Angel Windows - Left Window - 1

Angel Windows Left Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky

Angels Windows - Left Window - 2

Angel Windows Left Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky

Angels Windows - Right Window - 1

Angel Windows Right Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky

Bald Rock Natural Bridge - 1

Bald Rock Natural Bridge Tributary Of Fall Creek Daniel Boone National Forest Laurel County Kentucky

Bolton Branch Arch East

Bolton Branch Twin Arches East Arch Cane Creek Wildlife Management Area Daniel Boone National Forest Laurel County Kentucky Another cool place that Chris and I visited on our arch overdose trip a few weeks ago were the Bolton Branch Arches. Located in the Cane Creek Wildlife Management Area of the Daniel Boone National Forest, Bolton Branch is actually a twin arch. Featured here is the East arch, which is much larger and far more photogenic of the two. I did take a photo of both arches in the same shot and eventually I'll share a photo of both arches. Although it's been said that I'm just complaining into the echo chamber, this was another arch we visited which had some trash as well as a massive fire pit under it. I didn't keep count but I know that Chris and I destroyed numerous fire pits throughout our trip and it's pretty frustrating. Arches are fragile things. Sure they're made of rock but that rock is soft sandstone. The heat rising from a fire will blacken the sandstone and cause the rock to become fragile, damaging and weakening a rare natural landform that took eons for wind and rain to create. I would like to ask all of you, if you are out chasing arches and you come across a fire pit, destroy it, Throw the rocks far, disperse the ash and toss the logs too. If you find trash, pack out what you can. If you see someone is camping beneath an arch respectfully explain to them why the should not. And regardless of what anyone says I'm going to continue to preach on how we need to respect, not only our arches, but our waterfalls and our forests too. Together we can make a difference!

Cascade Bridge - 1

Cascade Bridge Carter Caves State Park Kentucky With the exception of an unplanned stop by Horn Hollow Cave Falls, my intention on this early spring weekend was to visit the two remaining arches that I had not visited yet in Carter Caves State Park. Years ago, 12 to 15 years ago, myself and my good friend Jason Haley visited Box Canyon and the Cascade trail. I don't remember much about it other than I wasn't impressed for some reason. Recently when looking at a park map I noticed there was a natural bridge on the trail. I didn't remember a bridge when I was there last, so I was really curious how I missed it. Returning, we headed out to find the arch and after a short ascent; bam! It's right there in your face! Apparently, I must have been staring at the ground when we passed by here way back when. Maybe it is because it's kind of inconspicuous as there is only a few feet separating the bridge and the wall. It's not small either, I'm not sure of footage but it's quite impressive to view. As a photographer, there was something that absolutely amazed me about this arch, it's really photogenic and from several angles. Photographing arches, to me, is one tough subject to shoot, and there's several times I've walked away from one scratching my head and asking myself, "how?" Not this one though, nature has plenty of personality here and it was a true pleasure to visit it, and to top it off, just around the corner, is Box Canyon. I'm not sure why it left a negative taste in my mouth but my memory of this unique natural formation is way off. It's pretty flipping awesome. What a great place to walk and soak in our beautiful world.

Coal Branch Natural Bridge - 1

Coal Branch Natural Bridge Coal Branch Daniel Boone National Forest McCreary County Kentucky It's unusual for me to take a trip to Kentucky's Cumberland Falls/Big South Fork Area and come away with more natural arch photographs than waterfalls but it happened on this latest journey that we went on, in fact I shot 13 new to me arches. Featured here is the Coal Branch Natural Bridge and it was one of my favorites I visited on the trip, at 34 ft. tall and 80 ft. across it's larger than average. The journey to the bridge was just as much fun as getting to see it, as it is located just 100 ft into the Daniel Boone National Forest from a private land owner. Not to be the trespassing type Chris and I decided to park on a forest road about 1/2 mile away and skirt the National Forest boundary off trail. A light drizzle was falling as we began our journey which began downhill, crossing a small stream where we came to a 20 ft. tall cliff line, while following cautiously behind us 3 local dogs barked incessantly at us. Massive boulders that had separated from the cliff made for an interesting landscape as we made our way through the rhododendrons that had grown between them. Eventually we came to a place where we could scramble up the cliff and eventually on to a plateau. Fighting through God's Barbed Wire (as Chris likes to call them) aka thorn bushes we made our way across, then down off the plateau and then back up to onto another where after a short distance we found the bridge nestled in the cliff line. When you first look down on it you don't realize how large it is as the rhody's obscure the base below. At this point I was a little worried that my fear of heights was going to kick in but the scramble down wasn't as bad as it looked. Although the trek in was pretty aggravating it was well worth the effort to see this beauty. Something else that impressed me about this arch was the massive poplar you can see through the opening. Seriously, the base was huge! All in all this was a great arch and a great experience and I do look forward to a return trip to this arch if I ever get the chance!

