Red River Gorge Family Backpacking/Camping Trip!

Somehow I neglected to write up this post about our first ever family camping/backpacking trip that took place last October! I don't know how such a big event could have been forgotten but it was. And I mean big because I literally hadn't slept in a sleeping bag since our first year of marriage. So I'm back to write about it! Jack and his friend/colleague Nicola had been talking at work for quite some time about going camping down in Kentucky. Jack had told Nicola all about his adventure last summer with Connor at Red River Gorge and the two had decided how fun it would be for the families to do it together. Well, to be honest it wasn't something I was looking forward to doing but I felt pretty confident that Nicola's wife who I love wouldn't really be up for it either so I wasn't too worried, not to mention they had no camping gear whatsoever, as they are based here in America for just a few years. But between our husbands banding together to tell each of us that the other's spouse had already agreed and Nicola hitting REI and purchasing everything in one night we were committed and before long Maria and I found ourselves with a pack on our back and no sign of a Four Seasons... Ale and Marco and their son, who are friends of the Brandolese's also joined us and we all had a great time!

So here is how the trip unfolded! After stopping at the Park Visitors Center and talking with a park ranger about various hikes and level of difficulty we decided on doing a small hike first to Rock Bridge Arch and although the scenery isn't what we see in the west, it was a nice hike with a decent waterfall.




After doing that hike and eating the lunches we had packed we drove towards the Clifty Wilderness area where Jack and Connor had hiked to before but located the Swift Camp Creek Trail which would supposedly take us to great camping sites where we could fish and sleep alongside a river but were closer than the sites that Jack and Connor had hiked to. After about a two hour hike we ended up finding a nice spot on the river where the kids could fish and their was enough space for all of us! It had rained earlier that week so we struggled to get a fire going but once we did, it was a good one! It was a clear night so it was nice to look out and see the stars. Ty decided he'd give the hammock a try and aside from being a little freaked out over noises he heard in the middle of the night, he enjoyed it! I have to say I felt much more comfortable knowing we were a large group than had it been just our family camping out in the woods!!!



The next morning after slowly arising, preparing breakfast and tearing down our camp, we headed back out on our journey to the car so we could drive to another section of the park and do a couple more small hikes. The first one was the Sky Bridge Trail where you hike over and under a natural rock bridge formation. Again this is no Arches National Park but for this part of the country it is a place people love to come and spend their days hiking around.



After that hike I insisted we see one last arch before heading back on the road to come home. I had read that the Natural Bridge State Park which lies just outside Red River Gorge was a must see. Since you can both hike or take a chair lift to get to it and yes, we took the lift...lol, it seemed the perfect way to end our 36 hour camping trip! And indeed it was. Once at the Natural Bridge you can hike around to this other area and have a great view looking across at the arch. It was quite nice.







So there you have it! I survived and my sleeping bag Jack bought me over twenty years ago finally got used...by me!