Atop (and Beside, and Beneath) Natural Bridge, Kentucky

After hiking up Balanced Rock Trail (see my previous post), we arrived at Natural Bridge.  The walk across the top offers breathtaking views in either direction, with the highlight being Lookout Point.  At the opposite end of the bridge from your arrival point (if you take Balanced Rock to reach it), you will find the beginning of Laurel Ridge Trail.  That takes you to the skylift, Lookout Point (with an amazing view back to Natural Bridge), and other points of interest like Devil's Gulch and Lover's Leap.

If you want to see Natural Bridge from beneath, then walk down the stairs to the left before crossing over.  This takes you to a traffic-controlled pass through Fat Man's Squeeze - something every cave or rock formation seems to have.  Same for "Natural Bridge" for that matter.  Not only are there natural bridges in virtually every state, if not all of them, but they're adorned with the same unimaginative name, too.  That doesn't take anything away from how impressive they are in person, this one being no exception.

Once you're beneath the bridge, crossing under it gives you two options - head left, toward Battleship Rock, or right, down the Original Trail back to Hemlock Lodge.  We did the latter, but not before walking Laurel Ridge Trail.

Below are some of my pictures around the Natural Bridge formation.  In my next post, I'll include the Laurel Ridge shots, including some looking back at Natural Bridge.  Like the others from this trip, these are a mixture of Nikon and cell (LG G2) photos, and are all processed with the VSCO Cam application.  Thanks for checking them out!