Red River Gorge

The Red River Gorge is located close to Eagle Cliff Resort in eastern Kentucky. The gorge is a very popular tourist attraction known for its abundant natural stone arches, unusual rock formations, and spectacular sandstone cliffs. The Red River Gorge offers scenic drives with overlooks, hiking trails, and historic sites. Flowing through the gorge is the 19.4 mile Red River which has been designated as a wild and scenic river. It offers canoeing and whitewater rafting opportunities.

The Red River Gorge has been designated a geological area by the USDA Forest Service. This is a unique and scenic natural area within the Daniel Boone National Forest.

The Red River Gorge Geological Area is managed by the USDA Forest Service as part of the Daniel Boone National Forest. The Red River Gorge and surrounding areas have many designations and are managed to protect watersheds, wildlife, archaeological resources, the spectacular geologic features, and provide year-round public use and enjoyment.

Geology
The Red River Gorge Geological Area has over 100 natural arches, the greatest concentration of arches east of the Rocky Mountains.

The defining geologic strata of the Red River Gorge were formed about 300 million years ago. Sediment, sand and pebbles eroding from the ancient Appalachian Mountains were carried by a great river and deposited as a delta at the edge of a shallow inland sea that covered much of the middle part of North America at that time.

Over millions of years, the mountains were worn down, the sediments turned to rock and the inland sea receded. Gradually, streams began cutting down through the relatively flat layers of sedimentary rock. Because sandstone is a harder rock, it resisted erosion better than the shale and siltstone layers above and below.

Erosion and weathering over millions of years sculpted the striking sandstone cliffs and intriguing geologic features that we see today in the Red River Gorge. The deeply dissected landscape is an intricate maze of narrow, winding ridges and valleys separated by steep slopes and continuous bands of high sandstone cliffs, making travel between the uplands and valleys very difficult.

Habitat Diversity
This rugged landscape creates a variety of environmental conditions that provide diverse habitats for many species of plants and animals.

Along the ridgetops are lichen-covered sandstone outcroppings and thin, dry soils with sparse oak-pine forests. In the cool, moist coves of the narrow valleys grow rich, mixed forests containing a great variety of tree species, including tulip poplar, sweet birch, yellow buckeye, and bigleaf magnolia.

Extensive clifflines of exposed sandstone occur at the edge of ridges above steep, forested slopes. Hollowed spaces, known as rockshelters, often form at the base of overhanging sandstone cliffs. These cliffs and rockshelters provide unique microclimates that certain species of plants and animals depend upon.

Virginia big-eared bats utilize rockshelters and deep, dark crevices in the cliffs for feeding, resting and rearing their young. White-haired goldenrod, federally listed as a threatened species, is found in rockshelters and along cliffs only in the Red River Gorge, occurring nowhere else in the world.

Archaeology
The first people to come to the Red River Gorge probably arrived about 13,000 years ago when glaciers still covered much of the land to the north. Small bands of ice-age hunters, now called Paleoindians, followed herds of mastodons and wooly mammoths to Kentucky and utilized the abundant natural resources found here.

From time to time, small groups of prehistoric people took up residence in the rockshelters of the Red River Gorge. They hunted game, birds and fish and harvested acorns, nuts, wild fruit, fungi, and various plants for food and other useful items.

About 3,000 years ago, the people who lived in the Red River Gorge started cultivating wild plants in small garden plots. Recent scientific excavations of rockshelters in the Red River Gorge and the surrounding areas uncovered seeds that showed evidence of early plant domestication. The dry, sandy soils in rockshelters of the Red River Gorge contain a wealth of information about the origins of agriculture in this area.

Archaeology provides insight into the lives of prehistoric people and glimpses of the Red River Gorge as it was when they lived here.

The dry, nitrate-rich soils of rockshelters in the Red River Gorge provide for excellent preservation of plant materials and other normally perishable artifacts. The unique conditions that ensure preservation of historic and prehistoric artifacts make this area extremely valuable for archaeological research. However, there is much to be discovered about the archaeological resources of the Red River Gorge.

In 2003, the Red River Gorge, Clifty Wilderness, and the Indian Creek area was designated a National Archaeological District and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Red River
In 1973, a 9-mile stretch of the Red River upstream from the confluence of Copperas Creek was designated as a Kentucky Wild River. Congress designated this same section as a National Wild River in 1985, making it the first National Wild and Scenic River in Kentucky. The Red River National Wild and Scenic River includes a 10-mile section of Recreation River downstream from the Wild River to the confluence of Schoolhouse Branch.

The upper stretches of the Red River tumble over huge boulders in a narrow, twisting gorge lined by towering cliffs with overhanging rock ledges, mature hemlock trees, and thickets of rhododendron.

Gladie Cultural - Environmental Learning Center
Visitors to the Learning Center will find interesting and informative exhibits designed to interpret the cultural heritage and unique resources of the Red River Gorge. The center provides a place to rest, ask questions, and learn about the Red River Gorge. The public may purchase maps, passes, books, and souvenirs. The Gladie Center is open from spring through fall.

Gladie Cabin
A restored log cabin is located at the Gladie Historic Site. This structure dates back to the late 1800s when it was used as a post office during the logging era of the Red River Gorge.

Nada Tunnel
An interesting way to enter the Red River Gorge is through the 900-foot Nada Tunnel along KY 77. This 12’ x 12’ tunnel is open to one-lane traffic only.

Nada Tunnel and the community of Nada were named for the Dana Lumber Company. In the early 1900s, a logging company built the tunnel so they could haul logs out of the Red River Gorge by railroad. The tunnel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Koomer Ridge Campground
Koomer Ridge Campground features semi-primitive camping, with 54 sites available for tent or trailer camping (no hookups), vault and flush toilets, a bath house with showers, drinking water, grills, lantern posts, and picnic tables. Campsites are available for a fee, on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

Koomer Ridge Campground is in full operation from April through the end of October. A portion of the campground remains open year round, but the bathhouse is closed and no water is available during the off-season.

Clifty Wilderness
With passage of the Kentucky Wilderness Act of 1985, the U.S. Congress designated about half of the geological area as Clifty Wilderness. These lands were designated by Congress and are managed by the Forest Service as Wilderness, an area “retaining its primeval character . . . without permanent improvements or human habitation . . . protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions.”

The rugged terrain and lack of facilities within Clifty Wilderness offers hikers physical challenges, as well as opportunities for quiet and solitude.

As a wilderness area, Clifty is managed to preserve its natural conditions and to provide opportunities for primitive recreation. There are no modern facilities and few signs. A good map and backcountry skills are essential.