Kentucky Horse Country

Don’t Feed The Bears

The beautiful 78 degree sunny Sunday in March yelled at me to get my butt out of the house and do something.  I have always had exploring the Red River Gorge in the back of my mind, but just never acted on it.  Several times I have made the right hand turn off the Mountain Parkway to Natural Bridge State Park, but on this Sunday, I turned left and headed into the Gorge.  This trip was a recon mission since we had no idea what to expect or exactly what we would find to do.

The first indication  we weren’t in the city anymore was a huge sign warning “Alert!”  Bear Country.  Put all food in metal containers inside a hard top car.  (I wonder what people driving convertibles do — or worse yet — what do motorcyclists do)?  After the first bear sign (there were several bear alert signs), a large “Tunnel” sign appeared.  Oh, neat, a tunnel!  Now, I must digress here a moment.  tunnels have never bothered me.  They have usually been kind of fun.  Well, except when you get stuck in one for an hour because of some wreck ahead of you.  This happened to me more times than I cared for in the Norfolk-Portsmouth and Norfolk-Hampton Roads Tunnels.  But, the problem with those tunnels  was car exhaust fumes, not claustrophobia.  However, the Red River Gorge tunnel — the Nada Tunnel to give it its proper name — made me extremely anxious.  It had no (zero) lights and was only 12 feet wide.  The car headlights seemed to just be absorbed by the rock walls.  The tunnel is only 900 feet long, but it seemed like forever.  900 feet.  And I had to survive it twice.  But once I got through the tunnel, the scenery was fantastic.  The rock formations, arches, and the sheer cliffs towering above you and straight down off the road to the gorge far, far below were awe inspiring.

We pulled over at one of the many scenic stop areas and took in the beauty of the  area.  We were not prepared to hike any distance or any difficult trails so we walked back a “civilized” trail — after carefully stowing cokes and snacks in a bear proof (is there really such a thing) container in our hard topped car.

We will return to the Red River Gorge fully equipped with our hiking gear for a back country jaunt.  First, we will e-mail the bears that we are coming so they will give us a lot of room.  If you don’t hear from me in awhile, alert the National Forest Bear Patrol.