Trail #221, known as the "Rough Trail", is the longest trail in the Red River Gorge at around 8 and 1/2 miles. Dispite its name, trail #221 is not the most difficult trail in the area though it certainly isn't the easiest. The particular hike featured on this page begain at the trailhead on KY 77 and ended at Gray's Arch so only a couple miles of trail #221 were covered. It is interesting to note that Gray's Arch is actually a few feet larger than the more famous Natural Bridge arch.
To begin the hike to Gray's Arch via Rough Trail, you begin at the trailhead on KY 77. There is a very small parking area on the side of the highway with the actual trail on the other side. This part of the trail actually has two different characters. The first 1/3 of the hike takes you along the banks of Martin's Branch stream. You'll cross this stream over a dozen times and there are no bridges. It's generally not wide nor deep and if you have a sturdy hiking stick and don't mind a little mud, you'll have no problems.
Following Martin's Branch part of the trail, you'll quickly climb several hundred feet and walk along higher and drier ground for the remainder of the hike to Gray's Arch. There are several nice overlooks along the way but beware that these have no guardrails so don't let children wander.
The first time I was here was in mid-March a few days after a heavy snowfall. Some of the overhangs had huge icicles. This particular day turned out to be warm and sunny so these icicles were breaking loose and crashing to the ground. A 10-ton chunk of ice falling 40 feet makes alot of noise. Sounded like cannons.
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Questions or comments? Drop me a line.