Double Arch - 2

Double Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky It was so cool to finally make the hike to Double Arch in Kentucky's Red River Gorge back in December. Years ago I had been close but opted to hike to Courthouse Rock instead. It was a warm late autumn day and after a month of no hiking action I was a bit out of shape for the 5 + mile round trip hike that included a stop by Star Gap Arch. It's hard to tell but there's two arches here, one on top of the other, the upper one is very thin and hard to see unless your over on Auxier Ridge or you scale the incline to the right. Definitely a must visit when you are in the area and one I'm glad I finally got to see!

Fern Bridge - 1

Fern Bridge Carter Caves State Park Kentucky One of the things I just love about Kentucky is, if we haven't had any rain for the waterfalls we've got plenty of arches to visit and it is said that Kentucky is the state with the second highest concentration of natural arches in the union. One of my favorite arches to visit is Fern Bridge in Carter Caves State Park, stretching 110 ft. it has 5th largest span in the eastern US and 2nd largest in Kentucky. I've been here several times now and I seriously think it's one of the hardest arches that I've ever tried to shoot and mainly because of the hard contrast between the cliff wall behind the arch and the bright light in the gully out front. On our latest trip here, a couple of weekends ago, I thought I'd try something different and get down in the stream bed and shoot up at the bridge from there. I just loved this down-in-a-hole view of this gorgeous natural wonder!

Fishtrap Natural Bridge - 1

Fishtrap Natural Bridge Daniel Boone National Forest Laurel County Kentucky I am constantly amazed as I explore my wondrous home of Kentucky. This past weekend myself and several good friends headed out to Fishtrap Natural Bridge in northern Laurel County outside London. Armed in a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 3 inch lift we made our way across a severely rutted, incredibly bumpy National Forest road loaded with deep puddles and fallen trees. Imagine yourself sitting in a bottle of A-1 Steak Sauce and being shook up violently before being poured onto T-Bone Steak, because that's what it felt like happened. After parking the jeep at the beginning of an old 4-wheeler path we got out and did our best to untense ourselves from our ride. According to the GPS we were about a quarter mile from the bridge so we began our decent. Having never been here before the 4 wheeler trail went off to the left away from our destination so I opted to continue in the direction of the coordinates off trail making our way down to a small runoff where we turned and followed it further downhill. A short time later we saw the bridge and what a sight it was! With two waterfalls, it is a natural bridge with a span of 77 ft that is 22 ft high and a deck that is only 4 ft thick. One can't just stand there and not feel small in the presence of the incredible natural feature. Although there an numerous perspectives to shoot the bridge, today my favorite was underneath the arch shooting towards the sun, to me it offered the best options to accentuate it's massive size. And to be honest, I can't wait to come back here after a rain event, if you look closely to the left and right of the trees in the enormous hole you can see the two waterfalls. Can you image what this would look like after 2 inches of rain? Yeah, this place is pretty special and is definitely one of the best kept secrets of the Daniel Boone National Forest! Oh, and that atv path that went off to the left, it did lead down to the arch. We found that out on the way back up.

