Natural Bridge State Park

After Meric and I left Snug Hollow we headed over to Natural Bridge State Park to do some hiking. I have heard about this area from a few people but had never been. It is just over two hours away from our house.

We pulled up to a parking lot which marked the start of a few trails and a ski lift. You have the option to ride up to natural bridge by ski lift or hike up. Meric and I were there for the hiking but I have never ridden on a ski lift before. We opted to ride up and hike down.

I am a little scared of heights and being on a slow moving ski lift made me nervous but the view was beautiful and it was nice to ride. At the end of the ski lift you have only 600ft until you are on the natural bridge. Yes I said on. I thought we were just hiking to where we had a good view but you actually end up on top on it.

Again I was a little nervous because there is no guard rail or fence along the edge. You are up high and there is a bit of a drop down. But again the views were breath taking and I was so glad we decided to go.

View from below

 

From the top you can take a little path down to beneath the bridge and then you have a few options of trails to take back down.


Did I say "little" path? I should have said narrow.

 

The entire area was so beautiful and the rock formations were very cool. Meric was drooling and really wanted to go rock climbing.

Just a couple of examples of the unique rock formations

The trail back down was fairly easy but had a few more difficult spots.

Definitely not a path for tall people

In some places there were stairs carved into the rock. One spot was fairly steep with small winding stairs. It reminded me of the stairs of Cirith Ungol. (Yes I am a nerd but so are you if you know what I mean.)

It is really hard to see the stairs in these pictures

 

After the hike we pulled off at Miguel's Pizza for lunch. When we left Snug Hollow the owner drew us a map to the State Park. On the map she made note of this pizza place and recommended we try it. I am glad she mentioned it or we probably would have missed it. It is a little building next to a gravel parking lot. It isn't much to look at and the inside seemed a little worn. We went to the counter and ordered our pizza and then sat down in a booth. Not two minutes later the line at the counter was huge and we could tell that this pizza place was definitely a landmark and part of the Natural Bridge experience. Meric loved that it was a climbing store as well. From the ceiling hung every piece of equipment you would need to go rock climbing.

When we were done with our pizza we drove to another spot marked on our map. This one was called Nada Tunnel. We had no idea what it was but it wasn't too far and since she took the time to mark it on our map we figured it was worth checking out. We drove along the road until we reached the tunnel and it was definitely worth seeing. The tunnel is a one lane tunnel carved out of the rock. Only one car at a time can fit through, it is very tight and very dark. It was so cool to see.

Two motorcycles heading into the tunnel

We really fell in love with this whole area of Kentucky. None of these pictures do it justice. Meric and I can't wait to come back and explore it some more.