Last American Adventure

You might be asking what the title means exactly, think of it not as the end, but rather the beginning of new adventures. During this past week I went on a camping trip to Red River Gorge with fellow PPPler Michael Douglas, my childhood best friend Tyler, awesome Korean exchange student Grace, and other awesome guy Logan. I had camped down there many times prior, but the only other of the group who had been there before was Logan. It was an exciting adventure, and one I will not forget. This is most likely my last big American adventure before I leave for Germany on July 31st. Don't worry guys, less writing and more pictures! Here we go!

After a less than thrilling two hour drive, we arrived near our location only to be in the rain. I was not pleased at this sight, but luckily the rain didn't last long. We drove around the scenic route 715, about 10 miles from the road I liked to camp along. Within this stretch of road is a quarter mile long tunnel through the side of a mountain called Nada Tunnel, carved out entirely by dynamite. It is a one lane road, so traffic has to figure it out for themselves. As one leaves the tunnel they are greeted with the sight of beautiful sandstone cliffs, hills, and small mountains. The road follows along the "Red River" and then goes into a windy incline to the top of the ridges. Along this road is this beautiful spot here: When it rains, it creates this little natural waterfall. And I found my brother and I's initials when we were here 3 months ago.

Tyler looking at the waterfall

Tyler and I climbing up to the top of that waterfall, about 60 feet up

Moss Writings

Tyler was pointing at me to get him his shorts from the car(mind you I was about 200 feet away, with a large creek and the entire area in front of the waterfall to climb around), he wanted to get a shower in that waterfall, sigh Tyler, we don't have time for this, he's quite a trip.

We set up our campsite about 400 feet off a long gravel road called Chimney Top Rock. This road goes up a long high sandstone ridge; spanning in some places only about 100-150 feet across. At the top is a lookout area in which one can see much of the Daniel Boone National Forest. We managed quite a nice campsite, and I must say, with Michael having no camping experience, he was really good with our shelter. Check this out:

From left to right: Tyler, Logan, Grace, and Michael

Oh ya, that's right, we were SET!

 

 

The night was a long one, many of us couldn't sleep, some with the fear of bears, psh, no bears in Red River Gorge if you ask me. I awoke to an interesting sight at the top of the tent. A LARGE wolf spider the size of a coffee plate at the top of our mesh tent, thank God it was on the outside, I still had to contain myself, as everyone was asleep. The spider and I later became friends, had a few drinks together, played some games, and had to go our separate ways, you shall be missed dear spider. (What's wrong with me)

We went up to visit Chimney Top Rock, pictures never quite do it justice:

Grace and Tyler up at Chimney Top

Logan at Chimney Top

 

 

Michael, Me, Grace, and Logan after our night of camping

The land was vast!

We moved on to go to a trail I loved to hike, and had done so as a kid growing up. The Natural Bridge trail is one that almost everyone who knows the Red River Gorge is familiar with. A 1/2 mile hike up to a natural sandstone bridge, formed by an ocean that was once here 60 million years ago, when the entirety of Kentucky was submerged under water.

 

 

 

Spot at Natural Bridge trail where if you were too fat, you literally could not fit through, it did not leave that much room.

I wasn't kidding about it being narrow, crazy though!

Walking out onto Natural Bridge, no railings, so don't lean too far!

A view of Devil's Gulch from on the "Natural Bridge"

An island of rock I must get to someday

On "Devil's Gulch"

Red River from atop Devil's Gulch

Seeing Natural Bridge from Devil's Gulch

We hiked a different path down from Natural Bridge and came across more beautiful and interesting things.

The trail passed this natural cave, it was much larger than it looks currently

Michael with a spiderweb being weighed down by water droplets.

Thank you Mr. Michael Douglas for your great photos, Ohne dich, dieses Blogpost könnte sein. Danke schön!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. And if it is my last American adventure for a while, I'd be okay with that. I came to know all of them well, and we enjoyed our time together. Natural beauty covers this world. Seek out this beauty, preserve it as we preserve our friendship and our love for others. I cannot wait to make these lifelong friendships with my other fellow PPPlers and many others. We have quite a year ahead of us. 54 days until we depart for Deutschland. And to my friends, thank you for being part of my life, and thank you everyone else for always supporting me. Life has shown me bliss I have never seen, and I hope it lasts. Until next time, my friends.