Alum Cove Natural Bridge

About a week ago, we took a little drive over to Alum Cove Recreation Area to hike the "Natural Bridge". It took us a little longer to get there than it should have, but it was well worth the drive. (Hint: Find the SHORTEST way possible BEFORE you leave the house. Once near the Buffalo River, cell service is scant and so are your chances of searching for the next direction...)

I have to say, a good GPS (or in our case, our phone when it would work) helped a lot because the signage to get to this was NOT easy.

But we were determined, and we finally made it.

This hike is a short hike...1.1 miles. It is also not particularly strenuous other than a few inclines. However, I will list it as moderate due to those. (To get an "easy" label, it has to be about as flat as a pancake which is near impossible in our state) It was a kid friendly hike though, as well as dog friendly. We took our pup for the first time; she LOVED it.

After making our way down the hill (gradually and with several benches along the way), we came to the Natural Bridge almost immediately. I wasn't expecting that! This bridge is really neat; it is over 130 feet long and one of the longest natural bridges in the area. There should be a creek beneath it but we have been without rain for quite a while. When you are on the bridge, you don't realize how incredible and vast it is until later when you are UNDER it.
The path is fairly narrow and mostly dirt/rocks. But we didn't have any difficulty maneuvering it.
There were typically "stairs" if you had to go up or down. That helped quite a bit.

The scenery throughout the hike was beautiful.

There were several "bluffs" to walk around/through.
Just look at these rocks...amazing!
The kids had a grand time running through and climbing some of the rock formations.


I imagine this is a creek during the wet times of the year...

Absolutely beautiful
This is a view (a sneak peek) UNDER the natural bridge. I told you, you can't get the full awesomeness unless you go under it...)
And one more view from the top of the bridge before we headed back up the hill (which to me was the hardest part of the hike :)
All in all, this was a kid friendly hike. In terms of scenery, it was one of my favorites. I think there is even a waterfall IF we had had any rain). It was very peaceful (other than when my kids were all talking at once) and a good starting hike for the pup who had no trouble keeping up even with her short little legs.

I hope we get to go back!

Happy hiking!