Red River Gorge, Day 3&4

Day 3: Rock Bridge
Day 3 had me solo-hiking for part of the day until the rain really started coming down. I hiked back to this arch in the second picture which is a natural arch over the river. Right before the arch was a beautiful little waterfall, also pictured below.


After a while hiking there I headed over to another section of the gorge and was going to check out a couple arches but the rain really started to come down. I found the "hidden arch" which is pictured below. I took a (slightly out of focus) self-portrait and headed back to the dry hostel for the rest of the afternoon.



Day 4: Double Arch
A group of 5 of us did a five mile loop to check out the double arch. It was a beautiful trail as the first half of it followed the top of this ridge and you could see the gorge on either side.

This was overlooking the gorge on the top of a really high cliff. I was getting a little woozy on top of this, especially as I was running worst-case scenarios through my mind. But, I pushed all that aside and took this picture as a tribute to all the foot pictures I've seen of friends of mine sitting on the beach (usually couples mind you) to show what my life is all about: just me and the wilderness. And it's beautiful!


A light-headed smile on top of the cliff. We hiked on top of the ridge in the background and got a sweet view of the cliff we were standing on top of.


Here's a view of the double arch from the opposite ridge. We climbed up underneath the arch, which yes, meant we hiked down from the ridge we were on and back up to the other side. My calves are in enough pain to prove it!


A tribute to the cliff bar industry. These are awesome for hiking. May I recommend the Cool Mint Chocolate and the Black Cherry Almond.


And the sign of a good hike: wet, muddy shoes. Mine are in the forefront.

Tomorrow the rest of the group wants to get a couple climbs in before we head back to flat, cold Illinois so I'll probably just hang out with them. I've put in a grand total of 23 miles over the last three days. Pretty excited about that.