It took less than a year after moving to the mid-west for a friend to introduce me to the Red River Gorge area of Daniel Boone National Forest. I have been hooked ever since. Ten years later, an article about Geocaching caught my eye and I knew one of my favorite places had just been met with new purpose.

...I always get the feeling that I am not so much traveling to a different place but in a different time. The Gorge is truly one of the most visually stunning places I have ever seen. It is so close to us, that I always get the feeling that I am not so much traveling to a different place but in a different time. It is magical for me and seems to exist just outside the real world.

Halloween weekend arrived, the forecast was clear and we had no plans. It was an ideal opportunity for a last minute camping trip. We throw the camping gear in the truck, raid the pantry, print some cache pages and head south. We stop just outside the park to purchase some fire wood and a camping permit (required for overnight stay). The 26,000-acre forest affords an endless selection of amazing campsites. We pick an old favorite, just a few hundred yards from Sky Bridge and settle in for what we know is going to be a great weekend.

Over breakfast the next morning we review our cache pages and plan the day. We decide to hit “Our Favorite Little Bridge” first as it is close by. The Red River Gorge boasts the largest collection of natural geological formations east of the Rockies. Many of these require hikes of a mile or more with some fairly drastic elevation changes but the pay off is visiting locations that are torn from the pages of a Tolkien novel.

Back in the truck we head southwest to Koomer Ridge and two more caches. The parking area is full of hikers when we arrive, but with 60 miles of trails in the area we are almost immediately in solitude as we find the proper trailhead and begin our search. It is our first real hiking trip with the GPSr and being newbies we start to learn a lesson the urban caches we had done so far couldn’t teach us: distance to the waypoint does not REALLY tell you how far you have to go.

Our 1.5-mile hike to “Pinch ‘em Tight” isn’t really going to be 1.5 miles, but the terrain is moderate and it is a beautiful day hiking through magnificent country. We find the cache pretty quickly, snap a few photos with the disposable camera inside and sign the log.

The “Buck Trail” cache is just a few miles further along so we decide to keep going. Plenty of WOW Moments along the way as the winding trail leads us through dense vegetation then suddenly opens up to reveal a panoramic view of the gorge. Up and down we hike, following the trail and following our GPSr. Gradually we descend as we get within a few hundred yards.

Then not so gradually we descend, several hundred feet in the last quarter mile. Trekking pole is getting a work out today and Ani and I both express some dread about the hike back. We can hear running water as the trail levels out and the GPSr says we are within 100 feet of the cache.

I remove the backpack, grab the GPSr and compass and bushwhack up the hill to our left to a large rock face. Back and forth I search without finding the cache. The GPSr is jumping around a bit and now the battery indicator starts to beep. Great. Bushwhack back down to the pack, switch batteries. Bushwhack back up the slope where lesson two for the day is waiting.Stupid male ego must be hibernating. Large structures, like the rock face I am standing by, affect accuracy. I slide back down the slope where Ani has decoded the hint. She leads us back up the slope a bit, leaves the trail and returns with the cache in hand. Arrrgg!

The little Grizzly Adams that lives inside my head is suddenly unavailable for comment. Stupid male ego must be hibernating. Brains and beauty have won out over brawn and I make a mental note not play such the tough guy until after we find the cache. Ani fills out the log and we snap some more photos with the disposable camera in the cache.

We break for a snack and a well-deserved drink of water. Which turns out to be lesson # 3. I am embarrassed to mention this but someone in our search party (me) forgot to check the supplies before setting out and we have exactly one 16 oz bottle of water between us. Nice job Mr. Survivor. So we drink a little now and save the rest. Kicking myself all the way up the trail for making such a rookie mistake.

The ascent turned out to be the leg burner I thought it would be. Thirsty and tired we made the hike back and waypoint a few good camping spots along the way. The parking lot is still full of hikers. Ale 8 never tasted so good. We called a timeout on the hikes and drove into Stanton for lunch. The next day we packed up camp early and hit three awesome virtuals in the area. “Fitchburg Furnace”, “Janus’ Little Vacation Home” and “Cottage Furnace”.

Geocaching in the Red River Gorge turned out to be everything we had hoped it would be and established for us a new level of expectation. We learned some new lessons and relearned some old ones. Most importantly we explored an area we had never hiked before and had fun along the way. With rock climbing and canoeing available, I can’t help but wonder why there isn’t a 5 terrain there. Plenty more caches down there for us to hit this summer and we can’t wait.