Grey's Arch - 1

Red River Gorge Over winter I took a trip down with a good friend and his youngsters to one of my favorite places on Earth, Red River Gorge. Or itinerary for the day had us going to the Grey's Arch near end of day, since the last time I was here I went early and direct sunlight made shooting the arch and it's rock house a difficult challenge. We had hiked to Ravens Rock and I was beyond wore out after that and was considering not even going to the arch but as we had a late lunch in the truck snow showers had left a light blanket of snow on the ground and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. The scene at Grey's Arch is truly one of the most spectacular scenes in Kentucky and in my opinion in the eastern US. A massive rock recess scattered with monstrous boulders stacked on top on one another leads to the arch that sits atop a ridge. In the middle of the recess is a 10 ft. tall crevice that runs almost 3/4ths of the recess and it offers some of the coolest views of the arch. The 1.2 mile hike for the most part is easy but the final .2 miles is more difficult as you drop down into a gorge by trekking nearly 100 steps, but it is well worth it and this place should be on everyone's list to visit sometime in their life.

Grey's Arch - 3

Grey's Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky Photograph captured after 18 inches of snow fell on the red Jan 2016. I sure hope everyone survived the snowpocalypse last week. Wow what a mess Nonetheless; I couldn't resist getting myself knee deep in it as my good friend Chris and I drove down to Red River Gorge Saturday morning and hiked up Tunnel Ridge Road and to Grey's Arch; a round trip 5 mile journey in 18 inches of snow. It was truly an adventure of pain; cold; exhaustion; failure; suffering; awe; beauty and success; all details that I will share at a later time. For now it's a short story to accompany this image from beneath my favorite arch; the sandstone and snow contrasting against one another. Truly one of my favorite things to see in nature.

Gray's Arch - 6

Gray's Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky On my most recent trip to Grays Arch I'd planned on getting some perspectives that I've attempted to shoot before because of poor lighting conditions, but I couldn't resist getting some perspectives I've shot in the past as well. With this in mind, myself and good friend Jason Haley made a late afternoon jaunt to the arch knowing that the sun would be low enough to not effect the photos. Being my favorite arch I couldn't have asked for better foliage or light conditions and I couldn't think of any other way to spend a warm autumn Wednesday afternoon.

Gray's Arch - 5

Gray's Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky Photo captured after 18 inches of snow fell on The Red. To me Grey's Arch is Kentucky's most scenic arch and this perspective here is the reason why as a trail of boulders lead up to it's base. An observation on this visit, I noticed that the sandstone above was illuminated by the light reflecting off the snow below, revealing colors in the recess and cliff I'd never seen before. I've been on the fence whether hiking in 18 inches of snow for a round trip of 5 miles was worth the trip, but the more I think about it the more I think it was. There was bit of physical pain and suffering endured after Chris and I left the arch thanks to all the snow we fought trying to get there. I doubt I'll ever attempt another hike in conditions like that ever again, but I'm glad to say that I visited one of Kentucky's most beautiful natural features after a major snow event where it had been unspoiled the presence of man.

Natural Bridge - 1

Natural Bridge Natural Bridge State Park Kentucky After spending quite a bit of time shooting from Lookout Point at Kentucky's Natural Bridge State Park we finally turned our attention at the reason we had made the hike, to photograph Natural Bridge. We made the ridge top hike and crossed over the bridge taking in the soaring view then headed down below. The natural arch is impressive, at 78 ft across and 65 feet high. Although it is very cool, the area beneath the bridge is very "state park", as there is a wood fence that surrounds the base only that only allows a visitor just pass under and around it. Nonetheless we found a cool perspective to shoot the bridge from below and I don't think we could have picked a better time to pay this place a visit although I'm itching to shoot the bridge in October.

Pretty House Arch - 1

Pretty House Arch Daniel Boone National Forest London District Jackson County, Kentucky

