Chapter 22: Red River Gorge, Kentucky
- traci wilson
- Jun 21
- 7 min read
We pulled into Callie’s Campground & Lake in early afternoon and the temperature was already rising to an uncomfortable level. There wasn’t any shade where our site was located, which was unfortunate due to the heat, but it was where they put the big rigs with full hookups so at least we could use our AC. The campground itself had some pretty spots towards the back where the primitive campsites were located but the gravel road to get to them was in rough shape. The lake was really just a pond, but it was pretty just the same. There’s a little store with not much in it, and a restaurant which is really the best part of the place. The food is decent—the pizza is really good—the prices are reasonable, and the staff friendly. The campground caters to bikers, off-roaders, and muscle cars, which we were soon to learn, was a huge downside for us. But more about that later.
We had two full days to explore this location and do the underground river tour, the reason for coming to this area. The first day we ran the dogs in the campground for a total of three grueling miles (hills, uneven rocky road with washout sections, mud, and roots). After the run we left the dogs in the RV and went hiking in the gorge. We chose Koomers Ridge Trail because it was close and promised some peekaboo views of the valley. We didn’t want to take the dogs for fear of ticks (all the trail descriptions we could find for the area suggested that the trails were mostly narrow with tall vegetation on either side, perfect conditions for the little buggers. Are we paranoid about ticks? That would be a resounding yes!!
Anyway, the trail was pretty but not what we expected from the trail description. The best part was an offshoot trail that took us past the hidden arch, a really cool rock formation, and rejoined the main trail for a total of 5.25 miles. Back at the trailer we ordered pulled pork nachos from the restaurant for dinner. Tasty, but they used cheese sauce instead of real melted cheese, and not a lot of meat, so not the best quality. They have a couple of tables in the restaurant/store where you can eat, but it was cramped and kind of weird because they were situated smack dab in the middle of the place so everyone coming into the store or ordering food would be milling past your table. They had a ‘to go’ option which is what we chose to do. Every meal.
The following day we walked the same route we ran the day before (much easier walking!), then grabbed some breakfast from the restaurant—biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs for $8 which we split. The biscuits were good enough that we bought a couple more and had them with blueberry preserves. We left the dogs again to head to the Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Sidenote: Dogs are not allowed on any of the trails in the state park. We had a reservation for 1 p.m. to do the underground river boat tour so we decided to hike to the Natural Bridge before our tour.
It's called a “State Resort Park” because it had several features a normal state park doesn’t have such as a lodge, swimming pool, sky lift, miniature golf, restaurant and gift store. We took the original trail (that’s the actual name of it) to battleship rock trail, then to laurel ridge trail. We walked under the natural bridge, a huge flat rock connecting two rocky points, then went on top of it through a very narrow gap between two high rock walls, then past it to a viewpoint that allowed us to look back at it from a distance. The hike was spectacular—so many wonderful rock formations, stairs built into the mountainside, and of course the amazing natural bridge—everything about the place felt magical! I would highly recommend coming here just for this experience alone.
The hike wasn’t long—2.73 total miles, but so worth it. Just a note: there was a considerable amount of climbing to get up to the natural bridge and the narrow passageway through the rocks would be very difficult for a large person. You can still experience the grandeur of the natural bridge if you take the sky lift to the top. I believe it’s about $15 per person.
Sadly, the underground river tour was a disappointing experience which is unfortunate because I’d really been looking forward to it. Had we made reservations earlier we could have done the glass bottomed kayaks, which I believe is a much better experience from the reviews I’ve read. But we didn’t realize you had to book so far in advance for the glass bottom kayaks, so we didn’t try to get tickets until a week prior to our arrival, and the boat was the only thing left. You need to make reservations at least two months in advance if you want to see the cave that particular way, as it turns out. They have regular kayaks as well, but those tours aren’t nearly as popular.
The boats are advertised as a glass bottom experience as well but that’s misleading. It did have small “see through” viewing areas through the middle of the boat, but since they didn’t light it up (like they do with the kayaks), and the cave is completely dark inside without a light source, you couldn’t see anything. I wasn’t sure what the point was of having ‘glass bottom’ boats if you can’t see anything through them. Maybe it’s me?
The guide was a personable man in his late 60’s who tried to give the tour some humor and pizzaz (especially for the kids), but he couldn’t really make up for what the tour was lacking, which was a lot in my opinion. It wasn’t a natural cave but an old limestone mine that had flooded when they accidentally hit the water table during blasting. So it was mostly rough, gray toned, stone…everywhere. You could have stayed within a few feet of the entrance and not missed anything. Sounds harsh, but hey, I call it as I see it…
The fish that were in the underground river (a big selling point for the tour) were regularly stocked because the water is too cold for them to spawn, so they can’t survive there naturally. Also, the staff has to go into the cave and feed the fish daily, by hand, because there’s no natural food source for them. So the fish are basically put in the river for the tourists ‘to find’. Hmmm… The only time we saw any of these ‘cave fish’ was when the guide shone his flashlight into the water, and you happened to get lucky enough to see some.
The ‘cave’ had no real character except for the many tunnels that could be explored (maybe in the more expansive kayak tour?), and in one area there were baby stalactites starting to form on the rock ceiling. So, just come back in say, a million years or so, and you might see something impressive.
If you see the pretty pictures on Facebook of this underground river and want to go there, I would strongly suggest making advanced reservations to do the glass bottomed kayaks and not the boat (which in my opinion is a waste of time and money). The kayak tour is more expensive ($75 per person as opposed to $30 for the boat) but the kayak tour is an hour and a half, where the boat is only 30 minutes, and the bottom of the kayak is lit up with fluorescent green or blue lights so you can actually see the fish. If you’re not in to unnaturally stocked fish or a cold lifeless flooded mine system, then I would probably skip this one.
We ordered pizza from the campground restaurant, arguably the best food we got here, and took it back to the trailer just as a big thunderstorm settled over the area like a huge dark stifling blanket. The thunder boomed, the lightening flashed, and the rain came down in sideways sheets as we huddled in our trailer, safe and warm while we stuffed pizza in our mouths and tried to comfort the dogs that were feeling just a little bit anxious.
As the storm raged on, another rumbling could be detected in the distance through the roaring thunder—dozens and dozens of pumped up, engine revving, street racing, muscle cars coming from every direction, converging on the campground, which seemed ill-prepared to manage a testosterone-fed display of this magnitude. Jeeps with doors removed, encased with layers of caked on mud and oversized knobby tires, along with beat-up pickup trucks with oversized engines to match their oversized tires, littered with dents, rust, and splattered dried-on mud got in on the act, as if in answer to the wild call of the adrenaline-charged street racers overwhelming the campground.
Just as the thunderstorm was passing, the ‘cruise in’ took its place. Unbeknownst to us, that particular weekend (Father’s Day) was a big muscle car rally that would encompass the entire little valley we were in, and Callie’s Campground and Lake, was right in the heart of it all. By choice. Needless to say, the dogs anxiety rose with the noise--the gunning engines, spinning tires, cars bouncing restlessly side to side as if mighty beasts were trapped under the hoods desperately trying to escape. They paraded endlessly through the campground and out on the road. It was truly a spectacle to behold and not for the faint of heart! Our dogs weren’t the only ones anxious; I was coming out of my skin! This went on till sometime after 10 p.m., my nerves were so frazzled that all I could think about was getting the hell out of there. We got up early the next morning, broke camp in record speed and left as quickly as we could, thankful to be on our way once again, down the road to our next destination, the Great Smoky Mountains and hopefully some peace!
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