A Red River Gorge Backpacking Trip

We took this backpacking trip in March of 2012 to explore the different kinds of trails that Kentucky’s Red River Gorge has to offer. Starting at the Wildcat Trailhead, the trail dropped down to Swift Camp Creek in the pristine Clifty Wilderness Area. Our route cut back up to the “Rough Trail”, a more popular trail to a wide valley that is spotted with campsites. The last stretch was on part of the long-distanced Sheltowee Trace Trail (with views of Indian Staircase) before ending at the Bison Way Trailhead. We shuttled back to our starting spot after 2 and a half days of hiking over 18 miles.

Wildcat Trailhead to Swift Camp Creek

(Day 1)

After purchasing a 3-day permit at a gas station near the Slade exit, we drove another 15 minutes to the Wildcat Trail trailhead on Sky Bridge Rd. It is perched on a ridge that separates the Clifty Wilderness Area from the rest of the RRG. Since we were starting in the mid-afternoon our plan was to head down to the Swift Camp Creek and set up at one of the first campsites. The trail shadowed the road for the first stretch before descending down to the creek in a little over 2 miles. This section was pretty rugged. The trail ducked under some small rock bluffs as we made our way downhill.

It did not take us long to reach a creek overlook right by a campsite. There was a cutoff trail heading down to the creek but we opted to turn left (north) and continue along the Swift Camp Creek Trail to find a more remote campsite. We could see a couple of spurs heading down to the creek which was about 100 yards downhill, and after almost a mile we took one that headed to a campsite that we knew about. This is one of the most scenic sections of the Gorge and our campsite definitely took advantage of that. It was situated on a flat shelf that was elevated above the water in a slight bend of the creek.

SCC to Rough Trail to Sheltowee Trace

(Day 2)

After a leisurely but obligatory morning of bacon and creekside yoga we packed up and hit the trail. The Swift Camp Creek Trail wound along the creek for about another mile before turning uphill to the west. The first part of this ~1.8 mile uphill stretch was pretty steep — I would not want to do it in wet conditions. We had luckily avoided the rain so far as we trudged our way around rocks and up some steep inclines towards the road. Pretty soon after leaving the creek there is an especially neat (and dry) rock overhang to the right. As we gained elevation the trail started to level out again and we were tramping over pine needles towards the road.

We hit the Angel Windows / Swift Camp Creek North trailhead about two hours after setting out. Apparently there is a trail here that parallels the road, but we marched about a fifth-mile along pavement to the north instead of searching for it. The Rough Trail headed west downhill from the road. We found the first level rock we could find to settle down for a cold lunch of trail mix, jerky, and nutella-smothered tortillas (yea, you’re going to try those now). Like many parts of the Red River Gorge, we passed under some rocks and “weeping” bluffs.

In another 3/4 of a mile the trail passes over “Parched Corn Creek” on a rustic split-log bridge. After this there was about a mile of climbing up to another ridge where the trail passes over a dirt road (that goes to Chimney Top Rock). There were a couple of nice views through the trees of the surrounding forested ridges. After a short descent we hit Chimney Top Creek. The trail crosses the creek a few times (and joins with Koomer Ridge Trail, stay right). We had to take our shoes off for the crossings because the water was high and there were no safe rock paths. At least the trail is very flat along the creek.

At the confluence of Chimney Top Creek and another fork we hit the Sheltowee Trace trail — again, we stayed right. We crossed the creek a couple more times as we weaved through campsites that had been shut down for being too close to the trail. About a half-mile after hitting the Sheltowee we decided we weren’t going to find a spur to an established, open campsite. We crossed a log over the creek and made camp at the other side of the valley. We knew that storms were possible that night so we set up a hopefully impermeable tarp-tent and settled down for the night.

Chimney Top Creek, Indian Staircase, Bison Way Trailhead

(Day 3)

We woke up early to a light rain, but a couple trees were sheltering us from most of it. The trail continued by the creek down the flat valley for about a half mile before climbing up along the hillside to the right. As we walked the hilly trail we were only 500 feet from Half Moon Arch and Castle Top Rock but we wanted to have more time to spend at the Indian Staircase before finishing. The trail took us down to the Red River after the creek joined with it.

There was a large 50ft boulder (some call it “Jump Rock”) on our side of the river. It was not too hard to climb on top of it, and the jump looked tempting, but we left that for warmer days. The Sheltowee Trail followed the river for a half mile before crossing on a large hiker’s suspension bridge. The trail went uphill to the road and followed it north for a hundred feet or so before going uphill into the trees. It got immediately more difficult as we ascendd uphill to the ridges steeply. We did start to see some pretty good views of the actual gorge of the RRG as we kept gaining elevation.

After a few hundred feet of climbing we hit the first of four very large overhangs that had small waterfalls coming from the top. They were each a half-mile to a mile apart as the ridge bent inland with tributary creeks, with moderate up and down in between.

As we approached the ravine with the Indian Staircase on the opposite side, we accidentally took a side trail uphill to some camps. We did not realize that we lost the trail, but at least we got great views of the ‘staircase’ from far away. We kept going for three quarters of a mile before realizing that this was an alternate route heading to the top of the Indian Staircase from the back. We turned around and notice where we had gotten confused where the actual trail had jutted sharply downhill. In another mile we passed the unofficial trails to the bottom of the staircase. There was a sign on one that said taking shortcuts and closed trails was against the law.

Storms looked promising now so we decided that we should probably keep going to the trailhead. We would do it next time, as the sign never said that any other routes were closed? The trailhead was less than a mile away of mostly downhill. We decided that we should call it a trip instead of possibly hiking the rest of the way because the weather looked like it could get bad. Nobody was going our way (further into the park and 7 miles away) but a very nice ranger gave me a ride to grab the car. We put off the Indian Staircase trip for another day, maybe doing a loop with the Osborne Bend Trail as well. EDIT: HERE IS OUR INDIAN STAIRCASE TRIP.

Elevation Profile

Trail Stats Location Red River Gorge, Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, USA Length ~19.1 miles Elevation Gain/Range ~7687.66 ft / 588.23 ft Trails Wildcat Trail — Swift Camp Creek Trail — Rough Trail — Sheltowee Trace — Bison Way Trail Points of Interest Swift Camp Creek — Chimney Top Creek — various arches — Red River — Indian Staircase Ranger Contact CUMBERLAND RANGER DISTRICT for the Red River Gorge

(606) 663-8100 Safety Disclaimer Don’t Litter, Please