Sheltowee Trace- Day 8- Magical

 Our first challenge for the day was to cross the Red River. There is a high water route that is longer, but there is so little water it really wasn't any big deal. This was the deepest it got where we chose to cross.

There used to be a nice suspension bridge for the trail, but that got taken out in flooding a few years ago. This is all that's left.

Even though the day was mostly cloudy, there was just enough sunlight in the morning to make a reflection of this big rock where we crossed.

The best news of the day was the temperature. It stayed about 70° all day with a few rain showers. After some weedy bottomland we climbed to the top of our highest hill for the day. There were a few bald rocks like in Minnesota on the way up.

The very best part of the day was in the early afternoon. There was a narrow gorge along a stream that was just magical! The pictures don't begin to capture it. Our first hint was this view down the trail with the huge rhododendron leaves and the shiny spot at the bottom. That turned out to be a pool of water that when there is more water would be the top of a waterfall!

We continued to wander down along the rock wall with a creek and another rock wall on our right.

I'm always fascinated by the textures of the rocks.

Because the area is mixed sanstone and limestone, very different things can be in the same area. Across the stream we found this huge triangular pillar of limestone.

Bill liked thinking about exploring the caves. A lot of them looked like good bear dens. Others seemed like they could shelter people.

We are taking tomorrow off. That was planned for Thursday, but tomorrow looks like a rain day with good weather after that, so we are going to do errands, real world stuff and blah blah.

Miles hiked in 2026: 410
Sheltowee Trace miles: 85.5

Sheltowee Trace, Kentucky. Red River to Natural Bridge Trailhead, 7.6 official miles, plus 0.4 mile to get back to the bridge from the trailhead for a total of 8.0 for the day.

See Sheltowee Trace- Day 7- Indian Arch