2026 Summer Adventure Series: The First Leg: Red River Gorge
Travels with our Trachie packed up the camper and headed South this year for the family vacation. It’s become a tradition to find ourselves in the midst of thunderstorms during our travel and this year was no different. I-75 in Cincinnati was at a crawling pace with torrential rain, lightning, and standing water on the interstate due to massive flooding. It took longer than expected but we breathed a sigh of relief that evening as we pulled into our first stop: Callie’s Lake and Campground in Stanton, KY. Our first adventure was exploring Red River Gorge. Our initial plans had us hitting up Natural Bridge State Park, but our departure was delayed by six hours as Daddy finished up baling hay, so we had to scratch the itinerary. Farming comes first! Instead, we got the girls settled in drawing pictures in the camper and Mommy and Daddy cracked a few drinks around the campfire before we called it a night.
Day two we headed out to explore the Red River Gorge area. As soon as we pulled onto Rt 77, it was like entering the setting of a fairytale. The scenery was gorgeous with a lush green canopy above. We slowly drove through the one-lane road of the Nada Tunnel with lots of oohs and aahs from the backseat. The girls loved it and we all agreed that it looked like going through the belly of a dragon. Yes, truly a fairytale. Next up was the Gladie Visitor Center to indulge in our family’s tradition of adding another magnet to the camper fridge. We took in the gorgeous views at Devil’s Gulch lookout before pulling into the last parking spot at Sky Bridge. We chatted with some fellow hikers before heading out and opted to stay to the right and follow the trail to the base of the arch first. (We recommend others to follow the same route to avoid going up a whole lot of stairs at the very end of the hike...going down is much easier.)
Sky Bridge is an expansive sandstone arch on a very manageable loop trail measuring about one mile. After our adventures in Utah, we had fallen in love with arches and had no idea that such a vast wealth of these natural marvels were just five hours away from our home. Kentucky has the highest concentration of natural arches in the eastern United States with over a thousand sandstone formations in the Daniel Boone National Forest. We were elated to check off one of the best of these arches off our list. What makes Sky Bridge even more unique is the loop trail allows you to explore not only the base of the arch but also wraps around to the top of the arch. I have to admit that my knees were knocking as we walked on top of the arch which stands about seventy-five feet above the gorge. Best of all, it wasn’t crowded at all. I should also mention that Sky Bridge has a paved .2-mile accessible path which leads to a scenic overlook to view the arch.
Our itinerary had quite a bit more hiking on the agenda, but our girls just weren’t up for the challenge. It was incredibly humid and the heavy air is terrible on our little trachie’s lungs, so we hightailed it to Miguel’s Pizza for a slice, which is quite possibly the most happening spot in all the gorge! The rain returned as we pointed the truck back toward the campground for a well-earned family nap…all except our trachie, who refuses to nap! After finding our second wind, we walked around the campground and made some great memories with some fun on the rope swing.
We hope to return to the Red River Gorge in the fall some year in between bean and corn harvest to see the fall foliage and explore more arches and waterfalls. We made it to church the following morning before heading further south to our next stop: Townsend, TN
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