Hiking with McKinley

On the rare day McKinley will have off from work we try to get together and do something fun. Sometimes we play board games, other times we play pool and even most recently we have even done his yard work. I know growing up sucks sometimes! My favorite thing that we do if we can get it to work out is going to explore out in the woods. We have been to the Pinnacles a couple times as well as Raven Run. However, we have recently been out to the Red River Gorge a couple of times and it was a fun little adventure. We did a little research before going and decided to head out to a trail that headed up to an overlook called Cloud Splitter.

To get to the top of Cloud Splitter we had to climb up this rock face and fortunately someone left this rope. The only thing that was a little frigtening was that it looked to be only attached to the small little tree at the top. 

McKinley went first to make sure the rope would hold. He made it to the top and then I hauled myself up too. I had never done anything like that before, but it was pretty interesting. McKinley said next time I need to lean forward as I am climbing up the hill so that just in case I fall I don't fall down the hill but instead fall forward and can hopefully slide down to safety.

Beautiful view from the top. It would have only looked better if it was autumn and all the leaves were changing colors.  Maybe we should return sometime in the fall.

The Heflin brothers at the top of Cloud Splitter.

Another view from the top. You can see the river running through the middle of the picture.

Just acting goofy like normal for us. I leaned my phone up on something and used the timer function on my watch to take a few pictures. 

For some reason I just loved this little tree that is right behind me. It is just hard to believe that against all the elements in the world this little seed somehow was able to survive in the harsh environment on the top of a small mountain and grow. Pretty impressive.

View from the top of that hill that we climbed up with the rope. We decided to try and find an alternate way down. Not sure I really trust that tree to hold my big self up twice!

This little area was like a fat man squeeze. Apparently we missed a little part of the trail back here that had an overlook that was supposed to be pretty awesome. Looks like another reason to go back.

Hiking back on the road to our car. I was more conservative and hiked on the side of the road and McKinley thought a hike right down the middle was the better option.

We found this suspension bridge on the drive back and decided to head down and check it out. McKinley preceeded to jump up and down on the bridge and shake it as much as possible, just like a little kid.

The tunnel that we had to drive threw to get to the place we were going hiking. Not the place to be driving if you are scared of small spaces.

Another time we were able to get together for a trip to the woods recently meant another trip to the gorge. This time the place that we decided on was Indian Staircase. We started our hike out by making a wrong turn and the directions weren't making much sense at all so we decided to turn back around and start over. Thankfully we got back on track and after passing over a couple of little creek bridges we were well on our way to the staircase.

Little creek bridge. 

Cliff overhang that was the end destination that we had been hiking to. We just needed to climb the Indian Staircase to get to it.

McKinley is again the test subject for all of our adventures. Here he is climbing Indian Staircase. It is hard to see them here, but there are small little footholds that stair step up to the top. I thought it was really cool and it did have a dangerous element to it, but I don't think that it was that bad. I wasn't exactly sure about returning back down them but thought that it was do able.

The cliff overhang from the earlier picture. The darker rock on the edge of the cliff is called Frog Head because it looks so much like a frog. 

This time I was actually trying to take a nice panoramic picture and McKinley decided to mess it up with a banana. I actually didn't even realize it until I looked at the picture. I was too busy trying to keep the camera still and focused. Ended up being better like this. I could have sit up here for a lot time and just enjoyed the quiet and calm.

Just sitting on the edge of a cliff with my brother.

We decided to head back a different way to see what else this trail had to offer. We found the largest cliff overhang in the gorge, which was about the length of a football field.

Another picture of the overhang with McKinley walking in the background.

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Standing under the cliff overhang. This would be a pretty awesome place to camp out so that you would be protected from all the elements. However, I don't think it is allowed.

View from the hike back. That is all the area that we had just hiked, with the Indian Staircase being the part on the far right.

McKinley always trying to mess up a picture. I think my kids might be trained better to take a photo than this guy. It always makes for an interesting time when I look back at the photos.

We walked all along a path that had about a 4 story drop off beside it.

Found this arch on the trail back to the car.

Of course McKinley decided that he needed to climb on top of the arch.

Then it was time to lay down for a rest and just ponder his future.

I even found a nice spot to curl up and hide.

View of the arch from the other side. 

Walking back to the car along the path. The stone wall on the left hand side is the same 4 story drop that we were walking along the top of in an earlier picture.

I have really started to enjoy our hikes together. We didn't get to hang out that much growing up and really talk about life. Most of our childhood we spent playing with toys and video games. Then I left for college just about the time he was needing older brother advice. Now we get to have some more serious conversations and bounce ideas off of each other. I am so glad that he picked to do his residency in Lexington at UK so that we could spend times like this together. Thanks for reading and God bless!