Through The Red
Location: Sheltowee Trace - Daniel Boone National Forest, KY
General Rules and Regulations: Camping is not allowed in the developed areas. Camping is allowed near the developed parking areas when the campsite is at least 200 feet from the edge of the parking area and IS NOT VISIBLE from the parking area. As of May 1, 1991, the following are considered developed areas: Yahoo Falls, Alum Ford, Yamacraw, Blue Heron Overlooks, Blue Heron and access areas along river, East Rim Overlook, Leatherwood Ford, West Entrance, Charit Creek, Twin Arches, Burnt Mill Bridge, Peters Bridge, Bear Creek Overlook, Brewster Bridge, and Honey Creek Overlook.
Camping is strictly prohibited within 25 feet of any cave, cemetery, grave site, historic site/structure, rock shelter, rim of the gorge, trail, roadway, or any other specified location identified by a "No Camping" sign.
Campfires are allowed unless condition dictate otherwise.
Backcountry permits are required within the Big South Fork (not required in the Daniel Boone National Forest in this section).
See the National Park Service website for more details.
Trip Highlights: 2 days/1 night; temps ranged from upper 60s to upper 80s; approximately 30 miles. The Natural Bridge State Park and Red River Gorge offer a unique and beautiful landscape.
Shelter: Warbonnet Black Bird hammock, DYI Underquilt, Underground Quilts top quilt, Warbonnet Mamajamba Tarp w/DIY Door Kit
Wildlife: Turkeys and other birds.
Miscellaneous: http://www.sheltoweetrace.org/
The Sheltowee Trace is Kentucky's long trail. The southern terminus has moved farther south a few times and is currently at the Burnt Mill Bridge in Allardt, TN. The trail runs 333 miles to the northern terminus located off KY-377 at the northern end of the Daniel Boone National Forest (north of Morehead, KY).
This has been a crazy year with COVID-19. Things were just opening back up. So, Kyle and I met up at the Natural Bridge State Park Resort on Thursday night to have an early start on Friday. The forecast showed a chance of rain moving in over night through 2:00 PM on Friday before the heat and humidity pushed in.
Day 1 (Friday)
We woke in time to grab carryout from the resort restaurant and catch our 7:00 shuttle with Avery from Red River Outfitters. Avery made the short drive to Standing Rock to drop us off on KY-1036 at Smyth Cemetery Rd. There was a real temptation to just have Avery stop at Big Bend Rd. and avoid the climb back up KY-1036...But, we made the choice to start where we left off and make the road march. We even turned down an offer for a ride from a passerby - In the rain no less! We missed Spark's words of wisdom but got a little encouragement from Avery with "man, you guys are hardcore!" when we said we would make the walk up KY-1036.
We headed out on the pavement with a long climb uphill to warm up. We quickly began a cycle of pulling on and off ponchos as waves of rain would come through in the morning. After about 6 miles of road walking we made the turn off onto trail along Big Bend Ridge. The trail looked to be an old jeep trail. In fact, Google Maps shows it as "Zachariah 4WD Trail". The large boulders placed at the trail made it clear that vehicles are not welcome though. It wasn't long until we were in the Natural Bridge State Park.
We passed Chloe Leet and her family doing a southbound thru-hike. She has since finished her hike and I think she may have set the kid's FKT. We had multiple conversations about how cool it would have been to do a thru-hike as a kid. But, also about how much we probably would have whined about the rain, heat, hills, stairs...
After checking out the arch we started down the steps past Balanced Rock toward the gift shop and lodge. We had lunch by the lake and let some of our gear dry out while we ate. After lunch we dumped our trash and crossed the suspension bridge headed toward the Whittleton Campground. After a short walk up KY-11 we walked through the closed campground and back on trail where we stopped to filter water from Whittleton Branch.
Our original plan was to camp at Hanson's Point. The Gorge has been super crowded and Hanson's Point is a popular place to camp. Knowing this, the fact that it would be a dry campsite and we wouldn't be passing any water source along the we we decided to check out The Veranda first. If the options there were taken Hanson's Point would be a back up plan.
We took Rush Ridge trail to the unmarked trail to The Veranda to find it completely unoccupied. We set up our hammocks and then made a hike to get more water for the night. On the way back out to Rough Trail we passed a couple with their dog heading out to The Veranda to also look for a place to set up camp.
After fetching water we returned to camp to fix supper and get ready for bed. The 15 miles or so that we put in covered the gamut from rain to miserably hot & humid, road walking to overgrown single track, ridge walks to creek walks...One constant was that most all of it was either up or down!
Our plan was to make it a couple miles south of the Corner Ridge trailhead where Avery would pick us up the next day. Before packing up and heading out I walked out to the point to check the sunrise and I'm glad I did, it was a beautiful view. After taking in the last views we took Rough Trail toward Signature Rock to pick up the Sheltowee again. As we worked our way through RRG approaching the Red River and KY-715 we were seeing the crowds that The Gorge attracts. We crossed another suspension bridge over the river with the sounds of people playing in the water and traffic passing by on KY-715. After we crossed the river it felt like someone turned up the heat and splashed more water on the rocks in the sauna! As we climbed up from the road the sweat was pouring...We wouldn't have been much more wet if it had been raining! We stopped at most every stream crossing to splash cool water on ourselves in an attempt to cool down.
It was at our lunch break that Kyle realized he had lost a water bottle. Fortunately, he had two bottles and I had two bottles and a water bladder. Plus, we both had our dirty bags for gathering water to filter. Other than stopping more frequently for water it wasn't a big deal.
Past the turn to the Bison Way trailhead we descended into Klaber Branch and then climbed our way back up. The trail heads into the Clifty Wilderness as it winds above Gladie Creek until it crosses Salt Fork and breaks off at the junction with Lost Branch trail. This is where we should have stopped to camp. Salt Fork would have been a great location and we could have even taken a swim to cool off and refresh. But, we thought we would have another opportunity to camp farther north along Salt Fork. It wasn't long before we realized we missed our chance as we continued to steadily climb for about the next three miles. At this point we were low on water for camping without a water source and figured we were close enough to make it to the trailhead and have Avery pick us up early if he was available. Once past the trailhead it is a long road walk which would not offer any spots to camp. I think the thought of pizza from Miguel's was also motivating us.
We're nearing the end of this adventure. One more week of hiking should get us to the end!