WOLFE CO., Ky. (LEX 18) — Cleanup continues in the Red River Gorge after trees fell on roads, trails, and campgrounds last Friday. Native Kentuckian Jeff Wade hasn’t been to the gorge in 40 years.
“To me this place is just full of fantastic memories,” Wade said. He lives in Colorado now with his wife, Joanne, but he finally returned to the gorge this weekend. The two planned to hike to Chimney Rock Sunday.
“We got to the road and it was closed off,” Wade said. “I didn’t remember how far it was to Chimney Rock, and so it turned out to be five miles I think. So we hiked that five miles, and we must have climbed over thirty trees along the way that were down across the road.”
Crews are working to clear damage and debris from the Red River Gorge, starting with the roads.
“We’re kind of looking at the infrastructures, buildings, roads first. We haven’t even really got to the trails yet,” said Tim Eling, public affairs officer for the Daniel Boone National Forest.
On their walk down Chimney Rock Rd, Wade said, “there was a couple that had trees behind them and trees in front of them. They were just stuck in the car.”
“Our crews did have to spend some time Friday getting people out, sawing through some trees, and asking people to leave because we were going to be closing the roads,” Eling added.
Fall is the peak season for visitors to the Red River Gorge, and October is the busiest month. Eling said they hope to have roads fully cleared within a week. Then, the attention will turn to the trails.
“I would expect it will take longer to assess the trails,” Eling said. “I think people need to be aware that there may be some impacts to trails for some time. Either blowdowns or even potentially some washouts due to heavy rain.”
Currently, there are four US Forest Service roads still closed in the gorge, and the Koomer Ridge Campgrounds is closed from a lot of downed trees as well. At the moment, trails are open, visitors to the gorge should be cautious.
“As I mentioned, the trails, we haven’t really got to yet,” Eling said. “They are technically open, but be aware that there could be extensive blowdowns that you have to go through. Could be washouts. This maybe isn’t the time to go out there until things kind of like get cleaned up.”
Despite the damage, Eling said he had not heard of any injuries reported from the storms.
