A (Not So) Wintry Hike to Grays Arch & Bonus Kittens (Red River Gorge, KY)
Last winter, when I returned from the frigid north for my winter break, I was greeted by snow outside Frankfort shutting down the interstate. It was a case of out-of-the-frying-pan-and-into-the-fire—or out-of-the-snow-and-into-the-snow. But this year, my beloved Kentucky has pulled through, and it has been so warm this December that I’ve been able to leave the house in a t-shirt. In December. I’m trying not to think about the impending doom of global warming and just appreciate that I can have exposed skin without getting frostbite.
Naturally, this unseasonably warm weather has had me itching to go on a hike in my favorite place. So a couple days after Christmas, I decided we would take advantage of one of the last wildly mild days of my time in Kentucky and check out a new spot in Red River Gorge. My brother, Alan, my fiancé, Ryan, and I set out to Grays Arch on a 65-degree December morning. (Coincidentally, Alan, Ryan, and I also went on a Gorge hike the last time we had unseasonably warm winter weather back in 2017: it was 70 degrees in early February, and we visited Silvermine Arch.)
With the crazy good weather and it being a Saturday, the Gorge was much more crowded than it would usually be during the winter season. The parking lot for Grays Arch was completely full, so we drove up to the “Archaic Parking” a little ways down Tunnel Road instead of circling and waiting for a spot. Little did we know, that would be the best decision we made all day. When we got out of the car, Alan spotted a cat in the little patch of forest by the parking lot. And when we went over to say hello, not one, not two, but three kittens gradually appeared out of the brush. The momma cat was extremely friendly, purring and rubbing against us. The kittens were much more skittish, but I did manage to pet the light gray one a couple times, and it gave me some heart-melting little licks. It literally broke my heart that we couldn’t take them home, but someone (Ryan) said we didn’t have room for four feral cats. This decision will haunt me the rest of my days—please, someone go find these kitties and give them a warm home.
Back to our regularly-scheduled hiking:
Grays Arch spans 80 feet and stands 50-feet tall, making it the biggest arch in Red River Gorge Geological Area. The hike out to the arch is nothing strenuous, mostly flat through deep forest, and it’s once you reach the arch area that the breathtaking views unfold. A huge sandstone amphitheater stretches upwards, water trickling down from above. The sandstone has been eroded into undulating waves, smooth in some places, overlaid like folds of fabric in others. The arch itself is an impressive behemoth, towering above, harshly shadowed by the sunlight streaming from overhead.
Many visitors hike Grays Arch as an out-and-back trail, around 2.2 miles round-trip. However, we opted to extend the hike by creating a loop with the Rough Trail and Rush Ridge Trail, making it about 3.3 miles round-trip. Once we left the arch behind, the trail became much less crowded, cocooning us in that solitude of deep forest. I think I saw some of my favorite rock formations of all time on this part of the hike (you might notice I got a little obsessed with these trees that had enveloped a beautifully patterned boulder), and once we descended next to King Branch Creek, we were graced with heavenly light playing off the water.
This season (for the first time that I can remember) Miguel’s is staying open on the weekends during the winter, meaning we were able to finish off our Gorge hike in the perfect way: sitting on a picnic bench, dipping warm, cheesy pizza into ranch, and pointing out all the adorable dogs joining their owners for a post-hike lunch.
I’m not excited to return to the land of blizzards and -50-degree windchills in a couple weeks, but I’m thankful that this was how I could spend part of my winter break in Kentucky: in Chacos, hiking with the people I love.
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