Hiking Kentucky's Red River Gorge: Your Definitive Guide to the Jewel of the Southeast Paperback – November 20, 2012

A group of us are going down to Red River Gorge next month and there are so many trails to hike and so many things to see, I was having a hard time figuring out what to do in one weekend so after a little research discovered this is the "go to" guide that many people have relied on so I got it. First off, the book is 8"x5" making it a very easy size to tuck into a large pocket to take with you on the hikes if necessary...which I plan on doing. The next thing was that I was very impressed that they used the inside cover as an overview map showing where all the trails (they cover in the book) are which makes it very quick and easy to at get directions. That is very handy.Separate from the table of contents there is a "recommended hikes" list that breaks up all the trails by types; which are best to see arches, which are best for backpacking, for kids, for geology, for scenic creeks, for seclusion, for scenic views and for wildflowers. I really thought that was a nice touch so you could find the exact type of trails you wanted.Sean Patrick Hill rates each trail in five categories via a five star system and gives specific definitions of what each star represents. The five categories being Scenery, Difficulty, Trail Condition, Children and Solitude. Again, this gives you information so you can find the exact type of trail you want to hike.There is plenty of other information per trail, such as the coordinates of the trail heads, what kind of facilities each trail has (bathrooms), is the trail wheelchair accessible, distance, configuration, highlights, elevation, comments, etc...Each trail has it's own map and elevation chart with an overview and description written by Sean Patrick Hill. There are also directions listed for each trail.I'm very happy I got this book and if you're thinking of hiking the Gorge, I highly recommend this as a guide.The only negative thing I can say is that the photos weren't in color and not very exciting. Of course this just means I need to go see those things for myself, right?

We bought this book before a three-day hiking trip into the Red River Gorge. We are not experienced hikers. In fact, we were complete amateurs. Yet this book gave us the perfect amount of information to find hikes that met all of our requirements: they were challenging without being overwhelming, we could find the fairly unpopulated trails, and we had fairly flawless directions and bits of trivia to keep us focused on where we were. The only downside was that the actual directions TO the various entrances was oftentimes off. It might say to go three miles after a turn but the actual distance would end up being much shorter. Once I knew to keep a better eye on the road signage, everything was fine. And really, when it came to the actual trails, the ones we hiked seemed to be accurately described all around in the book.

Excellent summary of enough hikes to keep you busy for a while (though not every possible hike). Each hike rated by scenery, trail condition, appropriate for children, difficulty, and -important in the gorge- solitude. We used one recommendation to turn Grays arch into a 3.3 mile loop and saw TRULY "stunning " (the book's word) scenery. Felt like we were discovering a treasure, unknown to the crowds we left behind at Grays arch. The complete descriptions are helpful in choosing a hike that is a good fit for your party/available time. We're not new to the gorge but learned a lot from this book. This edition is printed 2016 and reflects very current trail conditions.

I used to know most of the trails in the Red River Gorge area like the back of my hand. As the years have passed I don't get to hike and camp nearly as much as I used to and so when it came time to plan a 2 night backpacking trip with my buddies I felt that I needed a good guide book in order to plan the trip. This book proved to provide excellent details. Trail directions were clear and accurate. Elevation changes, difficulty, etc... were all accurate and very helpful. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning on doing some hiking/camping in the Gorge or surrounding areas such as Natural Bridge.

Great reference to have! Very descriptive on the difficulty of the trails. Includes some that aren’t marked in the forest. I was parked at trail heads planning my next hike and several people commented and asked to read it. All thumbs up!

This book was so helpful on our trip to red river. We used it everyday we were there. The fact that it had coordinates for the trail heads was super. My husband and I were looking to hike into tower rock for a multi pitch rock climbing adventure but all of the climbing websites had very vague descriptions of were the trail head was. The coordinates for the trail head were right in this book and we were able to hike in and climb for the day. That alone was worth it. Don't miss the princess arches if you are in the area. Very neat spot.

Good book with informative guide to many hikes.I will be using it a lot when the weather warms up and we will do a lot of hiking in red river gorge

I just returned from a hiking trip in the Red River Gorge. This book was by far my most valuable resource for hikes. I did a good deal of reading about the various hikes prior to our trip. The we would review various hikes every evening to plan the following day. We took this book in our back pack and referred back to it often and also used it to find our way through some of the less well marked hikes. The directions provided were easy to follow and helped us navigate loops that traversed various marked trails I can't imagine we would have been able to navigate easily without this book.