Red River Gorge Trip Part 1

From Muir Valley

We got back from our Red River Gorge climbing trip late last night and I already miss it.  If you have never been, either for climbing or hiking, I highly suggest checking it out.  It has great climbing, great scenery, and great people.  It was one of those trips that you forget what ever is going on in your life and you take in the scenery and good times.  We crossed a lot of extremely nice/cool people.  A majority of them from Canada,
we thought that was very surprising.  Also, a majority of people were from Indiana, Ohio, and New York.  We spent the majority of our trip at Muir Valley, but also visited Gray's Branch because we heard we HAD to check out Military Wall.  Our source was not wrong.

We climbed a total of 16 climbs in the 4 days we were there, here's a complete list:

1. Bombardier - 5.10a
2. Glory and Consequence - 5.7
3. Mercenary of Mandarin Chicken - 5.9+
4. Yu Stin Ki Pu - 5.6
5. Mercy Miss Percy - 5.9
6. Sweet n Sour - 5.5
7. Ai Bang Mai Fu Kin Ni - 5.7
8. Beta Spewer - 5.10b
9. The Offering - 5.7
10. Shock and Awe - 5.8 Trad
11. International route of Pancakes - 5.8
12. 2 Chicken Butts - 5.9
13. Thanks Holly - 5.8
14. Plate Tectonics - 5.9+
15. Rat Stew - 5.10a
16. Send Me on My Way - 5.9-

I would have to say that Shock and Awe was definitely my favorite.  It was a great trad climb that offered a 95ft crag with a plethera of different moves. Rat Stew and Plate Tectonics were the next ones that I loved.  Very good lead routes that you need to check out when at the gorge. My next post will be the pictures I promised from the trip.  I just got to find my camera USB cord.