River River Gorge Trip with UK Student Volunteer Center and the Red River Gorge Trail Organization. September 11, 2004.

It was complete darkness when I woke up at 6:30 in morning (Saturday). The morning dew was freezing. Min Chin dropped my friend and me off at the Student Volunteer Center, and we waited for 1/2 hour before the fifth person arrived at the scene. After a speedy 90 mph drive, we were at the Gorge in a matter of minutes. The Gorge Crew took with them 20 more volunteers, and we hit the trail after all the safety issues and the itenitary were reported. The sun was not as warm as we expected, but we each received our first trail equipment and hard heads, and we were ready to go. The trail we took was "Pinch'Em Tight," which has a horrid story about a devilish mother who used to wip her children up all the time. They lived down in the trail close to the valley gap and one fine day, she ate a little too much that she got stuck in the middle of the valley. She eventually starved but felt out the gap and lived forever with her children. We then took the trail called "Dock Trail", which was much longer. On the way back, the hikers started to fill the trail and they were quite appreciative of our work :) But it was a long long and steep way up to go back. I was thirsty (finished my three bottles of water), hungry, sweaty, and completely exhausted... The ranger told us stories, mostly gossips between the ladies, which were what kept me alive.. hehe. We went to the new Koomer Campground's rest area and after a couple of cold water splashed on our faces and necks, we was ready to have some good cooking! The crew built a large campfire, we helped the ladies to cook the soups, stir-fry, and the men set up the chairs, opened up the beer bottles, and cooked up some fried catfish. We lighted up some s'more as well.