The Red River Gorge Trail Guide describes the official trails in the Red River Gorge, Clifty Wilderness Area, and Natural Bridge State Resort Park. The guide includes up-to-date trail descriptions and directions to each trailhead. Detailed elevation profiles, like the one below, provide at-a-glance depictions of each trail. These profiles are large and detailed, unlike those in some guidebooks, and are therefore quite useful. Each trail was measured with a wheel, which is, despite all the new technology, still the most accurate way to measure trails. All the trails are listed according to quality, difficulty, and length.

The Red River Gorge Trail Guide began as research for a computer software project, but became a project ─ a thoroughly enjoyable one ─ in itself. The first printing of 500 sold out rapidly, to my amazement, and this encouraged me to continue. I have hiked and climbed in the Red River Gorge for over 20 years and felt somewhat qualified to comment upon this unique and amazing area. Other guides to the area were out of print, incomplete, or dated, so there was an obvious need for a new guide. My goal was to create a hands-on hiking tool which would become a full-time companion to hikers in the Red. I thought that my climbing experience might provide a different perspective for a hiking guide. (In my experience, it's rare for a climber to write a hiking guide.) The book is designed for hikers of all experience and ability. I pay special attention to elevation changes, which will hopefully make the guide useful for beginning hikers, those unaccustomed to strenuous hiking, and those wishing to use trails for conditioning purposes.

I submitted the idea for a Red River trail guide to several publishers. I received such slow responses, or none at all, from virtually all of them (who never actually even read the book), that I decided to begin a business, publish, and distribute the book myself. I had no experience in any of this, so there was quite a learning curve. I have now completed my fifth book, Random Rides in East Central Kentucky, a road cycling guide, so things have turned out okay. I hope to make steady improvements in the future and to keep all of the guides fresh and useful. 

The first edition of the Red River Gorge Trail Guide was released in late April 2005. I fashioned the first edition after one of my favorite hiking guides in the whole wide world--Hiking Trails Of The Smokies (the little brown book that could). That little masterpiece contains no photos, but still manages to do a great job, so I left photos out of my guide. However, customers astutely convinced me that I was an idiot and that the book needed photos, so later editions of the Red River Gorge Trail Guide contain 50 black and white photos. Live and learn we do. I would have preferred color photos, but color printing costs much more than black and white and would make the guide much more expensive. I could probably get them printed cheap enough in China but I'm a capitalist and they're communists so that really wouldn't make much sense unless I hated the USA or planned to join the comrades in the party sometime in the near future. (I think they murder writers--even pseudo-writers like moi--when they take over, so I probably wouldn't have the option of joining up anyway.) I would like to live a few more years so I'd probably be better served to keep my transactions here in the good 'ole USA and hope that China doesn't call their notes until I'm kaput (cold and dead).

I originally sought to promote local businesses and Kentucky tourism, but (oh boy, to say the least) has that turned out to be a frustrating and disappointing endeavor. The Forest Service didn't sell my guide at their Visitor Center gift shop (which, inexplicably, later went out of business), and Natural Bridge State Park (part of the $35 million dollar/year money-losing state park system) went three years or so before stocking it. Needless to say, this heavily impacted my sales. When Natural Bridge did begin selling my guides, in 2009, they quickly became my best customer, but, alas, a happy relationship was not to be. After some needless government red tape, endless delays, and other shenanigans, I again no longer stock books at the park. (I can't imagine why they're losing money.) After putting up with all the stupidity a part-time guidebook writer, or anyone else, should be required to tolerate in a lifetime, I have vowed to never sell any of my guides at any government facility. (Don't even get me started about how Mammoth Cave National Park failed to stock my Mammoth Cave Trail Guide, even when there was no other hiking guide available for the park, and then, later, lied to me about the reasons why. Make no mistake, censorship and the good 'ole boy system are both alive and well in our government. I've seen the same thing happen at Smoky Mountain National Park. I hate to think how many great books that we're missing-out on simply because the Fed's don't approve of this or that detail about a book, or whatever their reasoning. No government facility has ever given me an honest, legitimate reason for not selling them, so I can only surmise about why they don't want. or don't need, the money they would make off my books. I may actually write a book about that.)

All of my books have been printed by Bookmasters, Inc., in Ohio. Despite the frustrations involved in dealing with government bureaucracies and such, the many positive responses and support I've received has been very heartwarming and I would like to thank everyone who has purchased or promoted the Red River Gorge Trail Guide or any of my other books. Feel free to contact me about errors or to suggest improvements for future editions. --Jerrell Goodpaster  (Who the heck is Jerrell Goodpaster?)   

Red River Gorge Photos