It’s Only Natural
Balancing rocks, bridges, and a big natural bridge; a great trip in the Red River Gorge.
A few weeks ago, in late August, my wife and I took some time off. Our wanderings led us to some hiking trails in Kentucky, around the Red River Gorge area. We took an interest in the Natural Bridge State Resort (not sure what the difference is between a State Resort and a State Park, but that’s neither here nor there), and decided to wander around and see the sights.
The first trails we took are the subject of this post: the Original Trail, and the Balanced Rock Trail. Both are around .75 miles in length, and they meet up at the Natural Bridge itself, a massive rock arch formation. So, we took the Original Trail up to the bridge and then the Balanced Rock Trail back down.
The Original Trail is a very well maintained trail, and it goes up about 500 ft. in elevation, so it’s not unduly difficult to get to the bridge. There are tons of rock formations along the trail, and many of them have some of the most beautiful erosion patterns, with wavy ridges and honeycombed strata. And the colors are often striking, in reds and oranges, as well as the grays and whites.
We made our way to the bridge and stood under it for a time. I tried to get a picture of the whole thing, but there were no easy vantage points to see the entire bridge from the trail, and once you’re at it, it’s too big for a single image. So, I took pictures of the bases of the arch, content with that.
To get to the top, you have to go up a stone stairway and through a narrow passageway between the arch and another adjacent rock outcropping. Not for the claustrophobic, certainly, but doable. We crossed the arch from one end to the other, admiring the view of the surrounding mountains, and explored a wooden pavilion at one end (probably a place for parties, gatherings, etc.).
We decided to take the Balanced Rock Trail back down, for a change of scenery. Before heading down, however, we stopped to admire a lizard that was hanging out on the rocks. The lizard was very congenial, allowing me to take a few images, before getting bored with me and taking off.
The Balanced Rock Trail was much like the Original Trail, but with a wooden framework of bridges and steps that navigated one particularly eroded wall, and towards the end, a, well, balanced rock. The balanced rock itself is a very large boulder that looks perched atop a relatively narrow cone. The patterns on some of the rocks here were intricate, with whorls of thin ridges of stone in a convoluted pattern. The trail met up with the Original Trail and then back to Hemlock Lodge. After getting to the bottom, we decided to try the Whittleton Trail, which will be the subject of another post.
