Rough Trail and Hansen's Point - May 2021

Summary

The Rough Trail and Hansen Point is a great 9 mile hike in the Red River Gorge with constant changes in altitude, challenges, and views. It is a medium-distance hike, with a great mid point at Hansen’s Point.

AllTrails
This trail is closely what we followed for this hike. You’ll notice the mileage doesn’t match exactly, and that’s because it doesn’t include the side hike to Hansen’s point. There is a longer 12 mile hike that includes this side hike and actually goes deeper into the woods, but what we hiked is exactly what is documented on this AllTrails hike, minus the Hansen’s Point side hike. I thought it would be best to capture a hike that follows what we did, so the pictures below match reality as far as the hike we took vs. what is listed on AllTrails.

Where

The Rough Trail and Hansen Point specifically are landmarks in Kentucky, in the Red River Gorge. The closest town to this area is Slade, Kentucky. This hike is further from the traditional campgrounds and cabin rentals compared to the Natural Bridge hike.

Logistics

The trailhead for this hike is back in the “holler”. You really need to get into the woods to get to the trailhead and this requires some winding and tight roads. There is a natural tunnel that you cross to get to the trailhead if you are coming from Slade and this was a cool surprise as we made our way to the trailhead. One thing to note is that this natural tunnel is not very tall, like “we saw a tour bus make the mistake of thinking they could get through and clogged up traffic for 50 cars”. Don’t make this same mistake if you have a very tall vehicle and want to do this hike. The parking lot is not very large for this hike and already in May it was getting pretty full. Parking can absolutely become a challenge here so plan on coming very early if you are in peak season or have a backup plan. We ended up having to park down the road and road walk as the parking lot was already full. We didn’t get there very early as Natural Bridge was our top priority that day.

Hiking

This hike is pretty moderate as it relates to difficulty for any avid backpacker. We saw quite a few less children on this trail and that seemed to make sense considering the ups and downs were longer and the distances were pretty long depending on what variation of the trail people chose to do. We did this hike clockwise, so Hansen’s Point really did end up being about the halfway point for us. Leading up to Hansen’s Point, we made 2 climbs in elevation and dropped back down once. We saw some really cool rock formations along the way, but unfortunately Gray’s Arch was closed, so we couldn’t check that out. By the time you make it to the Hansen’s Point side trail, you may be questioning if it’s worth hiking out to, I know we certainly were having had over 9 miles on our feet already. I would absolutely recommend you hike out to Hansen’s Point as the views are very nice. It is a bit of a side trail, someone told us it was only a quarter mile, but that was definitely wrong. A lot of people do this side hike, so if you’re hiking in peak season, expect to see a lot of campers and hikers hanging out on the big rock structure at the end (Hansen’s Peak). I loved having this as a lunch spot to take in the views, rest for a while, and relax. The rest of the loop was largely uneventful and passed over a road or two with some other parking and lookout options that we had not previously been aware of. By this point in the day we were well over 15 miles hiking for the day, so we really felt like getting to the finish line and back to our base camp at the Natural Bridge Resort State Park. We cruised through the last 3 miles or so, but it certainly was great scenery for some nice final miles.

Overall, this hike is one I would recommend. There is little risk or exposure with this hike, it’s moderate in distance and difficulty, and the views at Hansen’s Point absolutely make it worth it! If you’re ever in the area, this hike should at least be on your list, depending on your time in the area and the skillset of the group you are hiking with, this could be a great extension of your time in the Red River Gorge.

Photos

Photos taken on this trail are with my Canon Rebel T5 with a 24mm lens.