New and Red River Gorges

Hello!

We've been winding our way through southern West Virginia and Kentucky over the past week.  First we went to New River Gorge in Fayetteville, WV for some of the world's best climbing.  The routes were a little hard for me and combined with cool weather, we kept moving on.  But we did check out the overlook for the bridge.  It's the biggest arch bridge in the western hemisphere.  We had just missed the big local celebration (cleverly named Bridge Day) where they close down the bridge and parasailers jump off into the gorge.  That would have been neat to see.  

Instead, we checked out the local gear shop and I finally caved and bought myself a new pair of climbing shoes.  My big toe had busted through the old pair and it was becoming rather painful to keep climbing with them.  So here are the new little gems.  I think they might have been my early birthday present to myself.

We camped out at a pretty nice campground with a nice sink facilities and all the hot water I could want for my shower.  Except I had to keep hitting the button every 10 seconds.  You know those faucets where you push it down and you get a few seconds of water?  Just picture that every 10 seconds for a shower.  At least it was hot.

We left New River and headed west to Red River Gorge.  It definitely showed a whole different side of West Virginia that we didn't get to see from Seneca Rocks area.  Lots of coal.  (my only experience with coal has been on the little plastic trains that come out a Christmas time--they were loaded up just the same).  There was also a Dupont plant which gave light to why the area is called Chemical Valley.  Anyway, we stopped at this lovely waterfall on the way

We spent the whole weekend at Red River Gorge camping at Miguel's Pizza and campground.  It's definitely a hotspot for young climbers and it was packed.  And the pizza was pretty tasty too with toppings from Miguel's own garden.  We climbed all day Sunday and Monday at the Muir Valley area, generously kept open by a local couple.  I even got to lead a few climbs, getting harder with each one.

We were sad to leave yesterday afternoon, but the time had come.  We drove to Mammoth Cave last night and saw a random sighting of the Northern Lights on our way to our campsite.  A strange red glow in the sky.  Now we're waiting for our tour to begin at Mammoth Cave National Park where we'll be exploring underground caves for the next four hours!  I'll try to take some good photos!