Red River Gorge
May 2, 2024
Thursday, May 2, was an exciting last day in Kentucky. We drove more than an hour to a neat activity I had found in the Red River Gorge called Gorge Underground Cave Tours. On this adventure, we explored a 100-year-old abandoned limestone mine. But wait! This flooded mine had been turned into a kayak (or SUP) adventure on crystal clear kayaks with LED lights! In the dark! Oh yes, we had a blast! The tour guides were very safe, informative, and entertaining as they guided us through the labyrinths of tunnels and pillars for almost 2 hours.
Below are photos from the tour company
Our photos in the dark are not quite as clear
This adventure will be hard to top! Afterward, we drove to nearby Natural Bridge State Park, where we rode the Skylift up to the hike across and under the Natural Bridge. The Skylift was a slow, peaceful chairlift up through the forest and almost vertically to the ridgeline.
We had Natural Bridge almost to ourselves, but it got busy as we left to drive the Red River Gorge Byway, with a brief lunch stop at this iconic pizza spot!
This 46-mile scenic drive wound through the Daniel Boone Forest, starting at the single lane one way 900 foot long 12 foot high Nada Tunnel. If a vehicle has already entered from the other side of the tunnel, you have to back up, which isn’t easy as the tunnel is narrow. Not that we have any experience 😬.
The Byway then follows the twists and turns of the Red River. I’m unsure if it’s the most scenic drive in Kentucky, but it is one of the curviest! We stopped to walk the Sky Bridge Trails above and below before settling into a first come, first serve campsite at Koomer Ridge USFS campground. The very nice campground host was even from Florida—such a small world!
What a way to finish out Kentucky—next up, West Virginia!!
We are not wandering east—there is a plan! Years ago, when we were contemplating Adventure 2.0, our youngest daughter gave us a map of the United States with stickers for each state. Anytime we spend the night in a state, we can put the sticker on the map. It is not sufficient to travel through the state! So here we are five years along, and there are five states we need to complete the map. West Virginia is State #1 of the last needed states we will incorporate into our travels this summer!
