I’ve always had an interest in photography; however I didn’t actually follow through with it until April of 2008. Before photography became a passion, I always had one for the outdoors. I loved being out on the trail, and after a long absence I finally returned to an old favorite hiking and backpacking destination known as The Red River Gorge.
The Red River Gorge, (locally known as “The Red”,) is a mere two hours drive from where I live in Cincinnati Ohio. The Red River Gorge in Kentucky is one of the best places to explore arches, defined as geological formations which took millions of years to form. It is hard to believe that a place this beautiful is so close to Cincinnati.
The previous winter I spent re-buying hiking gear and by that April I was not only anxious to see The Red River Gorge, but to test out my gear. It was a last minute decision for me to bring the only camera I owned at the time, a Fuji Finepix F-480 point-n-shoot. So two friends of mine and me loaded up my truck on an early cool April morning and headed out.
We arrived anxiously at “The Red” and right away all three of us agreed to hike a well known and fantastic trail called Indian Stairway. As many times as I have been to The Red, the one trail I never got to hike was Indian Stairway (also known as Indian Staircase).
After a little time trying to find the trailhead, we finally found a small paved lot to park. I packed on my crisp new daypack filled with a camelback, rain gear, Power Bars, small odds and ends, and my trekking pole anxious to hit the trail.
The beginning of the trail ascents up and meanders over small creeks. After many years of being lazy I was humble
d quickly on how out of shape I actually was.While huffing and puffing upward, I remembered that I put my small point and shoot digital camera in my pocket. I pulled out the camera and took a shot of the Eastern Hemlock evergreen trees that blanketed the hillside. Because it was April and most deciduous trees were still blooming, I was able to see the vast amount of Evergreens.
As we continued upward, I was reminded of the smells and sounds of the environment around me. The smell of fallen pine needles, and the sounds of insects. After a previous long cold winter it was nice to have the mild temperatures, and the feeling of summer like weather was a very welcome feeling.
After about 30 minutes of hiking upward, we started to come across hints that we were actually approaching the Indian Stairway. From this point we were not only going to continue hiking upward, but also climbing up the very familiar sand stone rocks The Red is known for.
After climbing up some sandstone rocks and formations the real climb started. Climbing the actual Indian Stairway is considered a “Right of Passage” for those who really want to hike The Red. It is believed that Indian Stairway was carved by ancient Indians where they grinded foot holds into the sandstone. Although it’s not a particularly hard climb, it can be a bit scary to those who are not used scaling rock. Especially when you look back as you’re climbing.
Finally after climbing the actual stairway we were awarded to an amazing view of the ridge. On top I couldn't help but to be grateful that I once again was out in the back country.
As we stopped to take a break and enjoy the amazing view, we continued the trail which goes along the top of the ridge and eventually goes back down. As we hiked we were never deprived of great panoramic views and I lagged behind often to take many pictures.
As we started our decent down, we followed sandstone formations to our left. While descending I noticed a small arch known as Impostor Arch. Impostor meaning that it is not consider a "real" arch" because it's actually two large formations together. The below image is the original third arch to my framed print titled "Three Arches".
The hike was long but worth every step. As we finally made it back to my truck we decided there was enough time in the day to do one more trail. We decided to do the trail known as Angels Windows.
The Angels Windows trail is a very small trail with some nice small arches at the end. We didn't need to wear our packs so with water bottles in hand, we hiked the short distance to see the formation. It was the perfect destination to end our day of hiking.
It is these two bottom arches in the above picture I shot that were the first two out of three pictures in the framed "Three Arches".
It was this day that basically launched my passion and love for photography. Shortly after I edited the three arches photos and created this final piece.
wow the first photos look like paintings :)
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