Red River Gorge Spring Hike '08

This weekend Brookville Road Community Church youth group went on the spring hike to Red River Gorge in Kentucky. Weather was good for the hike and we had a good group. We drove to a trailhead of the Nada Ridge Road. Here is Leston Moore enjoying the view from the lookout and pointing towards Double Arch. It was sunny most of the day, but the wind was pretty strong on the ridge tops.

Josie Potter and Susan Wilson looking over the edge from the lookout.

The juneberry bushes were blooming on the ridge. I liked the combination of the twisted pine trunk, the juneberry, and the view. The tulip trees in the distance were just leafing out.

Checking out the view. (Photo from Andrew Irwin)

After the overlook, the next place we came to was Courthouse Rock. How can you see something like that and not want to try to climb up it?

We found a promising crack in the back side of Courthouse Rock that we were able to climb up. Josie was the first to make it up. It was quite exhilarating to make it to the top.

Mark Taylor on the top of Courthouse Rock.

Josie Potter on the top of Courthouse Rock.

A group photo of the rock climbers. (Gordon and Dustin made it, but after we took the picture.)

Coming back down, we slipped through a little crack in the rock. You can see Andrew squeezing his way down.

Here is a picture of me making the descent. (Photo from Andrew Irwin)

Trailing Arbutus was in bloom along the ridges and often right out of the side of the rock. It had a very nice scent.

Mark Taylor and Leston Moore perched on logs on the path to Double Arch.

After Courthouse Rock, we headed towards Double Arch. Along the way we found a cool overhang in the rock. We went up in the rock and found a cave up behind the rock that Tony is standing on. It took a lot of climbing and squeezing to get into the cave.

Here is Tony Wilson and Josie Potter up above the over hang. There was a arch to look out of and a main room back to the right of Josie.

We ate lunch at Double Arch. It was very windy in the arch.

Taking a break near the end of the hike. (Photo from Andrew Irwin.)

Chris Wathen, Leston Moore, Tony Wilson, and I went to catch salamanders in the little pond by the camp after the hike. Here is Chris holding an Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens).