A climbing trip to Red River Gorge
“The land of butter and bourbon” our blond friend pronounces.
The more places I see, the more I see the similarities. The many gorges around the red river are like California’s Castle Rock, damp shaded forests with sandstone outcrops.
The muddy trails through leaf-littered floors and overcast skies remind me of Ireland.
As we get deeper into the countryside the people get more local. Finally, the strangeness a traveller hopes for. “Bud”, rotund and shaggy bearded, sits in the beer trailer, selling us beers. His trailer smells of tobacco.
“Well, Aye had tuh’ pump een-two those growlers” his story continues, our party politely escaping the grip of conversation one-by-one.
We leave him, alone again with his thick-coated farm cat, and drive on down to camp.
We sleep at Miguels, the centre of this climbing constellation.
Road directions to each of the climbing areas (invariably cliffs hidden in forests) are all given from Miguels. The place hosts camping and has busy big open-sided barns where we cook and spend our evenings. There is also an indoor pizza restaurant, serving on paper plates and fold up tables.
The place seems to be entirely run by climbers.
On a newspaper by the door, a headline runs “When they’re not climbing, everyone can be found hanging around Miguels”
To get to the climbs we hike up drainage basins and wind through the forest, finally gaining the bases of the sandstone cliffs.
Sandstone easily erodes, sculpting itself into wild forms. After being hidden in hills and trees, grand rock-vistas suddenly unveil themselves to us. Great over-hanging caves appear, each a few hundred feet high, like tilted visors growing out of the earth.
We are small inside these vast amphitheaters.
Little dotted lines of chalk run up the walls, testaments to heroic climbers before us. This is a place where world-class climbers come to attempt some of the hardest climbing around. Overhanging lines with tiny pockets, some of them unfinished “projects” belonging to famous names.
Sandstone weathers to form big holes and features we can grab onto. This creates fun routes that are strenuous and gymnastic. It’s a challenge to make it through the sections before your arms fill with lactic acid and lose the ability to hold.
Climbing on the weekdays we have the crags to ourselves and a couple of others. We look like little explorer ants in these big caves.
Our final day is bright and warm with sunlight.
We take on some final satisfying challenges and finish up our business with The Red. We walk, satisfied down the trail.
