Some times things get messy!

We are enjoying a three-night stay at Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky, but we have to admit that some times things can get messy. We got some rain while we were here, so the hiking trails were muddy, and that can cause some mess. But we complicated that muddy mess on the trail. We use the maps on the Alltrails app every time we start a hike. It has gotten us safely home many times--but today it led us astray. We decided to make the hike to Gray's Arch into a loop, because the dotted lines (that indicate the trail's path on the app) made a loop. We were a little surprised when our directions led us down an unmaintained trail, and then a sheer drop off. Mark made it down the cliff, and then helped Denisa down as well, Whew! That was tricky!

A little ways past that wall we came to another drop off--now on both sides with no way to continue. Because we couldn't go any further, then we had to somehow climb back up that sheer wall. If you notice that the pictures of this messy situation are all of Mark, that's because it really wasn't pretty trying to get Denisa up and down this wall. Mark had his hands full boosting and catching her, so he didn't have any open hands to take a picture of our predicament.

After scaling the wall, we back-tracked a quarter-mile down that unmaintained trail. Then we were back on-track to some nice rock views.

It wasn't long before we arrived at our destination--Gray's Arch!

Sometimes it's hard to picture how big things are, but Mark looks very small against that left-hand side of the arch. Gray's Arch is 50 feet tall and 80 feet wide. It was messy, but we have wandered into another of God's wonders!

Mark has a hard time standing under an arch. He much would prefer to climb up onto the arch. So that's what he tried to do. It was a tough climb!

But he did make it all the way to the top. Denisa took a close-up of him in the sunlight at the top of the arch . . .

because it's hard to spot him even with his bright shirt and his arms raised. He's in the upper right hand corner of the picture below.

He could look down at Denisa far below under the arch. That's when we figured it out. Remember when we were at the point of the messy trail with steep drop offs on both sides? We were actually standing on top of that arch and didn't realize it. The Alltrails app made the dotted trail lines look like they were connected, but they were actually separated by a very important 50 feet--in height! What a mess!

The hike to Gray's Arch is very popular in the Red River Gorge, because it provides a big arch with just a 1.2-mile hike--if you stay on the proper trail and don't get lost. During wet weather, a waterfall can also be seen pouring over the edge of this rock wall.

But it does require going down (and then up) many stairs to make it to the arch.

This area is officially known as the Red River Gorge National Geological Area, and it hosts over 100 different natural arches--the highest concentration of any area east of the Rocky Mountains. What a great place to visit! But we were also interested in doing some kayaking. We found a nice lake less than a mile from our campground.

In between some rain showers we put the boat on the water of Mill Creek Lake. What a beautiful view, and what could possibly be messy about floating around in this pristine clear water?

We spotted a line of movement on the top of the water. Is that a tongue flicking out of that mouth?

It's hard to get a camera to focus on a moving target going across clear water, so the images are a little blurry. Mark is always more excited to see snakes than Denisa is. Denisa thinks encounters like this are a little messy.

We continued our kayak trip on this nice-temperature-no-wind day. What could possibly go wrong?

Then it happened! Splat! It must have been a very big bird flying directly overhead that decided to poop as it flew over Denisa. It landed on her shirt, and shorts, and leg with a direct hit. What a mess! We're not sure why, but it seems that these "special" bird encounters always happen to Denisa.

We enjoyed the wonders at Red River Gorge National Geological Area. But in full disclosure--some times things get messy!