unofficial trails that are well traveled in Red River Gorge. You can find a lot of information online, but I also recommend the books by Jerrell Goodpaster (first link below has the unofficial trails) and the maps by OutrageGIS (2nd link).

https://www.amazon.com/Hinterlands-J.../dp/B095MJQBXX

https://www.outragegis.com/gorge/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joe_guilbeau

Nice to see Sott use innate conditioning to strengthen and condition legs. Humans have amazing abilities that the tech world eschews to make sales. Not that a pair of White's Hikers are out of the question... nice area to explore.

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His ability is impressive! To him it is just normal. He's done a lot of the AT like that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drift Woody

Nice video!

I've been heading down to RRG & Natural Bridge State Park (6-1/2 hour drive from Chicagoland) since the early 90's, and always manage to find a new adventure. Twenty years ago I was backpacking with a buddy and set up camp on a ridge just off Rough Trail. As dusk approached several people came walking by on an unofficial path, so we asked them what was in that direction and they told us great views. Next morning before sunrise we went looking for the views, and caught the first glimpse as the sun started peeking over the ridge on the opposite side of the gorge. As we drew closer the bottom of the gorge looked like a lake, covered in a thick layer of morning mist.

We learned later the bare end of the ridge with expansive views was called Hanson's Point. Finding a magical spot like that by accident was the highlight of a trip that included the marvelous Indian Staircase loop. The spectacular portions of both hikes are on unofficial trails that are well traveled in Red River Gorge. You can find a lot of information online, but I also recommend the books by Jerrell Goodpaster (first link below has the unofficial trails) and the maps by OutrageGIS (2nd link).

https://www.amazon.com/Hinterlands-J.../dp/B095MJQBXX

https://www.outragegis.com/gorge/

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Awesome story Drift! Really cool way to discover Hanson's Point and you can't beat it when that morning mist is popping.

I was fortunate that my buddy knew some of the area's secrets well and had those OutrageGIS maps for us to use.