Pretty House Arch - 2

Pretty House Arch Daniel Boone National Forest London District Jackson County, Kentucky Many of you probably don't know it but I have a serious fear of heights and falling. Though she meant well, my Mom instilled these fears in me when I was a child. She wouldn't allow me to climb the ladder to help Dad on the roof of the house or if we were off in some state or national park I wasn't allowed to climb or jump on the rocks or anything else of that nature. She was worried I would get hurt or even die, as I was her only child. Years later my passion for visiting things in nature, and this primal fear have been at constant odds. 10 years ago I had trouble walking out on Sky Bridge, but over the years I've pushed myself to face this fear and push beyond it. Today I go places I could have never imagined I could go, the fear is still there but I work with it and through it, most of the time. Which brings us to tonight's post. This past weekend my good friend Jason Haley and I made the relatively short hike to Pretty House Arch in the London District of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Jackson County, Kentucky. We followed an unmarked mostly uphill trail to a massive rock outcropping on a ridge top. We made our way around the base where eventually we came to where we could see the arch, high above in the cliff line. "You've got to be kidding me." I thought to myself. "And it is a beauty too." Scanning my options I saw there was the possibility I could scramble up a section of sandstone in the face of the cliff, but from where I was standing I didn't like it at all. Off in the distance I saw that the towering rock eventually met the flat top of the ridge. "Perhaps I can come in from there", I thought. I continued along the base of the cliff line to see if it was an option and as I made my way atop the rock complex I was able to move closer and closer to the arch, where eventually I found myself above it. With sheer 40 ft. drops on each side I started to panic and I was realizing that I wasn't going to be able find a way down or around, but Jason who had made his way from below called out to me and said there was a way down to the arch from where I was. It certainly didn't look like it from where I was standing. The area I had to walk across was only about 5 feet wide before I could even give it a look. I thought to myself, "I didn't do all this work for nothing." So I walked towards the arch to have a look and I saw that the scramble down was a very comfortable decent outside the fact that off the to right was straight down and I had about a 3 foot width to work with. Again I was hesitant, but I told myself I wasn't going to miss this arch, "there's no turning back." Swallowing my fear, I made my way down and hopped to it's base. Boy, was I glad I did, what a beauty! It was so worth it! Due to the tight spaces compositions were limited, but this perspective here was my favorite! And that ascent I was concerned about? Well, it wasn't so bad to go down at all!

Princess Arch - 1

Princess Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest In all the times I've been to Red River Gorge I only went to Princess Arch for the first time within the last few years. It's not a big arch, about 10 ft tall and 25 ft long, but it's worth the .3 mile hike and it is unique. Just beyond the back left of the arch it is a sheer drop off for several hundred feet and is a favorite repelling spot. Thanks to a very overcast sky along with some wet conditions it really helped bring out the colors of the sand and trees as well as helped tone down the light contrast.

Princess Arch - 3

Princess Arch Red River Gorge Geological Area Daniel Boone National Forest Kentucky As many times that I have been to Kentucky's Red River Gorge over my life amazingly I only found out about Princess Arch around 7 years ago when I got an official park map. What blew my mind even more was that the trail head is located in the same parking area as the trail head for Chimney Rock. The hike to the arch is short, the trail marker says .5 miles but I seriously disagree, it's more like .25 of a mile. What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for it in beauty as the arch slightly dog legs to the left as it follow the ridge line. It's pretty abnormal for me to shoot on a sunny day but I've decided I'm getting out this fall season no matter the conditions. I've been here so many times now that I know how the sun hits the arch throughout the day and I knew the best time to take advantage of the light would be in the morning. There are lots of perspectives to shoot the arch, but this one turned out to be the best to shoot from this day.

Raven Bridge - 1

Raven Bridge Carter Caves State Park Kentucky Summer and Fall of 2016 Kentucky was going through a serious dry spell and most of the waterfalls had all dried up in the Bluegrass State, so the first weekend in October myself and good friend Bryan Janosick drove down to Carter Caves state park to chase some arches, or in this case natural bridges. Bryan had never been to the park and I wanted to get some decent shots of Ravens Bridge. When we arrived there was decent cloud cover but as the morning moved on so did the clouds. Nonetheless, the lack of cloud cover didn’t have much of an effect on our shots or our day. In fact, we worked it to our advantage, our last stop of the day was Raven Bridge and we had less than an hour of sunlight to make the 1.5 round trip hike. Taking the low road from Caveland Lodge, we made our way on the 3 Bridges Trail which took us below some cool sandstone cliffs then along the lake and eventually brought us to below the bridge. As I had hoped the setting sun cast some gorgeous light upon the surrounding trees and the base of the arch making for a beautiful scene.

Rock Creek Natural Bridge

Rock Creek Natural Bridge Daniel Boone National Forest Laurel County, Kentucky