As a hard-line INFJ, I find it very difficult to do anything without extensive planning. So when my brother suggested he, my boyfriend, and I spontaneously go hiking in Red River Gorge, which we are not very familiar with, instead of Natural Bridge State Park, which I can practically navigate in my sleep, I had to try very hard not to refuse. As I turned left, forced to choose by the sign that indicated the Gorge could be found both ways, and my boyfriend frantically tried to find a trailhead along the new road, I had to remind myself that the best adventures are usually not created while following a bullet-point list. However, a bullet-point list can be created out of said adventures.

New, beautiful things I discovered this weekend at Red River Gorge:

1. February in Kentucky can mean shorts and 70-degree, sunny afternoons and 30-degree nights.

2. Crisp, hand-numbing water from campsite water pumps is very energizing. Conversely, it is difficult to drink as it gushes out at an alarming speed. 

3. Somewhere in Red River Gorge, there is a bark/sap vandal at large. See picture below as Exhibit A. 

4. If you walk around with a DSLR camera around your neck, you might be asked to take a random engagement picture. (Congrats to Gretchen and her fiancé!) 

5. Rocks are the coolest. It's mesmerizing to think of the processes of erosion that have created these gorgeous patterns in the surfaces of the cliffs—the thousands of pockmarks and miniature caves along their faces.

6. When stepping into Silvermine Arch, it's like entering another world. Crossing under the cave-like entrance reveals the meditative sound of running water, lush green trees, and a latticework of roots. (I also get way too excited about caves.)

7. The Gorge or Natural Bridge without Miguel's (it was closed) is way less satisfying. 

8. While February might not give you the vibrant reds, greens, and yellows of autumn burning across the tree canopies, it does afford a certain kind of productive melancholy, as the last reserves of green moss, ferns, and rhododendron leaves appear at unsuspecting times throughout the desolate landscape. It reminds me that life always finds a way.

Click on the pictures below to view them full size and join me on my hiking adventure!